Senator Ted CruzOn Tuesday, Sen. Andrew Cuomo, R-Texas, interrupted a congressional hearing dedicated to discussing “hate” by an anti-Israel agitator who stood up shouting “Kill the Jews.”
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled, “Threats to Justice Everywhere: Stopping the Wave of Hate Crimes in America”, Cruz discussed rising anti-Semitism on college campuses following October 7.
“Anti-Semitism is a unique, historical form of evil, and for millennia, it has manifested in violence, mass murder, and genocide,” Cruz said. “October 7 was one of the darkest days in human history when terrorists killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages. Women and girls were raped. It was the largest mass murder of Jews in one day since the Holocaust. In the aftermath of October 7, we have seen an eruption of anti-Semitism in the United States and around the world, but especially on college campuses.”
After listing examples of anti-Semitic and pro-Hamas messages toward Jewish students, Cruz criticized the Biden-Harris administration.
Anti-Israel agitators in Columbia reach ‘intimidation peak’ as school sees latest black eye
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was interrupted by an anti-Israel agitator during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that was to discuss “hate crimes.” (Alison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
“Throughout all of this, the Biden-Harris administration has been completely absent. Does anybody doubt that if the Klan was terrorizing African American students on college campuses, threatening African American students, we’d see the FBI there, we’d see prosecutors there, we’d see federal funding cut to universities? Of course we would. And we should,” Cruz said. “But when it comes to anti-Semitism, Democrats have a problem. I would note that this is happening in blue states with blue governors, because the Democrat Party is terrified of the pro-Hamas wing of their party.”
“In states like Texas and Florida, we don’t allow that. At the University of Texas, when violent protests threatened Jewish students, police officers arrived and arrested them. That’s what happens when you enforce the law,” Cruz continued. “Every Republican member of this committee asked the chairman to hold a hearing on anti-Semitism in February. And yet we don’t get a hearing on anti-Semitism. We get a hearing on hate in general.”
According to video on social media, Cruz was about to explain why he thinks the Biden administration is responsible when a man in the audience stood up and interrupted, yelling expletives such as “Damn Jews.” The anti-Israel agitator was then escorted out.
“And that’s what fuels that anger and that hate. You’re seeing that hate manifest here now,” Cruz said, referring to the protesters.
“We now have a display of anti-Semitism. We have a display of hatred,” he said.
Cruz asked one of the witnesses, Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, “Has the Biden administration stopped funding any of the colleges that are promoting this hate? Have they charged anybody for funding these violent protests? Have they charged the people who paid for the matching tents, or have they sat by silently and universities sat by silently while their students are afraid to go to class?”
“They haven’t indicted anybody,” Goldfeder responded.
Cruz asked, “Has any university ever been defunded for allowing this type of violent intimidation?”
“Not a single university,” Goldfeder said.
Anti-Israel agitators continue protests on the campus of Columbia University in New York City on April 29, 2024. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The senator previously noted how the Anti-Defamation League has shown how the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States more than doubled from 2022 to 2023.
Cruz said that “college campuses in particular have become vile hotbeds of hatred against Jews,” citing the example of how a Cornell University student made threats after October 7, saying “If I see a pig, male Jew, I will stab you and slit your throat.” If I see another Jewish pig woman I will drag you away, rape you, and throw you off a cliff.”
The Republican senator showed a leaflet circulated by a student organization at California State University, Long Beach, which said “Day of Resistance” celebrating October 7, noting that the leaflet included a picture of a man holding a fan, “This was a direct reference and glorification of Hamas terrorists who used gliders to enter a music festival and killed 260 innocent people and took many hostage.”
Cruz recalled that now after the days of the former Minouche Shafik, President of Columbia University When questioned about rising anti-Semitism on campus before the House Education and Workforce Committee in April, Rabbi Eli Buechler warned Jewish students that Columbia “cannot guarantee the safety of Jewish students in the face of extreme anti-Semitism and chaos,” and said he would “strongly recommend” that Jewish students leave campus and return to their homes.
An anti-Israel agitator holds a Palestinian flag during a march on the Columbia University campus on April 29, 2024 in New York City. (Reuters/David D Delgado)
Cruz said the rabbi had “every reason to be concerned” because people on Columbia’s campus were chanting, “We are all Hamas! Long live Hamas!”
The senator continued to give examples of anti-Semitic incidents on campuses across the US, including the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor who was told to “go back to the gas chamber,” and he also showed a photo of a Columbia University student holding a sign that read “Al-Qassam’s next targets” in front of a group of students holding American and Israeli flags in a counter-protest.
Click here to get the Fox News app
Cruz said, “Al-Qassam is the military wing of Hamas. According to social media, this student is a wealthy student from Georgia. She is not Palestinian, but she has been taught lies and hate, and she feels perfectly comfortable advocating the murder of her fellow students at Columbia.”
