Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked a Republican resolution condemning the hateful and anti-Semitic pro-Hamas rhetoric on college campuses throughout the United States.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the resolution after a wave of protests around the country exposed genocidal attitudes toward Jews among many left-wing, pro-Palestinian students and faculty.
“My resolution unequivocally condemns Hamas and the hateful, antisemitic rhetoric that the recent terrorist attack has inspired on our college campuses. This is particularly urgent given the rise in threats against Jewish Americans across our country,” Hawley wrote in a dear colleague.
Pro-Hamas demonstrations have erupted up on campuses throughout the U.S. in protest of Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Gaza in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attack against Israel. In several cities, students and other individuals have been seen tearing off the pictures of Israeli hostages of of walls.
HORRIFYING- NYU students walking around campus removing posters featuring missing Israelis being held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists.
The lack of humanity by your students is not only heartbreaking but extremely concerning @nyuniversity @NYUCampusSafety pic.twitter.com/BmTs1OzGF2
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 17, 2023
This @TempleUniv student spit on & kicked over the posters of the Israeli and American hostages.
On same campus, a group of 30+ people got right in the faces of a Jewish student & Israeli professors screaming and calling them terrorists. Someone even spit on them. @ADL pic.twitter.com/kKKAQoS2Up
— TaraVision.x (@TheRealTara) October 19, 2023
Male Israeli student, 24, is beaten with a STICK by female student, 19, outside Columbia University library – after she ripped down posters of Jewish hostages taken by Hamas https://t.co/IJ99qNFEwK pic.twitter.com/nAn2FSu5U6
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) October 12, 2023
These woke & Jihadi students at University of Pennsylvania are tearing down posters of Israeli hostages.
This disgusting support of terrorism reminds me of commies & Jihadis at JNU, AMU & Jamia. pic.twitter.com/Vj47nK4ppX
— Incognito (@Incognito_qfs) October 17, 2023
At the University of Pennsylvania, a Muslim professor led student protesters in a chant declaring “resistance [violence against Israel] is justified.”
Professor Ahmad Almallah at @PennCW leads pro Hamas protestors in chanting for an “intifada revolution” and saying Hamas’ actions of murdering 1,400 men, women, and children including Americans were “justified.” @Penn pic.twitter.com/yVM6kX4Lfz
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 19, 2023
Hawley said the resolution would condemn the “rhetoric of anti-Israel, pro-Hamas student groups as anti-Semitic, repugnant and morally contemptible,” denounce the terrorist attacks, acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself and encourage the U.S. government to “fully and completely” support Israel.
Amazing – Democrats DEFEND the students on campuses calling for terrorism against Israel and BLOCK my resolution condemning their violent rhetoric pic.twitter.com/KtHIjCtple
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 19, 2023
The Republican tried to get the Senate to pass the resolution via unanimous consent, but Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) objected, arguing that it smeared students who merely attended the pro-Hamas terrorist protests.
“What you are doing here is smearing all the students who went to these protests,” Van Hollen said, “yes you are.” The Democrat left the floor before Hawley could respond.
.@HawleyMO just tried to pass a resolution condemning antisemitic student actions on college campuses across the U.S.
Sen. Van Hollen blocked it. Said it smeared students engaged in pro-Palestine/anti-Israel protests.
Then leaves, as Hawley responds. pic.twitter.com/E4l3do6FTO
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) October 19, 2023
In an interview with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton radio show, Hawley stressed that he had made sure to limit condemnation to specific statements, but Democrats still argued that the protesters were being smeared.
“This is moral equivalency at its worst,” he said. “When you say that we’re going to celebrate killing Jews and we think the State of Israel ought to be eliminated, yeah that’s anti-Semitism, this isn’t hard, let’s condemn it.”
.@HawleyMO describes to @ClayTravis and @BuckSexton how Democrats just REJECTED his resolution to condemn campus anti-Semitism.
Interview: https://t.co/GQgujnvmNk
Podcast: https://t.co/WvNDsUybBx pic.twitter.com/oTXOyWaSz8— The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show (@clayandbuck) October 19, 2023
On Thursday, Hawley also fired off a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding how Department of Homeland Security employee Newja Ali was hired to sensitive immigration positions given her “documented history of making virulently antisemitic, pro-Hamas statements.”
Ali was placed on administrative leave on Wednesday, after the Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak reported that the former Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) spokeswoman was employed at USCIS.
Hawley called on Mayorkas to immediately fire her from her role adjudicating United States immigration cases, arguing that as someone who “harbors intensely negative views against the State of Israel and supports the recent barbarism perpetrated against its citizens by Hamas terrorists,” she has no place at DHS.
“Ms. Ali’s troubling personal views apparently carry into her professional life—including her roles at DHS,” Hawley wrote, noting that “in one social media post associated with her name, she included the hashtags ‘#asylumseekers #palestine #refugeeswelcome’—suggesting that she may preference certain immigration cases over others at DHS.”
Following Hamas’ October 7 massacre in Israel, Ali posted “F* Israel, the government, and its military. Are you ready for your downfall?” on Instagram, as well as an image “depicting armed terrorists paragliding into Israel with the caption ‘Free PALESTINE’.”
“These statements appear to cast severe doubt on her ability to impartially evaluate immigration cases,” Hawley said. “I am glad to see that she has now been placed on administrative leave—but that is not enough. If these reports are accurate, you must terminate her employment immediately.”
The Biden DHS needs to explain – now – why they had a pro-terrorist, pro-genocide anti-Semitic radical adjudicating asylum claims and why in the world she hasn’t been fired pic.twitter.com/e0ct9RnfWb
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 19, 2023
Start the discussion at community.amgreatness.com