Tipsheet

'If the KKK Were Doing This...' Nikki Haley Exposes Key Point About Campus Responses to Anti-Semitism

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  November 09, 2023 6:15 PM

During Wednesday night's third RNC debate, this one held in Miami, candidates were asked about how to address anti-semitism after the October 7 terrorist attack that Hamas perpetrated on Israel, specifically anti-semitism on college campuses. This was to be expected, not merely because of the current events going on, but because the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) was co-hosting the debate.

"Jewish students across the country are threatened and under attack," Matt Brooks, the CEO of RJC pointed out. "What do you say to Jewish students on college campuses who feel unsafe given the dramatic rise in antisemitism? And what do you to say to university presidents and college presidents who have not met the moral clarity moment to forcefully condemn Hamas terrorism?" 

When it was former Ambassador Nikki Haley's turn to speak, with co-moderator Lester Holt asking her "what do you say to Americans who are simply afraid right now in this current environment that we’re talking about," she made a telling point about how college campuses have reacted.

Haley said the situation means "the country is all out of sorts," going on to share it made her "so angry," as she listed out examples of anti-semitism students have faced, including at Cooper Union where Jewish students were "barricaded in the library" and another student. threatened to "shoot up the kosher dining hall," as was the case at Cornell University.

She also had a message for those college presidents who have been so to action. "And this is what I would say about our college presidents is if the KKK were doing this, every college president would be up in arms," Haley declared. "This is no different. You should treat it exactly the same. Anti-semitism is just as awful as racism and we’ve got to make sure they’re protected."

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Colleges have been so quick to condemn racism and other forms of hatred against students part of other communities. This even includes protecting students from conservative student groups, as was highlighted during a House Judiciary Hearing on Wednesday.

The responses from supposed elite institutions when their students have been faced with anti-semitim, however, such as Harvard and Columbia, have been shameful. When students who had signed onto Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) statements blaming Israel for the October 7 attack had been identified, those schools rushed to protect the identified students. Alumni and donors have thus pulled support from these and other institutions not doing enough to protect Jewish students.

Haley had a message for these protesters, too, including when it comes to what Hamas terrorists support. "And for everybody that’s protesting on these college campuses in favor of Hamas, let me remind you something. Hamas said, 'Death to Israel and death to America.' They hate and would kill you too," she reminded.

"And the idea that they’re talking about genocide for the Jewish people, that’s not the values of America. That’s not us. We’re better than that. We don’t need to celebrate terrorists, we don’t need to celebrate genocide. We don’t need to celebrate violence towards anybody. We need to go back and soul search in our country and remember what we are about and we are about taking care of people, not going and making them live in fear because some other terrorist activity says they want to destroy them," she said in her message to Americans.

Haley's X account posted those lines during Wednesday's debate as well.