'Actually Enforce It': James Lankford Calls On Universities To Crack Down On Antisemitism

2 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) spoke about antisemitism on university campuses.

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Transcript

00:00Senior Senator from the state of Oklahoma.

00:04Thank you, Mr. President.

00:06We all had the opportunity yesterday to be able to hear Benjamin Netanyahu speak to a joint session of Congress.

00:13It's actually the fourth time that Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken in Congress.

00:17This particular invitation was different, though.

00:20During a time of war, it's much more heightened than it has been for a long time.

00:25And he came in a very serious tone to be able to tell America and Americans,

00:31thank you for standing with us as Israel.

00:34And the second thing I heard from him over and over again is, don't forget why we are in this war.

00:41He introduced hostages that had been released.

00:44He introduced families that their loved ones are still hostages.

00:51He introduced members of the IDF that have lost limbs or fought against terrorism.

00:56And he reminded Americans more than 1,200 people died on October 7th of last year,

01:02and 253 people were taken hostage at that time.

01:06This war would be over right now if Hamas would release their hostages.

01:12This is not a war that Israel started.

01:16There was a barrier and a fence between Israel and Gaza.

01:19Gaza was there. Israel was there.

01:23But thousands of terrorists from Hamas crossed through that barrier early on a Saturday morning on October 7th

01:30on a Jewish holiday and slaughtered children in their beds,

01:34killed moms and dads, and carried out the worst act of terrorism that Israel has ever seen.

01:42So Israel has responded.

01:45Prime Minister Netanyahu committed again that they will continue the fight

01:49until they bring every single one of those hostages home,

01:53even as they continue the negotiations to try to stop the war.

01:57Currently, Israel is literally surrounded by enemies that are coming at them.

02:02And it's something that we lose track of in the United States.

02:05Israel now faces Hamas actively attacking them through terrorist actions

02:10and continuing to threaten as Hamas leaders, even in the past month, have said,

02:15if given the opportunity, they would come back and do it on October 7th all over again.

02:21They've never relented, and they continue to put civilians between them in harm

02:27to try to protect the lives of the militants by using civilians as shields.

02:34But many Americans forget that Hezbollah from the north in Lebanon

02:39continues to launch rockets consistently into Israel every day.

02:4480,000 Israelis currently are internally displaced inside Israel,

02:49fleeing from their own homes, and they've been away from their homes now for 10 months.

02:54Because 10 or more rockets a day are coming into northern Israel

02:59as they continue to launch at them over and over.

03:03While American media has ignored that, the people of Israel cannot

03:08because they live under that threat every single day.

03:11From the West Bank, there continues to be attacks that are happening on a weekly basis.

03:17From Syria, there continues to be attack.

03:21From Iranian-backed militants there, the same with Iraq.

03:26And just in the past two weeks, Yemen has landed one of their attack drones

03:33inside a neighborhood in Tel Aviv.

03:36Now, they've launched hundreds at Israel,

03:40but this was the first time they actually struck one of their targets,

03:44and Houthi leaders inside Yemen celebrated by saying,

03:48we have finally killed some Israelis.

03:52Israel is literally surrounded every single day.

03:55All of those militant groups are all funded by the Iranian regime, all of them.

04:00We as Americans sometimes point at Iran and say they are the problem,

04:07and we lose track of the simple fact it's not the Iranian people.

04:11The people of Iran live under the oppression of the Iranian regime

04:15that they would like to be free from as well.

04:17But the entire region is destabilized by the actions and the terrorist activities

04:23of just that Iranian leadership in that regime.

04:27They're funding Hezbollah. They're funding Hamas.

04:29They're funding the militants in Syria and in Iraq.

04:32They're funding and providing all the trajectory for the Houthis

04:36and attacking ships in the Red Sea, as well as launching at Israel on a regular basis.

04:41It's Iran that is doing that.

