Harvard alumnus Jonathan Harounoff told Fox News Digital on Thursday that Harvard is putting more effort into fighting against the Trump administration than addressing antisemitism on campus.
"I think it's part of an increasing trend of the university putting all of its resources and force and weight behind fighting against the White House and… spending much less time fighting against antisemitism and the problems that have got the university to where we are now," Harounoff told Fox News Digital.
Harounoff, Israel's international spokesperson to the United Nations, reacted to President Donald Trump's feud with Harvard amid the administration's crackdown on antisemitism and allegedly harboring pro-Hamas sentiments on the Ivy League school's campus.
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Harounoff said Harvard should not be a place for endorsing violence and harboring students or employees who have "very unambiguous terrorist sympathies."
"I suspect that the reason why Harvard is pushing back is just because it wants to protect all of its student population and that may be the case, but at the same time, the university - any university, any employer - can't expect the administration to accept students or employees who have very unambiguous terrorist sympathies," he told Fox News Digital.
Harounoff continued, "If those do exist, then they should be addressed head on, but we've seen on plenty of college campuses students and people who have no connection to anything to do with the university - on Columbia's campus and elsewhere."
"You have people who unambiguously wave the flags of terrorist organizations, whether it's Hamas or Hezbollah, and who are chanting very proudly these openly antisemitic and anti-Western and anti-American slogans on a Western American, what's meant to be philosemitic campus, and that is not acceptable," he said. "And those are not just innocent protests - they're open calls for violence. The university should not be a space for endorsing such violence."
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"This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement announcing the administration's move to eliminate the student visa program due to "pro-terrorist conduct" during campus protests.
It is a consequence of what DHS claims is Harvard's refusal to comply with its requests for behavioral records of student visa holders.
Senior State Department officials told Fox News that not only are student visa holders being scrutinized, but all visa holders associated with Harvard are subject to investigation. Along with student visas, the State Department will be conducting a substantive investigation into B-1, or business visas; B-2, or tourist visas; as well as others, officials said. The investigation is aimed at identifying potential security vulnerabilities or other abuses of the visa system.
The Department of Homeland Security is eliminating the student visa program at Harvard University due to "pro-terrorist conduct" at campus protests.
Harvard has pushed back against the Trump administration by filing legal challenges to the president's orders.
A court temporarily paused the Trump administration's move to cancel Harvard's student visa program after the university filed a lawsuit. The judge granted Harvard's request for a temporary restraining order to preserve the status quo while the case plays out in court.
Harvard said the policy will affect more than 7,000 visa holders - nearly a quarter of the student body - and is a "blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act," per its court filing.
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Harounoff told Fox News Digital that one of the proudest moments of his personal and professional career was getting into Harvard.
"As an international graduate student coming from England, my family was overjoyed, and it was a privilege, and it is a privilege of a lifetime. Harvard is the most famous university in the world. For a long time, it sat on the pantheon of great universities, educational institutions out there for people of all backgrounds, faiths, nationalities," he said.
"And with that immense global recognition comes huge responsibility," Harounoff continued. "And that's why it's especially difficult and disappointing to see the university fight against the White House in recent months, much harder than it ever appeared to fight against antisemitism, the rampant antisemitism that had been enveloping the Ivy League campus, especially since October the 7."
