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PortugueseA visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies is a supporter of the Iranian regime and on record for promoting anti-Semitism, reports indicate.
Ali Akbar Alikhani, an associate professor at the University of Tehran, is involved in a project at Harvard University centered on “peace and peaceful coexistence in Islam,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
An example of Alikhani’s hostility to Jews is his promotion of an Arabic-language book – titled The Jewish Threat-Danger to Christianity – as “strong and good” in a review. The book should “show the quality and the method of the Jewish threat,” he wrote.
Iranian-backed academics he has cited in his work include, for instance, Roger Garaudy, a French scholar known for denying the Holocaust, and Rachid Ghannouchi, a Tunisian Islamist figure who has promoted violence against Jewish people and heads a group that is accused of having ties to Hamas.
Harvard did not respond to repeated requests for comment by the Beacon. Alikhani, however, did reply to questions regarding his work.
Barely Writes English, but Teaches at Harvard
“My research area always has been on political thought in Islam and [the] Islamic world,” he said. “In recent years, I am focusing on peace and peaceful coexistence in Islam. My research project at Harvard is The Islamic Model of peaceful Coexistence. I have never work on Judaism or leadership [sic].”
“What? He can barely write English, and is teaching at Harvard? That’s what holding politically correct opinions — support for jihad terror, hatred of Jews and Israel — will get you today,” Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch declared. “Imagine if Ali Akbar Alikhani opposed jihad terror and explored how jihadis use Islamic texts and teachings to justify hatred and violence. Do you think Harvard would have hired him? Not in a million years.”
“Time after time, Western institutions lend academic credibility and a platform to extremists who operate unchallenged through the guise of interfaith dialogue,” said Sam Westrop, research director of the advocacy group Americans for Peace and Tolerance. “By legitimizing a die-hard regime supporter like Alikhani as a voice of Shia Islam, Harvard is betraying the thousands of authentically moderate Iranian Muslims working to free their faith from the tyranny of the violent Iranian theocracy.”
According to the Beacon, “the school’s decision to align itself with an ally of the Iranian regime has elicited criticism from some academics, who accuse the Ivy League school of betraying moderate Iranian voices who seek greater ties with the Western world.”
By: United with Israel Staff
(With files from the Washington Free Beacon)
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