War of Words Over Photo Exhibit on the Occupation at Harvard Hillel
CORRECTION APPENDED
Controversy raged at Harvard University in mid-March, when the Harvard Hillel hosted a photo exhibit depicting the impact of occupation in the Palestinian territories. The Hillel drew sharp criticism from the right-wing Zionist Organization of America for providing space to the exhibit, which was organized by Breaking the Silence, group made up of former Israeli soldiers.
Breaking the Silence’s photo exhibit has been traveling throughout Israel and Europe since 2004. The version shown at Harvard in early March included over one hundred images of Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians, plus hours of videotaped testimony from Israeli veterans on the experience of serving in the territories. According to Ben Murane, an organizer for the group, “The purpose [of the exhibit] is to provide a tool for Israeli soldiers to tell their personal stories.”
In the months prior to the event, Harvard Hillel wavered on whether to allow it to take place inside the Hillel building. Concerned about potential controversy, the Hillel steering committee would not commit to providing the requested by Harvard’s Progressive Jewish Alliance for the event. Without a firm answer, the PJA arranged to host the event in a Government department building.
Jacob Victor, a Harvard junior and the president of Harvard Students for Israel, was concerned about the public nature of the Government department venue. “[Breaking the Silence] has good intentions, but to a group of students uneducated about Israeli issues it furthers negative perceptions of Israel,” he said. Victor thought that the exhibit should be held in an explicitly Jewish space. So, he drafted a letter to the Hillel steering committee in which he asked that the Hillel host Breaking the Silence. He threatened to work against the event if it were held in the Government department building. When the steering committee met again in January, it accepted Victor’s proposal, agreeing to host the event without endorsing Breaking the Silence’s message. The exhibit opened on March 1, with two former Israeli soldiers serving as tour guides.
On March 11, the Zionist Organization of America issued a statement claiming that Breaking the Silences’ message was “anti-Israel” and that hosting the exhibit was “contrary to Hillel’s mission.” The statement called for the Harvard Hillel to immediately shut down the event.
In an open letter to Morton Klein, the executive director of the ZOA, Harvard Hillel president Dr. Bernie Steinberg criticized the ZOA for issuing the statement and defended the student organizers. Steinberg wrote, “[Y]ou should not intrude clumsily and aggressively into the Harvard campus, and undermine the good work of young Jews who labor arduously and skillfully on this campus out of passionate love for, and on behalf of, Israel and Judaism.”
Victor, the Harvard Students for Israel president, was upset by Klein’s remarks. College students have enough trouble speaking in favor of Israel, he says. “Having Klein come in and act loud without talking to students played right into that.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article mistakenly identified Breaking the Silence as an anti-Occupation group.
