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Joanne Lesley Malone, better known as Jo Malone, is a British perfume magnate whose son Josh Willcox is reportedly one of the organizers of the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee. The group recently released a pro-Palestine letter in which they blamed Israel for the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.
As per the New York Post, the letter was headlined “Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine” and read as follows:
“We, the undersigned students’ organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
As soon as the contents of the anti-Israeli letter and Josh Willcox’s identity surfaced on the internet, he was put under fire, with netizens condemning Jo Malone’s son.
Jo Malone is the founder of Jo Loves
The 59-year-old British perfumer Jo Malone is best known as the founder of the perfume brand Jo Malone London, which she established in 1990. However, she sold the company to its current owner, Estee Lauder Companies, in 1999, although she was involved in the business until 2006.
Later in 2011, she founded another perfume and cosmetics company called Jo Loves, which she runs from Dubai.
The native of South East London was part of BBC Radio 4’s popular show Desert Island Discs in 2015.
Jo Malone is married to former surveyor Gary Willcox, and together they have a son named Josh Willcox.
Jo Malone’s son earns severe backlash from netizens
Josh Willcox, the only child of Jo Malone, is allegedly part of the undergraduate Harvard Palestine Solidarity Group, which recently made headlines after releasing a pro-Palestine letter in which they held Israel accountable for the Hamas attack and the ongoing conflict. A part of the letter reads as follows:
“Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum. For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison.”
The letter further continued by stating that Palestinians in Gaza are being "massacred,” as Israel has “opened the gates of hell.” It further added how Palestinians in Gaza have no “refuge” or place to “escape,” and in the upcoming days will be forced to “bear the full brunt of Israel’s violence.” It also blamed the university for investing in “Israeli apartheid” and the ongoing conflict as "colonial retaliation.”
Since the letter went viral, Jo Malone’s son has received severe backlash from netizens.
It is noteworthy that this was not the first time Josh Willcox was part of a pro-Palestinian group. In fact, in January 2023, he penned an op-ed criticizing Harvard Kennedy School for offering a fellowship to a former senior Israeli military officer named Amos Yadlin. In it, he accused the school of “welcoming agents of colonial violence,” as reported by the New York Post.
In the following month, Malone’s son co-authored another op-ed with two of his fellow members from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee, Nadine Bahour and Shraddha Joshi, and deplored “Harvard’s anti-Palestinian racism and institutional bias towards Israeli policy.” Both of these columns were published in the campus newspaper, Harvard Crimson.
For those uninitiated, 22-year-old Josh Willcox is a senior at the Ivy League College and is pursuing a degree in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, with History and Arabic as his majors. He is also a member of the men’s fencing team, whose involvement in the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee was first reported by the Daily Mail.
Meanwhile, Jo Malone addressed the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and told Daily Mail in a statement:
“We as a family are heartbroken by the events of recent days and strongly condemn all forms of violence…Our hearts go out to those suffering terrible losses at this time and we send untold gratitude to all those selflessly risking their lives for others.”
She also added that the attack on civilians was beyond “what any family should endure” and urged that the violence be stopped and that leaders be able to find a “humanitarian resolution for all.”
Malone declined to comment on her son’s involvement in the letter.
On Saturday, October 7, the Hamas group from Palestine launched a surprise attack on Israeli soil, following which Israel deployed a counterstrike, leading to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. So far, over 1,500 people have died, with more than 4000 wounded and several hundred missing.
