April 20, 2025, Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University and Harvard Square scenes with students and pedestrians. Photo: Kenneth Martin/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect

Two Harvard University students who were charged with assaulting a Jewish classmate they suspected of holding pro-Israel beliefs were spared a criminal trial on Monday, being ordered by Boston Municipal Court Judge Stephen W. McClenon to attend “pre-trial diversion” anger management courses and perform 80 hours of community service each.

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, an October 2023 anti-Israel demonstration degenerated into chaos when Ibrahim Bharmal, former editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, and Elom Tettey-Tamaklo encircled a Jewish student with a mob that screamed “Shame! Shame! Shame!” at him while he desperately attempted to free himself from the mass of bodies. The two graduate students were charged with assault and battery in May.

The penalties imposed on the men by McClenon will not require their apologizing to the Jewish student against whom they allegedly perpetrated what local Assistant District Attorney Ursula Knight described as “hands on assault and battery,” allowing them to avoid a trial and jail time for behavior that was filmed and widely viewed online.

A Jewish student at Harvard University harassed by anti-Israel protesters. Photo: Screenshot

“He [the victim] did nothing wrong leading up to this incident and nothing wrong during this incident,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin R. Hayden, who also worked on the case, wrote to McClenon — according to excerpts of court documents shared by The Harvard Crimson. “Our request that the defendants in this matter issue an apology and an admission of wrongdoing was entirely appropriate and reasonable.”

Legal counsel for Bharmal and Tettey-Tamaklo celebrated McClenon’s decision in measured terms.

“We are pleased that the court agreed with us that a diversion was the appropriate resolution of this case,” said defense attorney Naomi R. Shatz.

According to a previous report by The Washington Free Beacon, Bharmal has been continuously rewarded with new and better opportunities since allegedly assaulting the Jewish student. Harvard neither disciplined him nor removed him from the presidency of the Harvard Law Review, a coveted post once held by former US President Barack Obama. As of last year, he was awarded a law clerkship with the Public Defender for the District of Columbia, a government-funded agency which provides free legal counsel to “individuals … who are charged with committing serious criminal acts.”

In 2023, The Harvard Crimson reported that the university suspended Tettey-Tamaklo indefinitely from his role as a proctor at the Harvard Divinity school, where he was a student. Tettey-Tamaklo was also ordered to vacate free housing he received as compensation for holding the position, which involves mentoring first-year students.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.