Wikileaks: State Department Briefed Washington on Halutz Campaign

Thanks to the latest trove of Wikileaks cables made publicly available, we now know that the campaign to expose Harvard's sordid links to alleged war criminals such as General Dan Halutz came to the attention of the highest levels of the U.S. government.

A cable sent from the U.S. Embassy in Israel to the White House and other agencies on 15 May, 2007 noted a prominent local media report about the "Wanted for Crimes of War" poster for Halutz that we distributed:

Among the many items from the Israeli media on that day, the report about our protest likely drew the State Department's attention due to its longstanding desire to shield Israel from accountability for alleged war crimes, as cables detailing its arm-twisting of world governments over the Goldstone report make clear.

It is not clear what action, if any, was taken on the basis of this information, but we do know it was stored on a database accessible to hundreds of thousands of Department of Defense employees—including, presumably, those responsible for spying on activist groups inside the U.S. Meanwhile, other cables released by Wikileaks have revealed the extent of overseas U.S. efforts to suppress the growing boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign to end Israel's discriminatory and repressive practices.

Goodbye, Good Riddance

Cambridge, MA (24 May) -- Notorious war criminal Dan Halutz [dossier] completed his course in Harvard Business School's two-month Advanced Management Program (AMP) yesterday.

Halutz, former head of the Israeli military, orchestrated the indiscriminate bombing of Lebanon last summer, killing up to 1,200 civilians. Major human rights organizations condemned his policies as amounting to war crimes. It is not clear if Halutz managed to wow faculty and students at HBS with his tips on cluster bombing and how-to pep talks on strafing ambulances.

The Harvard-based Alliance for Justice in the Middle East (AJME) launched a public safety campaign last week to alert the community to Halutz's presence. AJME circulated mock WANTED posters for Halutz on campus and printed his likeness on helium balloons to help boost awareness.

As Halutz is a "flight risk," AJME has put up WANTED notices to warn travelers at Boston's Logan international airport and notified authorities there to keep their eyes peeled for the suspect.


AJME's efforts this past week were covered by international media and its website, http://harvardwarcriminals.blogspot.com, received over 12,000 unique visits in the first ten days.

The Halutz campaign is part of a broader effort by AJME to end Harvard's pattern of hiring and training known war criminals and human rights abusers, regardless of nationality. AJME's research over the past 1.5 years has revealed at least six individuals who had public records of personal or command responsibility for specific war crimes and human rights abuses before coming to Harvard. AJME welcomes any information about other Harvard-affiliated abusers who meet the same criteria.

Search for Halutz reaches new "heights"

Cambridge, MA (22 May) -- The ongoing campaign to alert the Harvard community to the presence of war criminal Dan Halutz [dossier] rose to new heights today, with activists fanning out across campus and distributing mock WANTED posters to concerned citizens, including some printed on helium balloons.


The Harvard-based Alliance for Justice in the Middle East (AJME) resorted to the use of helium balloons in the hopes that the added height would boost efforts to keep an eye out for the elusive war criminal. The posters call upon anyone finding Halutz to contact the International Criminal Court.


AJME launched its Halutz campaign last week as part of a larger effort to expose known war criminals and human rights abusers hired and trained by Harvard.

Halutz, a former head of the Israeli military, has presided over large-scale and systematic violations of international law in Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza. He is now rubbing elbows with top CEOs and business leaders at one of HBS’ $56,000, two-month executive training programs.


The Harvard war criminals campaign has received international attention in the first week of its public launch, appearing in Time.com, Al Jazeera (English), Guardian Online, Hurriyet (Turkey), The News International (Pakistan), among others. Ma’ariv, one of Israel’s largest daily newspapers, featured the WANTED poster of Halutz prominently on its front page.