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.

HBS Statement on Halutz

Below is Harvard Business School's response to media inquiries about its decision to train notorious war criminal Dan Halutz.

If you think that HBS should broaden its sources when evaluating applicants who are potential war criminals beyond the abusers' own employers -- say, to include reports by major human rights organizations -- please write in. Click here for some of the many letters that have already been sent.

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From: James Aisner
Date: May 18, 2007 12:15 AM
Subject: HBS Statement

Daniel Halutz - formerly chief of the general staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) - participated this spring in Harvard Business School's 8-week Advanced Management Program (AMP) under the sponsorship of the IDF.

The purpose of AMP is to bring diverse groups of senior executives together to achieve a broader perspective on global strategic issues. In addition to drawing leaders from global business and industry, AMP has long attracted military leaders from the U.S. and other countries around the world.

As with similar programs at other business schools, all participants are sponsored at the most senior levels of their organizations. HBS relies on the information provided by and the judgment of these sponsoring organizations in accepting participants to its executive education programs.

Jim Aisner
Director of Media Relations
Harvard Business School
Boston, MA 02163