Shame on Harvard

Harvard is a one of the most respected universities in
the world. It is especially renowned for its academic
excellence and sound scholarly traditions. However,
Harvard’s good name is being tarnished by the
presence on its campus of a certified war criminal who
is believed to have been responsible for the murder
and maiming of thousands of innocent men, women and
children in the Middle East .


The reported attendance of the former Israeli Chief of
Staff, Dan Halutz, on a Harvard Elite study program,
does besmirch the reputation of this school which
claims to be guided by ethical principles.


I realize, as do many Americans, including some
conscientious Harvard professors, that the general
discourse in the United States , is immensely
influenced by the powerful Zionist media as well as
by the scandalously powerful Israeli lobbies, such as
AIPAC.


However, Harvard should know better, and if ordinary
Americans can be forgiven for their ignorance about
Israel ’s criminal behavior and racism, Harvard has no
excuse.


But in case the Harvard administration is not aware of
Halutz’s criminal credentials, here is a brief
reminder.


As Commander of the Israeli Air Force and later Chief
of Staff of the Israeli army, Dan Halutz instructed
Israeli forces, including the air force, to
indiscriminately bomb Lebanese and Palestinian
population centers, causing the death of thousands of
civilians.


Halutz instructed Israeli pilots to bomb homes,
hospitals, colleges, ambulances, airports, refineries,
gas stations, schools, roads and power stations. The
atrocities committed under his command were condemned
worldwide as “war crimes.”


In 2002, Halutz, then commander of the Israeli
air-force, gave instructions to drop one-ton bombs on
an apartment building in downtown Gaza , killing 16
civilians, including 11 children. Halutz never
expressed remorse for the pornographic killing.
Instead, he told the Israeli media that “I sleep well
at night” and “have a clear conscience.”


Moreover, during the Palestinian Aqsa uprising
against the Israeli occupation, Halutz adopted a
policy of extra-judicial executions of Palestinian
political and resistance activists. The harvest of
this manifestly criminal policy was the brutal death
of thousands of people, many of whom, it was later
proven, were totally innocent.


Halutz also instructed Israeli soldiers to shoot
Palestinian children and civilians knowingly and
deliberately whenever the soldiers thought that the
civilians posed the slightest threat to their safety.
It is believed that as many as a thousand Palestinian
children and minors were killed as a result of this
haphazard policy.


A classical example of this murderous mode of
operation was the murder of an 11-year-old school
girl from Rafah, Iman al Hams, who was brutally
murdered by an Israeli army soldier in 2004 as she was
walking to her school.


The soldier, having shot the girl several times, then
proceeded to verify the kill by shooting her from a
close distance twenty more times.


Far from regretting the grisly crime, Halutz
eventually instructed an Israeli military tribunal to
give the killer financial compensations amounting to
tens of thousands of dollars as punitive damages.


In June, 2006, following the capture by Palestinian
guerillas of an Israeli soldier, Halutz ordered an
all-out military campaign against the Gaza Strip.
During the bloody campaign, Israeli warplanes and
artillery wantonly attacked Palestinian homes and
neighborhoods, annihilating entire families.


Similarly, the Israeli air force destroyed the only
power station in Gaza last year, causing death and
misery to hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians,
including neonatal babies who died because their
incubators stopped working following the power
stoppage.


This is, of course, in addition to the policy of
shooting innocent Palestinians, such as women on their
way to hospital, colleges students on their way to
school and workers and other ordinary people at
roadblocks and checkpoints.


And in Lebanon , Halutz committed even more horrible
war crimes. Indeed, toward the end of the war of last
year, he ordered his army to drop 2000,000-3000, 000
million cluster bombs or bomblets all over Lebanon ,
with the apparent intent to kill and maim as many
Lebanese children as possible.


As a result of this war crime, Lebanese children
continue to die nearly on a daily basis as a result
of the explosion of these ubiquitous explosives.


These are only a few examples of the war crimes
committed under Halutz’ command, which makes him a war
criminal, not unlike any Nazis war criminal.


Halutz was not merely carrying out orders, as many war
criminals would argue when brought before a war crime
tribunal. He was giving orders to commit these crimes
and he fully understood the implications of his acts,
which makes him even more indictable.


In short, the man is clearly a reptile terrorist, a
war criminal and a child killer. And as such, he
should never be allowed to sit down or be in the
company of respectable people. Dan Halutz belongs
behind bars, not on the campus of Harvard University .


His presence at one of the world’s finest schools is a
stigma of shame for Harvard and the entire academic
community in the United States .


It is for these reasons that the Harvard
administration is called upon to immediately eject
this vile criminal, who has tons of innocent blood on
his hands, from the University.


Yes, Harvard receives grants and financial
contributions from pro-Israeli donors. However,
Harvard should never give the impression that its
ethics and moral principles are on sale for the
highest bidder?