Mike Lawler: 'The Leader Of The Protest At Columbia Called For Death To Zionists'

6 months ago

In House floor remarks, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) slammed antisemitism on college campuses.

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00:00Gentlewoman from New Mexico Reserves, the gentlewoman from Minnesota is recognized.

00:05Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I yield four minutes to the gentleman from New York.

00:10It's good to know that my Democratic colleague would rather children in the Congo mine for

00:16cobalt than to create American jobs here and put in place environmental safeguards.

00:23But thank you for putting that on the record.

00:26Madam Speaker, today I rise in support of the rule to bring my Anti-Semitism Awareness Act

00:32to the floor. I want to thank Chairman Burgess, Chairman Jordan, Leader Scalise, and Speaker

00:36Johnson for their support for consideration of this bill and their leadership in combating

00:41anti-Semitism on college campuses. What's happening on college campuses right now is

00:47horrifying. We've seen folks at these encampments telling Jews to go back to Poland as if they

00:53weren't kicked out of their homes, murdered in cold blood, and sent to death camps less

00:58than a century ago. The leader of the protest at Columbia called for death to Zionists.

01:04There was a sign at George Washington calling for a final solution, which was the name of

01:11Hitler's plan to exterminate Jews. People shouting that they are Hamas and calling for the burning of

01:19Tel Aviv to the ground. They chant for Intifada and from the river to the sea. These are not

01:26peaceful protests expressing their constitutional right to free speech. These are illegal encampments

01:32where demonstrators engage in harassment and where they urge violence against Jewish students,

01:38Jewish Americans, the U.S. government, the Israeli government, and more. I unequivocally

01:45condemn the college administrators that haven't acted to quell these encampments

01:50and who have enabled their campuses to become unsafe environments for Jewish students. At the

01:56federal level, we must give the Department of Education the tools to identify and prosecute

02:02any anti-Semitic hate crimes committed and hold college administrators accountable for refusing

02:07to address anti-Semitism on their campuses. This legislation defines anti-Semitism

02:14using the IHRA working definition and its contemporary examples so that there can be

02:20no confusion or interpretation when it comes to the heinous act of discrimination and violation

02:26of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. It has broad bipartisan support in the House and the Senate,

02:3459 co-sponsors in the House, including over a dozen Democrats. So this is not about dividing

02:43Democrats. This has broad bipartisan support. If there are people in your conference that

02:49embrace anti-Semitism, that's not our fault. That's something you should be rooting out.

02:56When people engage in harassment or bullying of Jewish individuals where they justify the

03:01killing of Jews or use blood libel or hold Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the

03:09Israeli government, that is anti-Semitic. There's no question about it. It's unfortunate that we

03:15need to clarify that these actions are anti-Semitic, but it makes this bill that much more necessary.

03:23What is happening at Columbia, at Yale, at UCLA, and so many other schools is reprehensible and

03:28alarming, but it cannot be discouraging. We must act so that the anti-Semitism on college campuses

03:36stops immediately. Our country's anti-discrimination laws must work for

03:43all of us, including Jewish students. Now, my colleagues are tripping all over themselves

03:49because of electoral politics. They're worried about votes in Michigan and Minnesota

03:54and trying to placate a pro-Hamas element of their party. People who are parroting

04:02Hamas talking points. Literally, when I was at Columbia University last Wednesday with

04:08Speaker Johnson, Hamas endorsed the protesters on the campus grounds, saying that they are the

04:16future leaders of America. If those are the future leaders of America, God help us.

04:21I would yield an additional 30 seconds.

04:29We should be very clear. Charlottesville was wrong. January 6th was wrong.

04:36Taking over a courthouse in Portland was wrong. Burning down a police station in Minneapolis

04:43was wrong. Breaking in and seizing control of the library at Columbia University is wrong.

04:50Let's call it all out and stop being a bunch of cowards. Anti-Semitism needs to be rooted out,

04:57and any member who votes against this bill should hang their head in shame.

05:07Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleagues' words, and I reserve.

Mike Lawler: 'The Leader Of The Protest At Columbia Called For Death To Zionists'

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