JUNE 2007
Israel military
chief hounded at Harvard
<http://commentisfre
A wanted man on campus
Israel's former military chief is taking a course at
Harvard, where students are pursuing
him for war crimes. Laila El-Haddad
To say that Dan Halutz's recent tenure as head of the
Israeli military was rife with
controversy would be a grand understatement.
After resigning his post in January, he took some time
off to better himself and Halutz has
been attending an elite two-month advanced management
programme at the Harvard
Business School (HBS) in the United States. Ironic though
it may be, his training has been
sponsored by the Israeli army, according to a press
statement issued by HBS.
But a group of Harvard University students is trying to
make sure his crimes are not
forgotten, while also castigating Harvard for admitting
him - and others accused of human
rights abuses and war crimes - in the first place.
The Alliance for Justice in the Middle East has plastered
the campus of Harvard University
and its business school with mock "Wanted"
posters.
The group launched their week-long mock dragnet last
Tuesday to expose what they say
is Harvard University's "pattern of admitting and
hiring individuals with a credible and
public record of war crimes and human rights
abuses". In addition to the "Wanted"
posters,
they are employing missing person milk cartons, helium
balloons, and the Internet to
make their case.
The posters say Halutz is "wanted for war
crimes" for ordering the indiscriminate bombing
of Lebanon last summer, killing over 1,000 civilians. The
jets he commanded bombed
houses and hospitals, ambulances and airports, refineries
and roads. The atrocities
committed under his command were condemned worldwide as
war crimes. Now he's
hiding out and padding his resume in an executive
education programme at Harvard
Business School," it reads.
It says he is still "at large" and then asks
people to contact the International Criminal Court
if they spot him.
Human rights organisations around the world, including in
Israel, have also accused Halutz
of war crimes for the one-tonne bomb he ordered dropped
in a heavily populated civilian
area in Gaza in 2002.
Despite my prompting, university officials declined to
comment, but did issue a press
statement saying that the purpose of the programme was
"to bring diverse groups of
senior executives together to achieve a broader
perspective on global strategic issues". It
further states that the school "relies on the
information provided by and the judgment of"
the sponsoring organisations. In this case, the Israeli
military. Yes, that's right, the Israeli
military.
The campaign organisers say the idea for their dragnet
came once the group recognised a
pattern of admitting high-ranking army officers with
command responsibility into
Harvard-affiliated programmes.
"We searched for as many war criminals and/or human
rights abusers that fit our profile,
using recognised international law and credible media
reports, without regard for
nationality. We drafted dossiers for those for whom we
did find a match," Maryam Gharavi
said.
Their site also profiles the case of former Guatemalan
defence minister Hector Gramajo,
who was a Mason Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of
Government in 1991.
The group said it has received nearly 2,000 visitors to
its website in the two days since the
launch and dozens of students have posted comments saying
they are appalled that they
could be sitting in class "next to a known war
criminal".
"What they want to know is: why is the university
rewarding known war criminals and what
will it take to stop this?" Ms Gharavi said.
"We simply want the university to ensure that it
does not admit or hire or extend itself to
training, funding and lending public legitimacy to
individuals with credible records of
responsibility for war crimes or serious human rights
abuses. We believe a fair screening
procedure should be in place for these exclusive
programmes."
[indictsharon.net] A Wanted Man on Campus Israel military chief hounded at Harvard