House Committee on Education and Labor Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) on Tuesday called on Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to resign over his problematic response to the pro-genocidal phrase of "from the river to the sea." As JewishInsider reported, "Education Secretary Cardona declines to say if ‘from river to sea’ chant is antisemitic."
"Secretary Cardona should resign immediately," the chairwoman said, reposting her committee's X post about how Cardona's failure to say whether the phrase was antisemitic amounted to "[c]omplete cowardice."
Secretary Cardona should resign immediately. https://t.co/XtBsaxYN4a
— Virginia Foxx (@virginiafoxx) February 7, 2024
Foxx also released a statement calling Cardona out not just for his response, but for other ways in which he has failed in his role:
"Three months after October 7 and the disgusting antisemitic demonstrations that followed, there is no excusing Secretary Cardona’s cowardly evasion of the antisemitic character of the phrase ‘from the river, to the sea.’ Unfortunately, this is just the latest example in a long record of abject failure.
"His Department has so willfully exceeded its statutory authority in its spending spree that it has failed its two most recent audits. Now, millions of families and students may lose their chance at an opportunity to pursue postsecondary education because his Department couldn’t properly update the FAFSA even after Congress granted the Department an additional year. These failures are in large part due to his direction of Department resources to unconstitutional schemes rooted in a willful disdain for the Constitution and the rule of law.
"This nation deserves much better than bungling and deliberate misuse of taxpayer dollars. And Jewish students deserve to know that their Education Secretary understands the hate they face and has the necessary courage and clarity to confront it. It is time for the Secretary to resign."
When it comes to Cardona's response, while he did call the phrase "not tolerable," it sounded as if he was saying "it depends."
As JI reported, with added emphasis:
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said on Tuesday that calls for genocide are “not tolerable” but stopped short of saying whether the phrase “from the river, to the sea, Palestine will be free” should be considered antisemitic by university administrators.
“If there are students who are feeling that statements by students are being referred to genocide, or they’re feeling unsafe on campus, it is a responsibility of a university leader to get involved,” Cardona told reporters at a Tuesday briefing. “This is an opportunity for leadership to bring people together to talk about it and to set clear lines on how you communicate while not making students feel threatened or unsafe on campus.”
When pressed to say whether the “from the river, to the sea” phrase can be construed as an antisemitic call for genocide, Cardona declined to weigh in.
“That’s why I say we investigate each case, and it’s difficult for me to make a statement here about that. If students are feeling unsafe with that, it’s the responsibility of leadership to act,” said Cardona. “I believe antisemitism can include anti-Zionist statements,” he said, and “we take that into account when looking at cases.”
Another senior department official at the meeting pointed out that speech is only “a component of the kinds of harms that we can see.”
“Students are sometimes surrounded, students are sometimes barricaded, students are sometimes attacked. We are seeing harassment of a variety of stripes,” the official continued.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) referenced Foxx's calls for Cardona to resign during her Wednesday call with the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). Stefanik is also a member of the Committee.
Unfortunately, coverage from The Hill didn't help the situation as it categorized the phrase as "a pro-Palestine chant that some consider antisemitic."
The phrase is much more than that, though, and has been identified quite clearly as pro-genocidal. Further, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) was censured last November after she defended the term by calling out President Joe Biden in a digital ad that claimed "Joe Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people." The ad showed residents in her home state of Michigan chanting the phrase.
Furthermore, per @Imamofpeace https://t.co/rj20FqltnD
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) November 4, 2023
While Cardona may not know the answer, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has been quite clear.
"This rallying cry has long been used by anti-Israel voices, including supporters of terrorist organizations such as Hamas and the PFLP, which seek Israel’s destruction through violent means. It is fundamentally a call for a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, territory that includes the State of Israel, which would mean the dismantling of the Jewish state," the ADL explained last October, not long after the October 7 terrorist attack that Hamas perpetrated against Israel. "It is an antisemitic charge denying the Jewish right to self-determination, including through the removal of Jews from their ancestral homeland."
Such a report from The Hill also took on a sense of 'Republicans seize' with its coverage from there:
Cardona is the latest target for Republicans as they have locked in on antisemitism at college campuses amid the Israel-Hamas war, launching investigations into multiple universities they allege are creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.
Republican lawmakers have held multiple hearings on campus antisemitism, with one eventually leading to the resignations of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania’s presidents.
As The Hill report referenced but did not go into further detail about, Claudine Gay and Liz Magill, now the former presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively, came under immense fire for their refusal to condemn antisemitism on campus.
It was Stefanik, during the last few minutes of a Committee hearing last December, who questioned Gay, Magill, and MIT's Sally Kornbluth about whether or not calls for genocide against Jews violate the code of conduct or rules against bullying or harassment. All three failed to properly answer what was supposed to be such a softball question.
Cardona going the way of university presidents being forced to resign is not a good look for him or the Biden administration.
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