Dem Lawmaker Responds To Jamaal Bowman & AOC's Criticisms Of Campus Ecampments Being Broken Up

Forbes Breaking News

Rep. Richie Torres (D-NY) joined Brittany Lewis on "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss the pro-Palestinian   Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00 I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes breaking news. Joining me now is Congressman Richie Torres.

00:04 Congressman, thank you so much for joining me.

00:05 Honored to be here.

00:08 I want to talk about where we are right now. Last night we saw police officers raid Columbia

00:14 University after protesters took over Hamilton Hall on campus. This resulted in over 100 arrests

00:20 at Columbia. What's your reaction to what unfolded last night?

00:26 Look, I find it outrageous that the president of Columbia University was standing by idly,

00:32 like a potted plant, enabling the encampment movement to hold the campus hostage for two

00:38 weeks. It's utterly unacceptable. And the police crackdown was preventable and could have been

00:44 prevented if the president had shown decisive leadership from the beginning. You know, the

00:51 president easily could have said to the students, if you fail to vacate the encampment, we're going

00:56 to expel you. We're going to revoke your foreign visas. Like if there had been a clear threat of

01:02 consequences followed by action, then the students would have likely vacated the encampment because

01:09 no student wants to be expelled. No student wants to have their visas revoked. But when you lose

01:14 credibility as a leader, then chaos ensues. And so, you know, Columbia University planted the

01:21 seeds of its own decline. Some of your fellow New York Democrats did post and speak out against the

01:27 police raid. I want to read what they post on social media, and I would love to get your reaction.

01:32 Congressman Jamal Bowman posted this, quote, As a former educator, I know how dangerous the

01:37 over-policing and militarization of our schools is. This is shameful and unacceptable. Our kids

01:42 deserve better, our teachers deserve better, and our schools deserve better. And Congresswoman

01:46 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted this, quote, If any kid is hurt tonight, responsibility will fall

01:52 on the mayor and university presidents. Other leaders and schools have found a safe, de-escalatory

01:57 path. This is the opposite of leadership and endangers public safety. A nightmare in the making.

02:02 What's your reaction to their thoughts here? You know, the question that we have to ask

02:09 ourselves is, should there be consequences for lawbreaking? Right? If you have a set of agitators

02:15 who are erecting an illegal encampment on private property and breaking windows and doors

02:22 and holding employees hostage and intimidating and harassing Jewish students with violent rhetoric

02:29 and blockading entrances, like, do you simply stand by idly and allow the lawbreaking to persist

02:36 indefinitely? Or do you hold them accountable? And, you know, one of the most important lessons

02:41 that I've learned is that there are consequences for your behavior. When you break the law,

02:45 you face the consequences. Now, obviously, we want the police to act responsibly.

02:51 We want there to be no excessive force. But the notion that the encampment should have been allowed

02:58 to persist indefinitely without any response whatsoever, you know, it just strikes me as

03:05 unrealistic. Something that sticks out to me in both of these statements is that they refer

03:11 to the protesters as kids. As we all know, the vast majority of college students are adults.

03:17 What do you make of that characterization? And do you think it matters?

03:20 I'm not going to psychoanalyze colleagues and their comments. I disagree with their comments.

03:28 And, you know, there's been an attempt to make it about free speech. There's a difference

03:35 between speech and conduct. There is no First Amendment right to vandalize property. There is

03:40 no First Amendment right to hold people hostage. There is no First Amendment right to intimidate

03:45 and harass Jews on college campus. None of those are activities protected by the First Amendment.

03:51 All of them are crimes punishable by law. Protesters and supporters of these protesters

03:58 say that they are demonstrating for peace in Gaza. This is not anti-Semitic. As we all know,

04:03 there is a difference between criticizing Israeli policy and being anti-Semitic. You posted about

04:08 this earlier today. You posted this quote, being critical without being anti-Semitic is not rocket

04:14 science. Can you talk about that a little more and elaborate on that for us?

04:18 Look, there's nothing wrong with criticism of the Israeli government.

04:24 But if you are calling for the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state,

04:31 then that is not criticism. That is extremism. And extremism should have no place in higher

04:37 education and in American society. And that is my view. You know, if these protesters were

04:45 simply advocating for a two-state solution or humanitarian aid to Palestinians in distress,

04:52 or for even the end of the war, you know, all of those viewpoints fall within the realm

04:59 of reasonable discourse. But the organizations behind the encampment movement,

05:05 such as Students for Justice in Palestine and Within Our Lifetime, these organizations openly

05:12 advocate for the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state. These organizations openly glorify the

05:18 terrorism of Hamas as resistance. These organizations were celebrating October 7th on October 8th.

05:28 And so the media should stop calling the encampment movement an anti-war protest.

05:36 It's not an anti-war protest. It's a pro-war protest.

05:40 The purpose of the protest is to declare war on Israel as a Jewish state.

Category

Transcript

Recommended