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Senate Finally Passes Josh Hawley's Resolution Condemning Anti-Semitism on Campuses

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  October 26, 2023 2:15 PM

One week after the body was initially given the opportunity to condemn anti-semitic behavior on college campuses around the country, the Senate finally passed a resolution doing just that from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). The chamber had just passed a resolution expressing support for Israel and condemning Hamas after the October 7 terrorist attack, but Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) objected to Hawley's resolution, pointing out that student protests had "legitimate" concerns, and then couldn't be bothered to stay for his colleague's full rebuttal. 

This Thursday, though, no Democrats felt the need to object, and the resolution passed as Hawley gave his remarks about the dangers that Jewish students face on college campuses.

To start, he offered a reminder of what happened last week, pointing out "one week ago, I came to this floor to try to pass this very resolution that condemns violent, genocidal, anti-semitic rhetoric and actions on our college campuses all across this country," though he reminded it had been blocked. 

"Since then," Hawley accurately pointed out, "the situation at our universities has only worsened." He went on to list two examples from George Washington University and Cooper Union, but also pointed out that "I could multiply these examples, sadly."

Before this Thursday's vote, Hawley had posted from his X account those recent examples from just since then, including at GWU--where anti-semitic messages had been broadcast on the library--and at Cooper Union, where Jewish students were left "shaken" in the library after pro-Hamas students marched through the building, banging on the locked doors and shouting.

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When it comes to GWU, one of the messages projected onto the library read "Free Palestine From the River to the Sea." As Hawley reminded from the Senate floor, such a message "is a reference to Hamas' longstanding call for the extermination of the state of Israel. Let's just be clear, this is a reference to their call for genocide of Jews in the Middle East, and everywhere they can get their hands on them."

In another clip of his floor remarks, Hawley questioned as to if it would come to Jewish students having to be escorted to class as was done for black students when the president activated the 101st Airbone in the 1950s. 

"As a nation, we must speak with one voice, and say that there is a right, and there is a wrong, there is good and there is evil, and threatening to kill an entire class of people is wrong, and it is evil. Speaking up, shouting in support of genocide is wrong and it is evil! Threatening the lives of your fellow students because they are Jewish is wrong and it is evil! Plainly, these institutions of so-called higher learning have failed these students," Hawley added.

These are only recent, examples, though, as Hawley's resolution had laid out numerous other examples. As Townhall's coverage from last week mentioned about the resolution the examples provided:

The resolution in part mentioned how "in the wake of such horrific attacks, students at universities in the United States have praised and justified the actions of Hamas, expressed solidarity with the terrorists, and vocally supported the atrocities of Hamas, including the murder of children[,]" as well as how "students across the country have organized protests and vigils in solidarity with Hamas, praising the actions of the terrorist organization and chanting antisemitic slogans[.]"

Hawley's resolution called out the following schools by name: Harvard University, the Student Bar Association of New York University School of Law, the Ohio State University, the University of North Carolina, the University of Virginia, and Columbia University. 

The resolution also read in part that the Senate "denounces the rhetoric of anti-Israel, pro Hamas student groups as antisemitic, repugnant, and morally contemptible for sympathizing with genocidal violence against the State of Israel and risking the physical safety of Jewish Americans in the United States[.]"

Not only had Van Hollen objected to the resolution when it was first introduced last Thursday, but, more recently, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre downplayed and dismissed such rampant anti-semitism when asked about it during Monday's press briefing. Despite acknowledging that such incidents were "happening across the country," she also stressed as part of her response that "I'm not going to get into the specifics," and touched upon the First Amendment rights of such students.