It might seem like a safe move: condemn violence on both sides of the conflict in the Middle East and express support for Israelis and Palestinians alike because of the losses they’ve suffered. But in a moment this heavy with emotion and rage, few moves are safe.

U.S. companies, politicians, universities and school districts who took that approach found themselves under fire from Jewish groups and others for appearing to downplay what began this crisis a week ago: a militant attack by Hamas on Israel that killed hundreds of civilians.

Jewish parents in the suburbs of Boston, Washington and elsewhere protested after their school leaders put out statements that sought a measure of neutrality. Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass, appearing at a vigil in Boston, was booed when he called for “deescalation of the current violence.”

And at Stanford University, faculty protested after university leaders wrote to students about “the devastating crisis in Israel and Palestine” without calling out Hamas as the aggressor. After a series of anti-Israel and antisemitic messages and incidents spread across campus, Stanford’s president and provost sent a lengthy letter describing some of them and referring to “horrifying new details about the Hamas attack in Israel last weekend, which involved intolerable atrocities including murder of civilians and kidnapping.”

This was the dynamic in the initial days of fighting, as bodies of Israelis of all ages were found and stories of hostage-taking spread fear and anger. What’s unknown is how the mood might shift as Israel forces continue laying siege to Gaza, cutting off all water and electricity, and then launch a full-scale counteroffensive, which could mean enormous civilian casualties among Palestinians who have nowhere to flee.

Figuring out what to say has gripped college campuses in particular; conflict in the Middle East has for decades fueled student and faculty activism and divided academic communities.

At Harvard University, for instance, the student organizations that make up the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee issued a statement in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack saying the “Israeli regime” is “entirely responsible for all the unfolding violence.” That prompted a rebuke from former Harvard President Larry H. Summers, who wrote on social media that he was “sickened” by the university’s “silence.”

Administrators then issued a statement, expressing hope that Harvard could “modulate rather than amplify the deep-seated divisions.” Several leaders of the Harvard Divinity School urged a reframing of the events to look not just at the Hamas attack but at “decades of oppression” on the part of Israel. Those sentiments, in turn, prompted a critical open-letter response from dozens of faculty members. After that came yet another statement, this time from Harvard President Claudine Gay, condemning Hamas’ actions as “terrorist atrocities.”

Corporate leaders, too, have struggled to walk an appropriate line between acknowledging a traumatic moment and weighing the very real business risks of saying the wrong thing.

Their dilemma is familiar. In 2020, after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer sparked nationwide protests, some chief executives issued statements that failed to capture the moment, while others faced employee anger for saying nothing. Since then, companies such as Disney, Target and Anheuser-Busch have been swept up in the nation’s cultural and political battles.

This week, many proceeded gingerly.

Chipmaker Intel, which counts more than 11,700 employees at five facilities in Israel, told Reuters it was “closely monitoring” the situation there and “taking steps to safeguard and support our workers.”

Microsoft condemned the “hatred and brutality” and pointed to “acts of terrorism” without naming Hamas. A statement from Kathleen Hogan, the company’s chief human resources officer, expressed sympathy for Israelis who have been killed, injured or lost loved ones and said the company’s main focus was the safety of its nearly 3,000 workers there. It also addressed Microsoft’s Jewish and Palestinian employees globally, noting the fears and concerns that each group is feeling.

At Starbucks, the dispute was between the corporation and some employees. In now-deleted social media posts, Starbucks Workers United, a group seeking to unionize the coffee chain, expressed “solidarity with Palestine.” After a backlash from conservative media outlets, Starbucks issued its own statement that the company “unequivocally” condemns “acts of terrorism, hate and violence.” It added, “Workers United’s words and actions belong to them, and them alone.”

Other business leaders were more overtly pro-Israel, including Bill Ackman, an outspoken hedge fund manager whose philanthropic work has included Jewish causes. He lashed out against the Harvard students behind the anti-Israel statement and said several chief executives wanted to know the identities of those involved “so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members.”

Political groups also risked alienating even strong supporters. In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack, the Democratic Socialists of America expressed “solidarity with Palestine” and wrote on Instagram: “Today’s events are the direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime.”

That infuriated comedian Sarah Silverman, who said she had been a lifetime member. She unleashed a profanity-filled tirade that excoriated the organization for failing to understand the violence perpetrated on Israelis by Hamas.

Some school districts learned the same lesson about how hard, or perhaps impossible, it is to get their message right.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, which has the state’s largest school system, Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight wrote families midweek to warn parents about upsetting videos and images from the attacks that were circulating on social media. She noted that many in the community were experiencing fear, anxiety and grief.

Jewish groups responded that this was both overdue and inadequate, saying several area school districts had fallen short but directing particular anger at Montgomery. “Our school systems’ refusal to honestly name the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust is infuriating and disheartening to our entire community,” the D.C. branches of the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Anti-Defamation League declared.

The pushback came in the opposite direction in Northern Virginia after school board meetings in Arlington County, where the superintendent opened the session by expressing support for the Jewish community, and Fairfax County, where the board took a moment of silence to honor the “victims, their loved ones and the entire Jewish community who are suffering from Saturday’s vicious terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel.”

In Arlington, Shayma Al-Hanooti asked during a public comment period why the district was not recognizing Palestinians: “I heard your remarks about the safety of our Jewish students. Can we expect to hear similar comments extended to your Muslim and Palestinian families and staff?”

And in Fairfax, school board member Abrar Omeish asked why “we buy into a rhetoric that negates not only the humaneness of Palestinians, but justifies the indiscriminate retaliation against the population.”

Experts in corporate communications offer mixed advice. Some say the smartest move is to say nothing.

Vikas Mittal, a professor of management and marketing at Rice University, cautions against statements that appear to take a side or justify actions as “right or wrong.” Given the horror of Hamas’ attack on Israel, he would have counseled companies to say nothing or to speak up only after days of careful deliberation. Statements nowadays travel far and wide thanks to social media, he noted, making responses all that much riskier.

“A lot of corporate communications departments will say, ‘We condemn that’ or ‘we condemn this’ … rather than listening and understanding and then commenting on something,” he said.

Others recommend bolder steps. Sandy Lish, co-founder of the Boston-based Castle Group, which provides crisis management advice to colleges and universities as well as K-12 private schools, said she is telling clients to clearly identify Hamas as the aggressor and Israelis as the victims. It’s not that Palestinian lives do not matter, she stressed; it’s that this is a time for condemning the assault for what it was.

“This is a terrorist attack on innocent Jewish people,” she said. “That’s what the schools should be saying. That’s what happened.”