米ハーバード大学長、非難の矢面に　「反ユダヤ主義容認」発言受け

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米ハーバード大学のクローディン・ゲイ学長は５日、下院教育労働委員会の公聴会で、学内で反ユダヤ主義的な言動が拡大する中、言論の自由を優先する考えを示した。反ユダヤ主義を容認していると受け止められ、一部議員が辞任を要求するなど、非難の矢面に立たされている。（写真は米ハーバード大学で行われた、ガザ地区のパレスチナ人を支持するデモ）
　公聴会ではエリス・ステファニック議員（共和党）が、一部学生が新たなインティファーダ（反イスラエル闘争）を呼び掛けていることについて、「イスラエルおよび世界でユダヤ人に対するジェノサイド（大量殺害）」を扇動しているに等しいと指摘。ゲイ学長に、そうした言動は大学の行動規範に反しないかただした。
　ゲイ学長はそれに対し「反対意見や、攻撃的な、もしくは憎悪に基づいた意見であっても、われわれは表現の自由に対するコミットメントを奉じている」と説明。ただし「いじめやハラスメント（嫌がらせ）、脅迫など、規範を侵害する発言についてはわれわれは行動を起こす」と述べた。
　これを受けてステファニック議員は即時辞任を要求。上院のテッド・クルーズ上院議員（共和党）は「恥ずべき」発言だと批判した。
　大学への寄付者らも、ゲイ学長に対し、より明示的なイスラエル支持と、親パレスチナの学生グループへの非難を打ち出すよう求めた。
　こうした批判を受け、ゲイ学長は６日、ＳＮＳで、誤解があったとし、「ユダヤ人社会もしくは特定の宗教・人種グループへの暴力やジェノサイドを呼び掛けることは卑劣な行為であり、ハーバードに居場所はない。本学のユダヤ人学生を脅す者には責任を取ってもらう」と述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/12/07-17:08）

The president of Harvard University on Wednesday faced criticism and calls for her resignation over her comments at a Capitol Hill hearing on campus anti-Semitism.
The deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas militants has ignited tensions on many American college campuses, with protests flaring.
At Harvard, donors have specifically called for President Claudine Gay to offer more explicit support for Israel, and condemnation of student groups who have voiced support for the Palestinian people.
On Tuesday, Gay testified before the House Education Committee at a hearing dedicated to holding campus leaders accountable for anti-Semitic incidents.
Republican lawmaker Elise Stefanik likened student calls for a new intifada -- an Arabic word for uprising that harks back to the first Palestinian revolt against Israel in 1987 -- to inciting genocide against the Jewish people in Israel and globally.
When Stefanik asked Gay if such calls would violate Harvard's code of conduct, the Harvard president said: We embrace a commitment to free expression even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful.
When speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies, including policies against bullying, harassment or intimidation, we take action.
Stefanik called on Gay to immediately resign, while Republican Senator Ted Cruz called the comment disgraceful.
Prominent legal scholar Laurence Tribe, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, said Gay's hesitant, formulaic and bizarrely evasive answers were deeply troubling to me and many of my colleagues, students, and friends.
Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, called Gay's comments embarrassing because she accepted Stefanik's premise that saying 'intifada' is equivalent to a call for genocide, which is ridiculous.
And Dani Dayan, chairman of Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial center, called on Gay and other university leaders to empower and train their faculty and students to better understand the dangers of anti-Semitism.
We invite university leadership to visit Israel and Yad Vashem during this university semester break in order to learn what past calls for the genocide of Jews has led to -- the Holocaust, Dayan said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Gay issued a brief statement clarifying her testimony.
There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students, she said in a statement on social media.
Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.