Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s Chairman and CEO, criticized the presidents of three major US universities for not condemning Anti-Semitism on their campuses amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) faced scrutiny for their comments during a recent testimony on Capitol Hill addressing the rising concerns of anti-Semitism at their institutions.
The session, held on Tuesday, December 5, was called ‘Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism.’ Claudine Gay of Harvard, Elizabeth Magill of Penn, and Sally Kornbluth of MIT attended the hearing. They were questioned by the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
The presidents faced particular criticism for their responses to a question about whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” goes against the codes of conduct at their respective universities. When New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik posed this question, all three presidents stated that the answer hinges on the context.
‘One of the most despicable moments in the history of U.S. academia’
“I was ashamed to hear the recent testimony of 3 top university presidents. In my personal opinion, it was one of the most despicable moments in the history of U.S. academia. The 3 Presidents were offered numerous opportunities to condemn racist, antisemitic, hate rhetoric and refused doing so hiding behind calls for “context”,” Bourla wrote. “The memories of my father’s parents, Abraham and Rachel Bourla, his brother David and his little sister Graciela, who all died in Auschwitz, came to mind. I was wondering if their deaths would have provided enough “context” to these presidents to condemn the Nazis’ antisemitic propaganda.”
“And because dehumanization of the victims makes it easier to “set your own context” and justify anything, here is a picture of Graciela Bourla, who was exterminated in the concentration camp at the age of 17. Unfortunately, no pictures of my grandparents and uncle survived. I still wonder what they looked like,” he added.
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