Jewish Harvard Grad Who Faced Harassment on Campus Addresses RNC to Thunderous Applause

A recent Harvard graduate suing the school for enabling antisemitism received thunderous applause at the Republican National Convention Wednesday evening as he condemned the radicalism that has swept the Ivy League university and campuses across the country.

Shabbos Kestenbaum, who graduated from Harvard Divinity School this spring, recounted his unexpected journey to the frontlines of the fight against antisemitism after Hamas massacred more than 1,000 Israelis on October 7.

JUST NOW: @ShabbosK received a huge applause at the RNC when he announced that he is the “proud plaintiff suing Harvard University for its failure to combat antisemitism.” pic.twitter.com/5NudRDqQRP

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) July 18, 2024

“When I planted 1,200 Israeli and American flags on campus, they were all vandalized within 24 hours,” Kestenbaum said. “I was harassed by my peers merely for being a Jew, and have received death threats online.”

Kestenbaum recalled how Harvard “students and professors have openly called for Hamas-style attacks against the United States.” Eventually, he said he realized that he was immersed in a culture “that is anti-Western, anti-American, and anti-Semitic.” 

Although he registered as a Democrat when he turned 18 and once voted for Bernie Sanders, Kestenbaum said the Democratic Party has become “ideologically poisoned.” 

“I now recognize that the far left has abandoned not only the Jewish people, but the American people,” Kestenbaum said. “This corruption…is infecting too many young American students.”

Kestenbaum encouraged the crowd to vote for a president who will “instill patriotism in our schools,” “confront terrorism and its supporters,” and one who understands that “Jewish values are American values, and American values are Jewish values.”

Kestenbaum told The Daily Wire shortly before his speech that he was nervous but excited to address “tens of thousands of patriots, including the former President of the United States,” Donald Trump.

Shabbos Kestenbaum entering MIT’s anti-Israel encampment on May 3, 2024. (Photo: Kassy Akiva/The Daily Wire)

His peers were less than enthusiastic when his speech was announced, but Kestenbaum said they helped make it happen.

“Given that 97 percent of Harvard faculty identify as liberal, it is no surprise that my classmates are condemning my participation at the Republican convention,” he said. “I’d like to remind them that had they not insisted on supporting terrorism, vandalizing American flags, and harassing Jewish students, I wouldn’t have to be here.”

Kestenbaum is one of several student plaintiffs who sued Harvard in January for enabling antisemitism and selectively enforcing its policies to avoid protecting Jewish students from harassment.

The lawsuit describes the on-campus response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack: mobs occupying buildings, promoting violence, and assaulting Jews. It also accuses the administration and professors of promulgating antisemitism and dismissing concerns from Jewish students.

“Harvard, America’s leading university, has become a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment,” the lawsuit states. “Mobs of pro-Hamas students and faculty have marched by the hundreds through Harvard’s campus, shouting vile antisemitic slogans and calling for death to Jews and Israel.”

A Harvard employee harassed Kestenbaum in January, challenging him to debate antisemitic conspiracy theories about 9/11 and posting a video of himself talking about Kestenbaum while waving a toy machete. Harvard took more than three months to terminate the employee, a financial and systems coordinator for the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations.

Anti-Israel protester at MIT: “Respectfully, we do not trust your intentions.”

Jewish student: “Respectfully, f*** off!”

Watch a Jewish student fight to enter MIT’s anti-Israel encampment. Police eventually agree to give him an escort. pic.twitter.com/lKeXr829TW

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) May 3, 2024

In May, Kestenbaum visited Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s anti-Israel encampment, where he was initially denied entry until he was provided a police escort. In a Daily Wire video, Kestenbaum is seen entering the video with police and standing up to the protesters. 

“I want to let all of you know that you’re not going to intimidate Jewish people,” he told the campers. “You can hide behind your masks as long as you want, we will not be scared.”

“All of you should be ashamed of yourselves,” he added. “This is the state of being Jewish in America, I need police to exercise my First Amendment right.”