Harlan Switzer
Overview
Harlan Switzer ripped down posters meant to raise awareness of Israeli civilians kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and held hostage in Gaza. The November 2023 incident occurred on the University of Chicago (UChicago) campus.As of November 2023, Switzer was listed on the UChicago online directory as “student” and “staff.”
As of the same date, Switzer’s LinkedIn profile said he was “a second-year at the University of Chicago, pursuing a double major in Economics with a Specialization in Business, and Mathematics, with a minor in Neuroscience.” Switzer is slated to graduate in 2026.
As of the same date, Switzer’s LinkedIn also said he worked as a barista at eX Libris Café, a student-run café at UChicago, since March 2023.
As of January 2024, Switzer’s LinkedIn said he was located in Chicago, Illinois.
As of the same date, Switzer’s LinkedIn profile said he was “a second-year at the University of Chicago, pursuing a double major in Economics with a Specialization in Business, and Mathematics, with a minor in Neuroscience.” Switzer is slated to graduate in 2026.
As of the same date, Switzer’s LinkedIn also said he worked as a barista at eX Libris Café, a student-run café at UChicago, since March 2023.
As of January 2024, Switzer’s LinkedIn said he was located in Chicago, Illinois.
Ripping Down Posters of Israeli Civilians Kidnapped by Hamas
On November 6, 2023, Switzer was filmed ripping down [00:00:36] a poster of an Israeli civilian kidnapped by Hamas terrorists. The incident occurred on the UChicago campus. Switzer was joined by Angela Jasmin Donis.When told [00:00:15] by the individual filming the incident that the posters were put up with permission and it was against university policy to remove them, Switzer continued tearing the poster down and then threw [00:00:54] it into a nearby trash can.
On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation. Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”
As of November 10, 2023, over 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.
As of December 25, 2023, Hamas had fired over 10,600 missiles from Gaza at Israeli communities, with Hamas claiming 5,000 the day it launched the attack. While Hamas was the main group involved, members of other terror groups also joined in the atrocities.
Many Palestinian civilians, including women and children, also participated in the attack. In several instances, Gazans who worked in the targeted Israeli communities gave intelligence to Hamas on where to strike.
In a December 2023 poll, 57% of Gazans and 82% of Palestinians in the West Bank supported the terror attacks. 42% of Gazans were supportive of Hamas rule, up from 38% before the attacks, and 44% in the West Bank supported Hamas, up from 12%.
Hamas began by launching thousands of rockets at Israel and using motorized paragliders “to infiltrate Israeli territory and secure terrain.” Terrorist ground forces destroyed parts of the border fence with Gaza, murdering and kidnapping soldiers.
Terrorists then turned their attention to 22 communities around Gaza, where they went house to house to savagely murder, mutilate and kidnap anyone they found. They executed children in front of their parents and parents in front of their children.
Terrorists beheaded children and babies, and massacred entire families, burning some alive who hid in their homes. Hamas terrorists kicked around the heads of beheaded victims like soccer balls. Israelis as young as an infant of nine months and as old as 85 were kidnapped and taken forcibly to Gaza. Hamas has not allowed the Red Cross access to the hostages.
Over 360 unarmed young men and women were surrounded and slaughtered at one music festival alone. Bodies were publicly desecrated, with some dragged through the streets of Gaza, then beheaded.
Women were raped next to the bodies of dead friends. Some were raped and then shot in the head. Others, including young girls, were raped and murdered or mutilated in other ways. Israeli officials opened an unprecedented investigation into the widespread sexual assault. Forensic analysis of corpses showed evidence of torture and rape. Hamas terrorists said they were given explicit orders to carry out the atrocities, including chopping off legs and raping the corpses of murdered victims.
A terrorist detained by Israel admitted he raped an Israeli woman when he broke into a kibbutz house during the October 7, 2023 attack. In March 2024, a former hostage of Hamas publicly stated she was sexually abused and tortured while in captivity.
Hamas intentionally targeted youth centers and elementary schools to execute and kidnap children. They also took stimulant drugs to give added energy to murder and maim. Nazis also took drugs during World War II to fuel their anti-Semitic massacres.
The atrocities were acknowledged as the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, including by U.S. President Joe Biden, who also compared Hamas to ISIS. Hamas attacked on the annual holiday of Simchat Torah, which that year was on Shabbat, the weekly Jewish Sabbath.
The Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians are crimes against humanity according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The mass murder generated great sympathy for Israel from many countries but led to countless celebrations among Palestinians and anti-Israel organizations in America that back the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Hamas called the October 7, 2023 terror attacks “Al-Aqsa Flood,” a reference to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before Israel was founded in 1948. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, European Union, Israel and other countries. Founded in 1987, it has killed thousands of Israeli civilians through mass shootings and suicide bombings. Hamas has also kidnapped children, families and the elderly and held them hostage in Gaza. It has desecrated [slide 2] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/harlanswitzerTwitter:https://twitter.com/harlanpswitzer
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/harlan.switzer/ [Private]
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/harlan-switzer/
- Status:
- Student
- University:
- U of C
- Organizations:
- N/A
- Related Profiles:
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
Videos
1 videos
Photos & Screenshots
12 images