The president of Harvard University has issued an apology for controversial remarks she made during a congressional hearing on antisemitism on American college campuses.

Dr. Claudine Gay faced criticism for her response to a question about whether calls for the genocide of Jews constituted harassment under university policy, stating that it depended on the context.

Alongside two other university presidents who gave similar answers, Dr. Gay has since expressed regret, acknowledging the impact of words in amplifying distress and pain.

This marks the second occasion that Harvard's first black president has sought to clarify comments that garnered national condemnation, with some calling for her resignation.

The criticism revolves around Harvard and other Ivy League schools being accused of inadequate protection for Jewish students amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, which has seen a surge in antisemitic incidents in the United States.

At Tuesday's hearing before the Republican-led House Education and Workforce Committee, Dr. Gay - along with the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - was challenged on university policies and procedures to combat antisemitism.

Near the end of the nearly six-hour hearing, New York Republican Elise Stefanik asked the three women: "Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university's] code of conduct or rules regarding bullying and harassment? Yes or no?"

Each witness evaded a direct answer, saying "it depends on the context".

Dr Gay further added that Harvard only takes action when the speech "crosses into conduct that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation".

Ms Stefanik had previously asked about contentious phrases commonly used by some members of the Pro-Palestinian movement, which Dr Gay said she found personally "abhorrent".

Dr Gay and the other college presidents also stated their support for Israel and opposition to antisemitism, but Dr Gay said her comments during the now viral exchange with Ms Stefanik were a mistake.

"What I should have had the presence of mind to do in that moment was return to my guiding truth, which is that calls for violence against our Jewish community — threats to our Jewish students — have no place at Harvard, and will never go unchallenged," she said in her interview with the Harvard Crimson.

Dr Gay and the other leaders' testimony has since sparked growing backlash both on and off campus.

Harvard Hillel, a Jewish campus organisation, said in a statement on Tuesday that the testimony "calls into question [Dr Gay's] ability to protect Jewish students on Harvard's campus".

And on Thursday, Rabbi David Wolpe - who had only weeks earlier joined a Harvard advisory group to combat antisemitism - resigned citing Dr Gay's "painfully inadequate testimony".

Rabbi Wolpe told BBC Newshour that "an ideology of wokeism and attendant antisemitism is deeply rooted" in the culture of Harvard and other elite institutions. He noted that these colleges had spoken out against racism in recent years but retreated to "transparently hypocritical" defences of free speech on more contentious issues.

Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT now all face official congressional investigations on their efforts to address antisemitism.

University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill is also facing a call to resign by an advisory board to the university's influential Wharton business school. A top donor at the school has vowed to withdraw a $100m donation because of her comments.