Harvard University pro-Palestine groups are under fire after they recently posted a “deeply offensive antisemitic” cartoon, the latest controversy at the divided campus since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

The groups over the weekend shared the old antisemitic cartoon on social media — depicting Jews as puppet masters, lynching an Arab person and a Black person. The Jewish hand in the cartoon had a Star of David, and a dollar sign was placed inside the star.

The student groups that initially posted the cartoon were the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee and the African and African American Resistance Organization. The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee was the group back in October that blamed Israel for the Hamas terrorist attacks.

After the student organizations posted the cartoon, the Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine shared the post in an Instagram story.

The university, which has been criticized for its response to rising antisemitism on campus, called the post “despicable” and said it’s investigating the matter.

“The university is aware of social media posts today containing deeply offensive antisemitic tropes and messages from organizations whose membership includes Harvard affiliates,” a Harvard spokesperson said in a statement. “Such despicable messages have no place in the Harvard community. We condemn these posts in the strongest possible terms.

“This matter is being reviewed by the University and is being referred to the Harvard College Administrative Board, which is responsible for the application and enforcement of undergraduate academic regulations and social conduct,” the spokesperson added. “Harvard rejects antisemitism in all of its forms. We are determined to combat any such hate and bias in our community.”

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The antisemitic illustration in the post was from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, from back in the 1960s. The post was linking the Black liberation movements and the Palestinian liberation movements.

“The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee likened Zionism to an imperial project… while the Black Panther Party aligned itself with the Palestinian resistance, framing both struggles as a unified front against racism, Zionism, and imperialism,” the post read.

Harvard *faculty* just posted an explicitly antisemitic poster depicting a Jewish hand controlling the black mind. With Professors like these, it’s easy to see why we Jewish students don’t feel safe in class pic.twitter.com/AiqADJSIFw

— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) February 19, 2024

Jewish groups condemned the organizations that posted and shared the cartoon.

“Members of Harvard *faculty* posting old-school classic antisemitic posters. Note the $ sign placed in the star of david depicted below,” Harvard Chabad wrote. “This should be called what it is. Reprehensible. Bigoted. Hateful.”

Harvard Hillel called the post “deeply disturbing.”

“This post follows an alarming increase in antisemitism on our campus in recent weeks, including the defacing of hostage posters with blood-red paint, chants of ‘From water to water, Palestine is Arab’ at a pro-Palestinian rally, and a staff member claiming that Israel, not Al-Qaeda, was behind the 9/11 attacks,” Hillel added.

“We refuse to allow any group to define our identities or dictate our values,” Hillel wrote. “We will continue to call upon our administration to take action against virulent antisemitism at Harvard and strengthen our Jewish community.”

The student groups later removed the antisemitic cartoon from the post. The groups said the illustration was “not reflective of our values.”

“Our mutual goals for liberation will always include the Jewish community — and we regret inadvertently including an image that played upon antisemitic tropes,” the groups wrote.

The Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine also took down the post.

“It has come to our attention that a post featuring antiquated cartoons which used offensive antisemitic tropes was linked to our account,” the group wrote. “We removed the content as soon as it came to our attention. We apologize for the hurt that these images have caused and do not condone them in any way.”