This past October, Russell Rickford, an associate professor of history at Cornell University, described the Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israelis as “exhilarating.” Although Rickford later apologized for his remarks and was subsequently placed on leave, he’s but one of numerous notable Black Americans—from Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah to Rhode Island state senator Tiara Mack and the leaders of local Black Lives Matter chapters—whose aggressive anti-Israel, if not pro-Hamas, rhetoric has been stoking Black-Jewish discord.
And a number of prominent Jews have responded in kind. Ronald Lauder, the Estée Lauder scion whose namesake Viennese business school cut ties with Harvard in late December following the school’s decision (since reversed) to back university president Claudine Gay in the wake of her disastrous appearance before Congress. Then Len Blavatnik, the Ukrainian-born billionaire announced that he was suspending donations to Harvard, where his family has already given some $270 million.
