McConnell: Israel Has Right To Exist, American Jews Deserve Freedom From Fear
‘Across social media, far-left activists have whipped followers into a frenzy by proclaiming the urgent need to boycott hundreds of American businesses for the alleged crime of supporting Israel’s right to exist... Unfortunately, these situations seem most often to flare-up on the campuses of elite universities.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding anti-Semitism:
“In the 59 days since October 7th, an alarming surge in anti-Semitic hate has swept the world. And the United States unfortunately has not been exempt.
“On Sunday, an angry mob descended upon a Philadelphia restaurant co-owned by an Israeli-born Jew. Protesters demanded that customers boycott it, and – outrageously – charged the business and its proprietors with genocide.
“Unfortunately, this is hardly an isolated incident. Across social media, left-wing activists have whipped followers into a frenzy by proclaiming the urgent need to boycott hundreds of American businesses for the alleged crime of supporting Israel’s right to exist.
“They’ve committed acts of violence and vandalism, including against the homes of members of Congress.
“Anti-Semitic online mobs are insisting that organizations that do business in Israel are complicit in ethnic cleansing.
“Unfortunately, these situations seem most often to flare-up on the campuses of elite universities.
“This week, a prominent Harvard alumnus penned an open letter to Harvard’s president cataloguing that institution’s continued insanity when it comes to Israel’s right to self-defense.
“At Princeton, a faculty group recently signed a letter invoking academic freedom as a shield for students around the country who have parroted terrorist propaganda. Of course, in the same document, the professors found room to hurl their own accusation of ‘apartheid’ at Israel.
“American higher education has become the epicenter of an alarming wave of hatred toward Jews.
“Luckily, there are glimmers of hope. At Franciscan University in Ohio, administrators created an expedited transfer process to welcome students facing anti-Semitic threats at other schools.
“Catholic friars in rural Appalachia are eager to accept Jewish students that the Ivy League is failing to protect.
“But unfortunately, stories like these are few and far between. It’s especially alarming to see anti-Semitic hatred bleeding into secondary education, as well.
“Last month, an organization known as ‘The People’s Forum’ helped organize a massive anti-Israel protest and walk-out at schools in New York City.
“The group, which has direct ties to both domestic radical activists and state propagandists in Beijing, is creating toolkits and posters to facilitate such events at other schools.
“As I’ve said before, I am a staunch supporter of freedom of speech.
“Our nation gives hateful people the right to say appalling things.
“But it also gives people with a moral compass the right to condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”
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