Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was interrupted during a congressional hearing dedicated to discussing “hate” on Tuesday by an anti-Israel agitator who stood up shouting “F—ing Jews.”
During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled, “A Threat to Justice Everywhere: Stemming the Tide of Hate Crimes in America,” Cruz discussed soaring antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of Oct. 7.
“Antisemitism is a unique, historic form of evil, and over millennia, it is manifested in violence, mass murder and genocide,” Cruz said. “October 7th was one of the darkest days in human history when terrorists murdered over 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages. Women and girls were raped. It was the single largest mass murder of Jews in a day since the Holocaust. In the wake of October 7th, we have seen antisemitism explode across the United States and across the world, but especially on college campuses.”
After listing examples of antisemitic and pro-Hamas messages hurled toward Jewish students, Cruz called out the Biden-Harris administration.
Sen. Ted Cruz was interrupted by an anti-Israeli agitator during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing slated to discuss “hate crimes.” (Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
“Throughout all of this, the Biden-Harris administration has been utterly absent. Does anyone doubt if the Klan were on college campuses terrorizing African American students, threatening African American students, that we would see the FBI there, that we would see prosecutors there, that we would see federal funding cut off to universities? Of course we would. And we should,” Cruz said. “But when it comes to antisemitism, the Democrats have a problem. I would note this is occurring 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 this. At the University of Texas, when violent protests threatened Jewish students, police officers arrived and arrested them. That’s what happened when you enforce the law,” Cruz continued. “Every Republican member of this committee asked the chairman to hold a hearing on antisemitism in February. And yet we don’t get a hearing on antisemitism. We get a hearing generically on hate.”
Cruz was about to explain why he believes the Biden administration is to blame for this, when a man in the audience stood up and interjected, shouting profanities including “F—ing Jews,” according to video on social media. The anti-Israel agitator was then escorted out.
“And this is the kind of anger and hate that is encouraged. You’re now seeing the hate manifesting right here,” Cruz said, referencing the protester.
“So we now have a demonstration of antisemitism. We have a demonstration of the hate,” he added.
Cruz proceeded to ask one of the witnesses, Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, “Has the Biden administration cut off the funding of any of the colleges that have allowed this hate? Have they indicted anyone for funding these violent protests? Have they indicted the people paying for the matching tents, or have they sat there silently and have the universities, sat there silently while their students are terrified to go to class?”
Goldfeder responded, “They have not indicted anyone.”
“Has any university had their funding cut off for allowing this sort of violent intimidation?” Cruz asked.
“Not a single university,” Goldfeder said.
Anti-Israel agitators continue to demonstrate at a protest encampment on the campus of Columbia University on April 29, 2024, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The senator earlier referenced how the Anti-Defamation League has illustrated how the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States more than doubled from 2022 to 2023.
Cruz said that “college campuses in particular have become vile incubators of hatred of Jews,” citing examples of how one Cornell University student made threats after Oct. 7, including statements such as “if I see a pig, male Jew, I will stab you and slit your throat. If I see another pig female Jew, I will drag you away and rape you and throw you off a cliff.”
The Republican senator displayed a flier circulated by a student organization at California State University, Long Beach, calling for a “Day of Resistance” celebrating Oct. 7, noting how the flier included an image of a person parachuting with a fan attached, “a direct reference to and a glorification of Hamas terrorists that used gliders to descend upon a music festival and murder 260 innocent people and take many more hostages.”
Cruz recalled that in the days after now-former Columbia University President Minouche Shafik was confronted about soaring antisemitism on campus before the House Education and the Workforce Committee in April, Rabbi Elie Buechler issued a warning to Jewish students that Columbia “cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy,” and that he “would strongly recommend” that Jewish students leave campus and go back to their homes.
An anti-Israel agitator holds a Palestinian flag during a march on Columbia University campus in New York City on April 29, 2024. (Reuters/David Dee Delgado)
Cruz said the rabbi “had every reason to be concerned,” as at Columbia’s campus, individuals yelled, “We’re all Hamas! Long live Hamas!”
The senator continued to list examples of antisemitism on campuses across the U.S., including the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor who was told to “go back to the gas chambers,” and displayed a photo of a student at Columbia University holding a sign reading “al-Qassam’s next targets,” in front of a group of students holding American and Israeli flags in counter-protest.
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“Al-Qassam is the military arm of Hamas. According to social media, this particular student is a wealthy student from Georgia. She’s not Palestinian, but she has been taught lies and hatred, and she feels perfectly comfortable advocating the murder of her fellow students at Columbia,” Cruz said.