04:44And we as the United States should do whatever we can to apply the maximum amount of pressure

04:48on Iran and on that regime to be able to shut off the flow of money

04:53and to shut off their ability to be able to sell oil worldwide

04:56so we can continue to be able to put pressure on them

04:59so that they're not flowing money to terrorist organizations

05:02that are attacking Israel on a regular basis.

05:04Now, I understand that what I've just stated is controversial to some people in the United States.

05:12As Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking yesterday at Union Station

05:16just four blocks from where I'm standing right now,

05:20there were people that were waving Palestinian flags,

05:24climbing on the statue of Christopher Columbus with spray paint,

05:28painting on Christopher Columbus's statue four blocks from here on Union Station,

05:33Hamas is coming, while they burned American flags and burned Israeli flags.

05:40Four blocks from here.

05:43I'm keenly aware that not every American is supportive of what's happening in Israel.

05:49But we are the United States of America.

05:52Israel is our ally.

05:54And she is a functioning democracy in the chaos of the Middle East.

05:58And we should continue to stand with Israel.

06:01Because she is facing terrorism just as we have faced terrorism.

06:07And as Benjamin Netanyahu reminded all Americans yesterday,

06:10Iran really wants to destroy America.

06:14Just Israel is between Iran and America.

06:22So they go after Israel first.

06:28There is something growing in America, though.

06:32And it's this growing anti-Semitism that's occurring.

06:37This is something Senator Rosen and I have talked about for years.

06:41We've talked about what's happening on college campuses.

06:45And after October the 7th, the anti-Semitism on our university campuses nationwide

06:50has now exploded into full view.

06:53What has been trained into students by faculty that are anti-Israel

07:00is now bearing fruit in public demonstrations.

07:04Funded by we don't know who yet, but definitely organized and funded and well equipped.

07:10Today, Senator Rosen and I held an anti-Semitism hearing with college students

07:16from six different college campuses.

07:18They came and told their story of what it's like to be a Jewish student on an American college campus.

07:23And I think this body needs to be able to hear their story

07:26because not everyone was able to be in that hearing today.

07:29So let me just share the stories.

07:31Because for some people, they just set it aside and say there are a few places

07:35and there are some minor things that are happening, but it's no big deal.

07:38So let me share what Jewish students on six different college campuses

07:43are saying to us in the United States Senate today.

07:47Here's a student that is from Columbia University.

07:51I'll leave the names out to be able to protect them.

07:54She gave us testimony today saying this.

07:57In the fall semester, I endured harassment in the middle of the night,

08:00repeated vandalism of my property and resident-assisted bulletin boards,

08:04resulting in eventual removal due to their constant damage.

08:08I also experienced both traditional and cyber bullying.

08:11Within the first week after the October 7th attacks,

08:14people began to glare at me or ignore me entirely,

08:17turning away from me even if I greeted them by name.

08:20By the end of school year, friends of mine who are now, as she said, former friends,

08:24didn't even want to be seen with me.

08:27But while my experience was harsh, others endured much graver conditions.

08:31I have friends that were spat on, physically attacked.

08:34I know people who did not leave their dorm room for days

08:38because they were too afraid of what might happen to them.

08:41This, of course, not even to mention the encampment

08:44nor the demonstrations at individual Columbia School graduations

08:48that, while I hate to admit it, really did spoil the entire ceremony.

08:54And throughout it all, these students have waved Palestinian flag,

08:57but it's never been about Palestine.

09:00It's not even truly concerned about the war in the Gaza Strip.

09:03It's always been a protest against the existence of a Jewish state.

09:07At Columbia, people chant that Zionists are not welcome,

09:11calling on death to the Jewish state,

09:14one student leader saying that Zionists don't deserve to live.

09:19Another student from Rutgers University

09:22said we've tracked and endured and experienced more than 200 incidents

09:25of bias and anti-Semitism since October the 7th.

