Professor Tarek Masoud has established a series of events for the Harvard Kennedy School community to learn about the developments in Israel and Gaza and about possible pathways to peace. Consistent with the Kennedy School’s commitment to academic freedom for faculty members, Professor Masoud chose and invited the speakers for the series himself (as he has explained in a LinkedIn post).
The purpose of the series is to provide a venue for debate and discussion, recognizing that different views will be offered and challenged—including views that many at the Kennedy School and beyond may disagree with vehemently and even find repugnant. Dean Douglas Elmendorf personally finds abhorrent the comments by Dalal Saeb Iriqat quoted in the press that justify and normalize the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas.
The speakers in the series represent a wide range of viewpoints informed by their diverse backgrounds and experiences, and they will be interviewed and questioned by Professor Masoud. Speakers who have spoken so far or have accepted invitations to speak in this series include Americans, Israelis, Palestinians, and other Arabs: Abdel Monem Said Aly, Edward Djerejian, Matt Duss, Salam Fayyad, Shai Feldman, Dalal Saeb Iriqat, Amaney Jamal, Jared Kushner, Khalil Shikaki, and Einat Wilf. More speakers with a range of views will be announced this spring.
These speakers, like all speakers at the Kennedy School, must answer unfiltered questions from the audience as well as by the faculty member who invited them. An invitation to speak at the Kennedy School never implies an endorsement of a speaker’s views by the Kennedy School or members of the Kennedy School community.