Harvard sacks librarian who tore down Israeli hostage posters

Jonathan S. Tuttle was caught on video by Harvard Chabad tearing down hostage posters during a pro-Hamas rally on March 3.

By Jewish Breaking News

A Harvard librarian who tore down posters of Israeli hostages has been fired, ending a week of outrage that has put the already-embattled university under renewed scrutiny from federal officials and donors alike for failing to address campus antisemitism.

Jonathan S. Tuttle was caught on video by Harvard Chabad during a pro-Hamas rally on March 3 who in turn posted the footage to Instagram. An investigation followed and Radcliffe Institute Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin attempted damage control with a letter to donor affiliates.

“I strongly support the right of all Americans and all members of our community to protest in support of positions that we hold dear,” Brown-Nagin wrote in the email obtained by the Crimson. “But disruptive behaviors including property destruction or defacement and acts of vandalism that seek to suppress or censor the speech of others are not protected speech.”

Eventually Tuttle had his employment terminated on Sunday by the university, whose reputation remains under intense scrutiny in the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. University officials have repeatedly failed to protect Jewish students from harassment and have allowed antisemitic rhetoric to go unchecked at campus protests against Israel.

According to a recent federal lawsuit against Harvard, Jewish students have been physically assaulted, spat upon, and threatened with violence simply for expressing their support for Israel. Perhaps most disturbing is the complicity of some professors who have used their classrooms to spread anti-Israel propaganda and have even gone so far as to encourage Hamas sympathizers to engage in physical intimidation and violence against their Jewish peers.

Their belated action against Tuttle may be too little. Last week, the Trump administration slashed $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University over its handling of antisemitism. A federal task force is now investigating nine other universities, with many expecting Harvard to be next on the chopping block.

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