09:28This represents the supermajority of all bias incidents on campus,

09:32and it's created an environment where Jewish students feel unsafe,

09:35especially since the attack on October the 7th,

09:38which almost 300 days passing without a sense of security on campus

09:42or in their classrooms at Rutgers.

09:45Throughout the last week of the semester and during finals in the spring,

09:49there was an encampment in solidarity with Hamas,

09:52a U.S.-recognized terror organization on the mall

09:55in the heart of the campus avenue that disrupted classes,

09:59student learning, and threatened the safety of Jewish students on campus.

10:03That's at a second campus.

10:06Third campus, George Washington University.

10:09A student there said to us, on the night of April 29th,

10:13encampment participants staged a riot,

10:16ripping down the fences that were put up by the university and around the yard.

10:19They stood on the pile of fences while chanting euphemisms for mass murder

10:23and desecrating a statue of George Washington.

10:26Signs in the encampment bore the words,

10:29Final Solution in swastikas.

10:32Another read, Israelis go back to Europe, your real homes.

10:36Protesters claimed to be fighting for peace,

10:39yet they preached the opposite, chanting,

10:42We don't want no two states.

10:45Globalize the Intifada, and Hamas are freedom fighters.

10:48One student said, when we say we don't want Zionists here,

10:52we really mean it.

10:55At Ohio State University,

10:58on my campus, Jewish sorority girls were spat on

11:01while selling bracelets with the words,

11:04I stand with Israel.

11:07Two assailants vandalized our Hillel building,

11:10while screaming anti-Israel and anti-Semitic obscenities.

11:13Two Jewish students were assaulted and spent the night in the hospital

11:16after being physically stopped in the street.

11:19A group of Jewish girls had pennies thrown at them.

11:22Early one morning, several men approached the Jewish

11:25Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity,

11:28screaming, I'm not going to say,

11:31and throwing bottles at the house.

11:34Students for Justice in Palestine entered our main library

11:37with anti-Semitic slogans for over an hour

11:40without facing any consequences.

11:43Interestingly enough,

11:46in my home state, we had a student

11:49that was there that had transferred from another university

11:52to the University of Oklahoma.

11:55He said he wanted to be able to find

11:58a legal education free of fear of having to bite my tongue

12:01or hide my identity and my thoughts all the time.

12:04He thought his best chance would be to attend a law school

12:07on a campus near the University of Oklahoma.

12:10He said he came there

12:13and he openly discussed his faith to see what the climate would be like.

12:16He said the spirit of Dr. Ada

12:19remained strong.

12:22I'd have to tell you that story another time.

12:25It's a great story on Dr. Ada.

12:28He said, I've been warmly received by everyone there

12:31and I wish I could have received at Indiana University.

12:34And then I have to tell you this story.

12:37A student from Oregon University,

12:40she came and said that flyers were handed out

12:43glorifying the Palestinian resistance

12:46and celebrating the Al-Alaqsa flood,

12:49that's the October 7th attack,

12:52as an act of decolonization.

12:55Signs called for the abolition of the State of Israel

12:59One graffiti on campus asked,

13:02how many children did you eat today?

13:05When we brought these concerns directly to the university president,

13:08we were blamed for not properly reporting these incidents.

13:11Even though it was entirely unclear

13:14where hate bias incidents of this nature were to be reported,

13:17it felt degrading.

13:20It felt like it was victim blaming.

13:23And she asked this question and made this statement.

13:26It was very kind.

13:29She said, I want to thank Senators Rosen and Lankford

13:32for introducing the bipartisan Countering Anti-Semitism Act,

13:35which takes tangible action to address some of the issues I've talked about today.

13:38She said this, I hope you will work together

13:41to get this legislation to the finish line

13:44to deliver for Jewish students who are nervously anticipating

13:47entering another challenging academic year this fall.

13:50What was she asking for?

13:53She made it very specific.

