TEHRAN - The U.S. government's pressures on Harvard University and other educational institutions in the country have entered harsher and more overt stages. 

In the latest instance, Donald Trump announced that Harvard University, one of America’s most prestigious institutions, will lose its tax-exempt status. Zionist lobbies in the U.S., along with the country’s two main political parties (Democrats and Republicans), have accused Harvard and other academic centers of political bias and anti-Semitism following widespread student protests in support of Palestine.

Several students have been barred from studying, and some remain detained in Federal Police and National Security Agency prisons, under the silence of Western media. 

Trump recently claimed that the next chapter of American history will be written without mentioning "Harvard University"! American policymakers, in this regard, are suffering from cognitive errors, the effects of which are evident in their rhetoric and actions.

The following components of this cognitive error need to be addressed:

1 - Persistent Hatred of the Zionist Regime:

Trump and his White House allies, much like Democrats, believe that the hatred toward the occupying Zionist regime in American public and academic spaces is "temporary and transient," tied to the Gaza war and the continuation of Zionist genocide. However, this hatred is enduring and targets the very nature of the occupying regime. While the events in Palestine over the past two years have significantly fueled this authentic hatred, its persistence is not contingent on the continuation or cessation of the Gaza war.

2- Generational Shift in America:

The new generation in America is not beholden to the overarching policies of the country’s two traditional parties or the overt and covert power lobbies. The primary reason for the shared anger of Washington and Tel Aviv toward Harvard University stems from a notable December 2023 poll (during the height of the Gaza war), which revealed that 51% of Americans aged 18–24 believe the ultimate solution to the Palestine issue is the complete return of occupied Palestinian land to its rightful owners. Significantly, not only Harvard but also other American educational and research institutions have been strongly prohibited from conducting similar surveys over the past year and a half. Undoubtedly, the current repressive and biased actions against American academic institutions, combined with the independent monitoring of Palestinian developments by America’s new generation, have further strengthened the inclination to move beyond Zionism among this generation.

3- Invalidation of the Fabricated Washington-Tel Aviv Narrative on Palestine:

Even if Trump erases Harvard University from American history and strips all pro-Palestinian students of citizenship or deports them, he cannot restore the power to reproduce the Zionists’ fabricated narrative about the occupation of Palestine. The White House must accept the reality that the American public’s focus, particularly among the youth and students, on the roots of the Gaza war has led them to uncover the true story of Palestine’s occupation. Consequently, the West’s narrative of this tragic saga (which has served the goals and interests of humanity’s enemies) has been invalidated in their minds.

4 - The Post-Zionist Era and Transition to a New Global Order:

Another factor in which Trump and other American officials suffer from a profound cognitive error is the reality surrounding the current and future global order. While the White House clings to the illusion of reviving a unipolar system, a new global order is rapidly taking shape with a critical perspective. The transition from the Western order affects not only narratives but also the structures and broader contexts. Escaping this reality cannot prevent its inevitable realization—a principle that American supporters of the Zionist regime have Minnesotely still struggled to comprehend.

(Mohammad Mehdi Imanipour is the Head of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization.)