Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was slammed online yesterday for posting his support of an open letter published on X by hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman to Harvard University, who accused its administration of allowing antisemitism on campus.
In the letter, Ackman accused Harvard President Claudine Gay of not taking action to support the health and safety of its student body since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which launched a new phase in the Israel-Palestine war.
Ackman charged Gay with not condemning Hamas’ attack, claiming that it “opened the door” for a wave of “anti-Israel attacks on campus.“
“The outburst at antisemitism at Harvard is a recent one and is largely due to your actions and inactions and that of the administration and the University at large in failing to appropriately address blatant antisemitism on campus,” Ackman wrote.
Ackman also outlined steps he said Harvard should take, including taking disciplinary action against students who chanted “Intifada! Intifada! Intifada!” and “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Shall Be Free!” which he claimed was eliminationist language. Furthermore, he said, student Slacks should be reviewed for antisemitic statements, memes, and images, and any students found posting them subjected to disciplinary action as well.
“Bravo @BillAckman,” RFK, Jr. wrote on X in response to the letter. “It’s time to hold college administrations responsible for the epidemic of campus antisemitism by insisting on zero-tolerance policies.”
“Here is RFK Jr the scum calling for Harvard to sack students essentially under the guise of antisemitism,” wrote @numarqs. “So called free speech warrior!”
RFK Jr. made opposition to Big Tech censorship a centerpiece of his independent campaign for president, including by testifying at a House hearing hosted by the Republican-helmed Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government in July.
“The First Amendment was not written for easy speech,” Kennedy said at the hearing. “It was written for the speech that nobody likes you for.”
Kennedy also sued YouTube and Google in August, claiming the platforms had subjected him to a censorship campaign that was “unprecedented in American history.”
But his full-throated support for Israel as the country launched a new campaign against Palestine alienated him from some supporters online, who also saw the wavering on a commitment to free speech as unsurprising.
“The amount of energy @RobertKennedyJr campaign has devoted to not speaking up for the people of Palestine, against the torrent of abhorrent racism that have facilitated their genocide is truly despicable,” commented @faust_flag on Kennedy’s post. “Same old, same old. Kennedy family just another oligarch brood.”
“You might as well drop out,” added @Coolmanifes. “You are establishment but the establishment don’t want you. You talk a good game until it’s game time.”
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/debug/rfk-jr-harvard-israel-free-speech/