13:56She wants this body to act,

13:59to speak out for Jewish students

14:02that in a few weeks are going to be headed back to their campus,

14:05wondering if their campus will be the same as it was when they left it.

14:08Because when they left at graduation,

14:11there were pro-Hamas rallies at graduations

14:14and people shouting down Jewish students on campus,

14:17belittling them and attacking them.

14:20And they're wondering, if I go back to school at all this fall,

14:23what will I face?

14:26That's not an unrealistic question.

14:29So the students that spoke to us asked for some very specific things.

14:32One is, administrators on university campuses

14:35should actually enforce the code of conduct

14:38on their university campus.

14:41What a radical idea.

14:44If you have a code of conduct, actually enforce it.

14:47Don't enforce it on some groups and not on others.

14:50Some of these students said

14:53on their campus the protesters

14:56that were shutting down the library and shutting down graduation

14:59got meetings with the administration

15:02to negotiate what to do and Jewish students did not.

15:05If you have a code of conduct

15:08on a university campus and all of them do,

15:11don't allow hateful speech and actions

15:14to occur on your campus to shut down the education.

15:17Don't tell, as some of these students faced

15:20from administration,

15:23I'd encourage you not to go to the library today

15:26when their tuition helped pay for that library

15:29the same as everyone else.

15:32But to say to one group of protesters,

15:35they've taken it over, they really have the occupation,

15:38I wouldn't go there, it's not safe for you.

15:41Why don't you make your campus safe for everyone?

15:44That's one request they had.

15:47The second request they had was

15:50Congress pass the IRA

15:53definition of anti-Semitism.

15:56The House has already passed it.

15:59The State Department right now

16:02uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance,

16:05the IRA definition for anti-Semitism,

16:08for more than three decades.

16:11It's not controversial for our State Department,

16:14but we've never required the Department of Education

16:17to also have that same definition.

16:20Because what's happening on university campuses right now

16:23is all these statements are being made,

16:26as some of the students said today,

16:29that sound a lot like what Nazi brown shirts said

16:32in Germany years ago to Jewish students

16:35but university officials are saying

16:38we don't have a good definition of anti-Semitism

16:41so we can't really say that's anti-Semitic hatreds.

16:44We all know it is.

16:47This body

16:50should take the same definition

16:53that our State Department has used for decades

16:56and require the Department of Education

16:59to also use that same definition of anti-Semitism.

17:02That shouldn't be a radical jump for us.

17:05The House has passed it. We should pass that.

17:08That was the second request they had.

17:11And a third request they had was to pass the act

17:14that Senator Rosen and I have already passed

17:17through committee to bring it to this body.

17:20It's non-controversial.

17:23But this body in the Senate has not taken it up.

17:26I would ask the Majority Leader

17:29to bring up that legislation dealing with anti-Semitism

17:32before students return to campus this fall

17:35to give a clear message to those students

17:38that the United States stands

17:41for everyone having the opportunity

17:44to be able to speak out their point of view,

17:47live their faith, and live without fear,

17:50especially in an educational environment.

17:53If students want to be pro-Hamas on a university campus,

17:56I think it's foolish.

17:59I think it's a terrible thing to do,

18:02but you have the right to do it.

18:05But you do not have the right to be able to silence,

18:08intimidate Jewish students on campus at the same time.

18:11You do not have the same right to do that.

18:14They have the right to live their faith in safety

18:17and to be able to go to the school of their choice.

18:20It's the United States of America.

18:23Right now we have pro-Hamas demonstrators

18:26trying to frighten Jewish students away from campuses of their choice.

18:29That needs to stop.

18:32This body needs to take up the act

18:35that Senator Rosen and I have brought

18:38that should not be a controversial issue

18:41and to speak out on behalf of all those students

18:44that are just looking for someone to stand with them.

18:47So why don't we do that?

18:50With that, I yield the floor.

'Actually Enforce It': James Lankford Calls On Universities To Crack Down On Antisemitism

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