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The son of British perfume magnate Jo Malone has tried to distance himself from a much-maligned letter to Harvard University, written by a student group he led, that blamed Israel for Hamas terror attacks.
Josh Willcox, 22, is named as one of three students leading the Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), according to Harvard’s list of student groups.
The PSC issued a letter on October 7, co-signed by 33 other Harvard student organizations, stating: “We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime that is fully responsible for all the unfolding violence.”
Willcox now claims he had nothing to do with the letter his organization wrote, saying he was not on campus when it was written.
His mother — who sold her Jo Malone brand to Estee Lauder in 1999 for an amount described as “undisclosed millions,” and now runs her own Jo Loves brand — immediately dismissed her son’s group’s statement, describing the Hamas attacks as ‘abhorrent’.
But only on Saturday, after a week of mounting anger and widespread disgust, Willcox insisted he had no involvement in its drafting.
“Contrary to the PSC’s open letter, I believe that anyone who violates civilians is solely responsible for their actions,” he wrote on Instagram.
“I therefore do not support the letter’s attribution of blame to Israel for Saturday’s attacks.”
Josh Willcox (left), son of perfume magnate Jo Malone (center) is listed as one of three Harvard students leading the Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee. He was also pictured with his father Gary Willcox at a swanky London party in 2017
The letter caused a huge backlash after 33 student associations supported the PSC’s statement “holding the Israeli regime fully responsible for all the unfolding violence.”
Willcox, a senior studying Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, insisted he had not been to Harvard all semester.
DailyMail.com has contacted Willcox and Malone seeking clarification.
He also emphasized in his Instagram post that he had nothing to do with writing the letter.
Willcox said he wrote the Instagram post “to express my personal views regarding the open letter.”
He wrote: ‘In recent days we have seen horrific massacres in Israel and as I write this we are watching one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises unfold in Gaza.’
Willcox continued, “Throughout my time at university, I tried to stand up for the human rights of all people, even when our campus and global community seemed heartbreakingly silent.
“My organization has always been an explicit support of nonviolent advocacy in the hope of achieving dignity for Palestinians living under an internationally recognized occupation.
“May we never stop advocating the right of every individual to live a life of peace and dignity.”
Willcox has been an active member of the PSC throughout his time at Harvard, writing op-eds in the Harvard Crimson student newspaper and speaking at meetings.
In an editorial published by the campus newspaper earlier this year, Willcox denounced “the brutal oppression of Palestinians” by “an apartheid regime,” a reference to Israel.
He criticized the Harvard Kennedy School for granting a fellowship to Amos Yadlin, a former senior officer in the Israeli army.
He accused Harvard of “welcoming agents of colonial violence.”
Supporters of Palestine will meet at Harvard University on October 14. When the terrorist attacks were launched by Hamas on October 7, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee released a statement co-signed by 33 other Harvard student organizations, stating: “We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime fully responsible for all the unfolding violence’
Harvard students during the October 14 meeting on campus
The students behind the letter have been condemned for blaming Israel.
Many of the leaders of the 33 organizations and the Solidarity Committee have been named and faced calls to be blacklisted from future jobs. An NYU law student had her job offer rescinded, and on Sunday a Berkeley law professor called on law firms to refuse to hire “my anti-Semitic students.”
On Wednesday, the Harvard Arab Alumni Association wrote a letter to its members asking for help in supporting the students.
“They may need legal advice, health care, mental health support, financial assistance or mentorship to navigate these turbulent and uncertain times,” the group said.
“They have been subjected to relentless bullying and intimidation,” the association said in a letter obtained by reporter John Hasson.
‘This situation is rapidly deteriorating as some students find their names on watchlists, posing serious risks to their immigration status and future career prospects.
“Our request and plea to all of you is to reach out to these students and provide the vital assistance they need, within your means and scope of influence.”
Neither Harvard nor the association responded to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
“Today’s events did not take place in a vacuum,” their Oct. 7 statement read.
“For the past twenty years, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to “open the gates of hell,” and the massacres in Gaza have already begun.
“In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israeli violence. The apartheid regime is solely to blame,” the report continues.
Claudine Gay, Harvard’s president, said days later that the letter does not speak for the educational institution as a whole or its leadership.
Her comments came after some criticized Harvard’s administration for taking too long to denounce the student letter.
She apologized again on Friday.
Gay said the university rejects terrorism, hatred and intimidation based on people’s beliefs while embracing free speech, even “views that many of us find objectionable and even scandalous.”
She wrote: “We do not punish or sanction people for expressing objectionable or outrageous views.
‘But that is far from endorsing it. It is in the exercise of our freedom of speech that we reveal our characters and that we reveal the character of our institution.”
Harvard President Claudine Gay (pictured) has finally condemned the ‘terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel’ – in defiance of 34 student groups at the Ivy League institution that have pledged support to the militants
The death toll in Israel has surpassed 1,300 as the country plots a bloody revenge
An aerial photo shows the bodies of victims of the Hamas attack on the Kfar Aza kibbutz on Tuesday
Troops remove the bodies of victims killed during an attack by Hamas terrorists in Kfar Aza on Tuesday
More than a million people have fled their homes in the Gaza Strip expected Israeli invasion which aims to eliminate Hamas’s leadership.
Aid agencies warn that an Israeli ground offensive could precipitate a humanitarian crisis.
Israeli forces, backed by US warships, have positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and embarked on what Israel says would be a broad campaign to dismantle the militant group.
A week of blistering airstrikes has devastated neighborhoods but failed to stop militant rocket fire into Israel.
The war that started on October 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides, with more than 4,000 people killed.
Gaza’s health ministry said 2,750 Palestinians were killed and 9,700 injured.