The AMCHA Initiative, an American campus and anti-Semitism watchdog group that combats boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel efforts on campuses, reports Lucas Koerner, himself Jewish, wants Harvard to support an academic boycott of the Jewish state. He writes as much in his op-ed, "Boycott Israeli Apartheid: If Not Now, When."
But Marie Fischer of Project 21 does not believe anyone calling for such a boycott understands the ramifications.
"They don't realize it will also harm the people they're trying to support, the Palestinians, because a lot of Palestinians come into Israel for jobs," she begins. "If you cut off funding and things for various Israeli projects, well guess who's going to get fired first."
Koerner also rages in his op-ed that Israel is an apartheid state that is seeking to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians from their native land. Fischer, who is Jewish, strongly disagrees.
"If Israel was truly an apartheid state, you would not have Arab members of the Knesset," she insists. "You would not have members in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). You wouldn't not have Arabs working in hospitals, schools, etc."
According to the AMCHA Initiative, Koerner wants Harvard to pressure the Biden administration to suspend all aid to Israel until Israel ends its occupation of all Arab lands.
Editor's note: Article corrected to identify Lucas Koerner, not Omar Barghouti, as writer of the op-ed.
