Reps. Bowman And Omar Showcase Lack Of Care About Jew Hatred During Panel On Antisemitism

The situation for Jews on American college campuses is terrible. While Jews have always been much more likely to suffer a hate crime than any other group including Blacks, gays, Muslims or people with handicaps, the spike in harassment since the jihadi Palestinian attacks on October 7 have been terrifying everywhere, and especially on college campuses.

Congress took notice and held a hearing about antisemitism on campuses with the heads of MIT, Harvard and University of Pennsylvania, and brought in Columbia University on April 17, 2024 for its own hearing. The incidents at Columbia have been plentiful, including from professors glorifying the barbarous attacks on Jewish civilians on October 7, student groups calling to “globalize the intifada (terrorism against Jews)”, “F**k Jews”, swastikas drawn on college property, Jewish mezuzahs torn off student housing and more.

The chair of the committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) showed a video (12:22) of some of the recent events to help frame the discussion, including showing masked people in keffiyehs threatening to make life for Jews “a nightmare.”

While the issue of antisemitism is immediate, horrible and indisputable, three members of congress decided that Jews really didn’t need protection or a special review. They included Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN5) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA3).

Jamaal Bowman

Bowman spoke after a short recess and his remarks can be seen in the video at 2:23:22. He asked three questions of the panel, starting with Columbia’s president Minouche Shafik, none of which related to the terrible situation of Jews being targeted on college campuses. The first question asked whether all discussions regarding the Gaza War were necessarily antisemitic. The second was asking about Islamophobia on campus. The last was whether there was action taken for a “chemical attack” against pro-Palestinian person on campus.

Zero questions about the welfare of Jews.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, representing one of the most heavily Jewish districts in the country, would not ask a single question about the welfare of Jews on a panel specifically on the issue of antisemitism at Columbia University

Ilhan Omar

Omar spoke at 2:34:20 and rattled off a series of quick questions to Shafik about the welfare of Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians. When she asked whether Shafik had seen protests against Jews, she incorrectly stated that she had not seen any, and later modified her remarks upon cross-examination (2:54:00) that while protests were not specifically about Jews, there were many antisemitic comments made at various protests.

Omar continued to pepper the panel about a supposed “toxic chemical substance” against pro-Palestinian students which was actually a foul odor skunk spray. She pushed for what actions were taken about doxxing of students and Israeli professor Shai Davidi complaining about the administration, professors and students.

When Columbia’s president said that six pro-Palestinian students were suspended for the “very serious case” of those students “inviting people inciting violence” against Jews, Omar shut down the response and moved on to the well-being of the suspended students and said absolutely nothing about students threatening violence against Jews.

She did not ask anything about the welfare of Jewish students under threat of attack.

Bobby Scott

As a ranking chair of the education committee, Scott got to speak twice on the panel, at the opening and the close. To start (4:35) and close (3:19:50) Scott devoted his time to the antisemitic incidents at the University of Virginia in 2017 from the alt-right, making it sound like antisemitism is solely a far-right phenomenon, a theme falsely aired by the left. He then said that all students need protection including Muslims and gays so there was no real reason to have this specialized investigation for antisemitism.

Rep. Foxx reacted to Scott’s comments (10:11) that the UVA incident did not involve university students or faculty, while the persistent matters of Jew-hatred are systemic in Columbia from the student groups, to professors, to the administration.

Scott was concerned for Jews but only in the general context of being worried about the welfare of all students, even though Jews are by far the most targeted.

While this was happening in Washington, people at Columbia University were shouting “we are all Hamas,” the genocidal maniacs who commited the October 7 massacre of 1,200 people and sworn to killing of Jews and destroying the Jewish state.

The far-left squad again showed that it cannot find any empathy for American Jews suffering attacks and threats of violence, even young Jewish adults on college campuses just seeking an education. That is a lesson for all Americans to internalize.

ACTION ITEM

In NY-16, extremist Rep. Jamaal Bowman is being challenged by Westchester County Executive George Latimer. Donate to Latimer here.
In MN-05, extremist Rep. Ilhan Omar is being challenged by Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels. Donate to Samuels here.