Maria

Editor, ESL tutor, language enthusiast

[Eylon Levy @EylonALevy]

The first letters of this Torah scroll were written by IDF soldiers at the site of the Nova massacre. Today it will be carried into Auschwitz, to be completed by six Holocaust survivors in memory of the six million. Chills. #NeverAgainisNow

[Maria @Marinamos6]

@StandWithUs It's Olga Besova on the right, a new olah from Russia. You have misspelt her last name

[Bari Weiss @bariweiss]

For a second, imagine that black students at Columbia were taunted with chants of "Go back to Africa."

Or imagine that a gay student at Yale was surrounded by homophobic protesters and hit in the eye with a flagpole.

Or imagine if a campus imam told Muslim students that they ought to head home for Ramadan because campus public safety could not guarantee their security.

There would be relentless fury from our media and condemnation from our politicians.

Just remember the righteous—and rightful—outrage over the white supremacist “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, where neo-Nazis chanted “The Jews will not replace us.”

This weekend at Columbia and Yale, student demonstrators did all of the above—only it was directed at Jews. They told Columbia students to “go back to Poland.” A Jewish woman at Yale was assaulted with a Palestinian flag. And an Orthodox rabbi at Columbia told students to go home for their safety.

What will the response be?

https://t.co/HXph8WFidr

[Hagar Hajjar Chemali @HagarChemali]

I teach at #Columbia & I saw the protests yesterday. I walked by one on campus & saw two posters of known terrorists. One of Walid Daqqah, who was affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, & the other of Khader Adnan, who was the spokesperson for Palestine Islamic Jihad - both of which are designated terrorist groups. PIJ is holding hostages right now.

I was stunned & horrified to see the images of these men, being extolled as though they're some kind of heroes. It was like a punch in the gut. I believe that these students, while young and clearly lost, seem to know exactly who & what they're supporting

[Eylon Levy @EylonALevy]

Every Passover, the Haggadah reminds us: “In every generation, they rise up to destroy us.”

You thought it was a history lesson.

It’s a warning.

[Eylon Levy @EylonALevy]

I have come to the sad conclusion that the reason so many people believe so many disgusting lies about Israel is that they want to believe they’re true. They affirm their prior prejudices, so the lies give them cognitive comfort. The question is why they want to believe it.

[Stephen Pace ❄ @StephenPace]

At the @U2 concert in Las Vegas tonight, Bono paid tribute to Alexei Navalny and lead the crowd of 17,600 in a chant of his name into Freedom. #U2 #U2UVSphere

[Maria @Marinamos6]

@Kinzee_Farmer So sweet!

[Eylon Levy @EylonALevy]

Moments ago, a massive rocket barrage from Khan Younis at the Tel Aviv area.

Indiscriminately aimed at civilians.

[Mayim Bialik @missmayim]

Remixing my reaction to @standupdan because it was making me laugh so hard - I thought you should see how hard I was laughing and maybe you need a laugh from Dan Ahdoot too!

[Nicky Clark @MrsNickyClark]

In all the social media rage against Stephen Fry, none of the angry people seem to have considered the fact that one of the most loved (possibly the most loved) figure in public life, has had to post a video in 2023, asking British people not to be racist.

[Aviva Klompas @AvivaKlompas]

US Secretary of State Blinken: "What is striking to me is that even as we hear many countries urging an end to this conflict, I hear virtually no one demanding of Hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. This is over tomorrow if Hamas does that.

How can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor, and only demands made of the victim. It would be good if there was a strong international voice pressing Hamas to do what is necessary to end this."

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

I find it difficult to believe that the @Harvard Corporation board could still be in unanimous support of President Gay.

They must now realize that they made a bad choice and that their continued support for President Gay is not just enormously damaging to Harvard, but it is also incredibly destructive to their own reputations.

When I first watched the train wreck begin to unfold at Harvard, I approached two friends on the Corporation board and requested a meeting with President Gay and the other directors as I thought I could help.

My requests for a meeting were ignored. Weeks went by. I continued to push. Finally, I was offered the opportunity to speak with Penny Pritzker, the board chair. I was told: “This is the protocol.”

The conversation with Penny was incredibly disappointing. It was clear that the board members had become deer in the headlights, were listening to bad ‘professional’ advice, and were unreceptive to input from outside the board room.

So I wrote my first public letter to the board, and received no response. Not even an acknowledgment from President Gay or the board that they had received the letter.

The situation got worse, and I was compelled to write a second letter.

I got no response.

The day after President Gay’s disastrous testimony I reached out again to my two friends on the board. One promised to call back and then ghosted me. The other did not respond to my texts, so I wrote a third letter.

Now, I am not the only person to have written strong letters to the Harvard board. They must have received literally hundreds of letters, emails, and calls.

I know because I have been copied and blind copied on many of these communications from some people I know and many people I do not.

We are well past the point where Claudine Gay is the only one to blame for the mess that is Harvard.

Ultimately, when management fails, the board needs to step in. It has failed to do so and nearly three months have passed.

As a result, the reputations of the eleven individuals who comprise the board are in the process of being destroyed. It is sad to watch this happen as there are some very high quality people on this board.

Why, you might ask, are they self destructing?

The principal reason I believe is that they are afraid of being called racists. They have concluded that if they fired President Gay, Harvard’s first black president, they would be cancelled and deemed racists.

They have failed to act out of fear.

They would also have to admit that they made a bad choice in selecting Gay, and acknowledge that they ignored concerns raised about Gay’s scholarship and leadership prior to appointing her.

Sometimes successful people have a hard time admitting mistakes, particularly when doing so will make the news.

So they have stuck their heads in the sand and they have made matters much worse.

Not only are they damaging Harvard’s and their own reputations, they are now materially damaging the black community.

By not acting to fire Gay for transgressions for which no other previous president of Harvard, administrator or faculty member would survive, they are telling the world that lower standards apply to black people at Harvard.

This is incredibly damaging to the many highly talented black faculty at Harvard.

Sadly, some will now question the legitimacy of faculty of color at Harvard because apparently lower academic and leadership standards are being applied to President Gay because of her intersectionality status.

In effect, the board’s failure to fire Gay delegitimizes other faculty of color at Harvard. This is very very wrong, and the Board needs to act now before more damage is done.

Someone on the Board must understand all of the above, but has yet to break ranks.

A word of advice: if you find yourself on a board which has lost its way and won’t reverse a disastrous decision for ego, personal fear, or other reasons, the best time to get off the board is now.

[Dahlia Scheindlin @dahliasc]

Shout-out to @Nimrod_Nir b/c not only is this the best, most detailed polling re: Isrl-Hamas war & related issues, not only super useful interval tracking &totally transparent/readable data, but also: you can *make yr own crosstabs.* People, this is big. https://t.co/jk2mzAmHEg

[MichaelRapaport @MichaelRapaport]

Thank you to @Eretz_Nehederet for having me on. It was an honor 🇮🇱

How'd I do as Dumbledore? 🧙🪄🔯

[Elad Simchayoff @Elad_Si]

LISTEN. TO. EVERY. SINGLE. WORD.

[Eylon Levy @EylonALevy]

The first question that left me speechless (but only for a second):

[Maria @Marinamos6]

@EylonALevy your facial expression is priceless! Kol hakavod for the answer! You made us all proud

[Under Maintenance @__maintenance]

@stats_feed #HamasislSIS

[Maria @Marinamos6]

https://t.co/lCDECdBrQE