Tehran – The US government’s pressure on Harvard University and other educational institutions across the country is entering a more severe and more obvious stage.
In his latest example, Donald Trump announced that Harvard University, one of America’s most well-known institutions, will lose its tax-free status. The US Zionist lobby, along with two major political parties in the country (Democrats and Republicans), denounced Harvard and other academic centers for political bias and anti-Semitism after extensive student protests in support of Palestine.
Several students are prohibited from studying, some remain detained in federal police and National Security Agency prisons under the silence of Western media.
Trump recently insisted that the next chapter in American history will be written without mentioning “Harvard University”! In this regard, American policymakers suffer from cognitive errors, and their effects are evident in rhetoric and behavior.
The following components of this cognitive error must be addressed:
1- Enduring hatred of the Zionist regime:
Trump and his White House allies, like Democrats, believe that hatred of the occupied Zionist regime in the public and academic spaces of America is “temporary and temporary” and is linked to the Gaza War and the continuation of Zionist genocide. However, this hatred is permanent and targets the essence of the occupying regime. Events in Palestine over the past two years have greatly promoted this authentic hatred, but its persistence does not depend on the continuation or halt of the Gaza War.
2-Changes in the American Generation:
The new generation of America is not seen in the country’s two traditional political parties and the comprehensive policies of the obvious and hidden power lobby. The main reason Washington and Tel Aviv were shared towards Harvard University comes from a notable December 2023 poll (during the Gaza War). This is because 51% of Americans aged 18-24 believe that the ultimate solution to the Palestinian problem is the complete return of occupied Palestinian land to its correct owner. Importantly, not only Harvard, but other American educational and research institutions, are strongly prohibited from conducting similar research over the past year and a half. Undoubtedly, combined with the independent surveillance of Palestinian development by a new generation in America, the current oppressive and biased behavior of American academic institutions further strengthened the trend of moving beyond Zionism among this generation.
3-Made-Invalidation of the Washington Tel Aviv Story in Palestine:
Even if Trump wiped Harvard from American history and all pro-Palestinian students take away or expel them, he cannot restore his power to recreate the Zionist manufactured narratives of Palestinian occupation. The White House must embrace the reality that the focus of the American people, especially among young people and students, focuses on the roots of the Gaza War. As a result, the Western tale of this tragic story (which served the goals and interests of human enemies) is invalidated in their minds.
4-Post Zionist Era and the Migration to a New Global Order:
Another factor that Trump and other American officials suffer from deep cognitive errors is the reality surrounding the global order of the present and future. The White House clings to the illusion of reviving the unipolar system, but a new global order is rapidly taking shape. The transition from the Western order affects not only the narrative, but also the structure and broader context. Escape from this reality cannot prevent that inevitable perception. This is the principle that American supporters of the Zionist regime still struggle to understand in Minnesaw.
(Mohammad Mehdi Imanipour is the head of Islamic culture and related organizations.)