[House Hearing, 119 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
______
RISING THREAT: AMERICA'S BATTLE AGAINST ANTISEMITIC TERROR
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2025
__________
Serial No. 119-26
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT
Available via: http://judiciary.house.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
60-779 WASHINGTON : 2025
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Chair
DARRELL ISSA, California JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland, Ranking
ANDY BIGGS, Arizona Member
TOM McCLINTOCK, California JERROLD NADLER, New York
THOMAS P. TIFFANY, Wisconsin ZOE LOFGREN, California
THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
CHIP ROY, Texas HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,
SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin Georgia
BEN CLINE, Virginia ERIC SWALWELL, California
LANCE GOODEN, Texas TED LIEU, California
JEFFERSON VAN DREW, New Jersey PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington
TROY E. NEHLS, Texas J. LUIS CORREA, California
BARRY MOORE, Alabama MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania
KEVIN KILEY, California JOE NEGUSE, Colorado
HARRIET M. HAGEMAN, Wyoming LUCY McBATH, Georgia
LAUREL M. LEE, Florida DEBORAH K. ROSS, North Carolina
WESLEY HUNT, Texas BECCA BALINT, Vermont
RUSSELL FRY, South Carolina JESUS G. ``CHUY'' GARCIA, Illinois
GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE, California
BRAD KNOTT, North Carolina JARED MOSKOWITZ, Florida
MARK HARRIS, North Carolina DANIEL S. GOLDMAN, New York
ROBERT F. ONDER, Jr., Missouri JASMINE CROCKETT, Texas
DEREK SCHMIDT, Kansas
BRANDON GILL, Texas
MICHAEL BAUMGARTNER, Washington
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT
JEFFERSON VAN DREW, New Jersey, Chair
BARRY MOORE, Alabama JASMINE CROCKETT, Texas, Ranking
ROBERT F. ONDER, Jr., Missouri Member
DEREK SCHMIDT, Kansas JARED MOSKOWITZ, Florida
BRANDON GILL, Texas HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,
Georgia
CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Majority Staff Director
JULIE TAGEN, Minority Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
----------
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
The Honorable Jefferson Van Drew, Chair of the Subcommittee on
Oversight from the State of New Jersey......................... 1
The Honorable Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on
the Judiciary from the State of Maryland....................... 3
The Honorable Jim Jordan, Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary
from the State of Ohio......................................... 6
The Honorable Jasmine Crockett, Ranking Member of the
Subcommittee on Oversight from the State of Texas.............. 6
WITNESSES
Debra Cooper, Chief, Digital Activism; End Jew Hatred and Jewish
Advocacy Research, Writer Group
Oral Testimony................................................. 9
Prepared Testimony............................................. 12
Kenneth L. Marcus, Founder, Chair, The Louis D. Brandeis Center
for Human Rights Under Law
Oral Testimony................................................. 28
Prepared Testimony............................................. 30
Dan Schneider, Vice President, Free Speech, Media Research Center
Oral Testimony................................................. 44
Prepared Testimony............................................. 46
Mathew S. Nosanchuk, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office
for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education
Oral Testimony................................................. 65
Prepared Testimony............................................. 67
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC. SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
All materials submitted by the Subcommittee on Oversight, for the
record......................................................... 91
APPENDIX
A statement from the Jewish Electorate Institute, Jul. 1, 2025,
submitted by the Honorable Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the
Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Maryland, for the
record
RISING THREAT: AMERICA'S BATTLE AGAINST ANTISEMITIC TERROR
----------
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Oversight
Committee on the Judiciary
Washington, DC
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 3 p.m., in Room
2141, Rayburn House Office Building, the Hon. Jefferson Van
Drew [Chair of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Members present: Representatives Van Drew, Jordan, Moore,
Onder, Schmidt, Gill, Crockett, Raskin, Moskowitz, and Johnson.
Also present: Representative Goldman.
Mr. Van Drew. The Subcommittee will come to order. Without
objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess at any
time. We welcome everyone to today's hearing on stopping
antisemitic attacks.
I am going to now recognize the gentleman from Alabama to
lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then I am going to ask
that everybody stay standing for a moment of silence.
All. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States
of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one
Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
all.
Mr. Van Drew. Remain standing. I will now recognize myself
for an opening statement.
Welcome again, everyone, to today's Committee hearing. I
want to thank our witnesses. I want to thank you for being
here--time is precious--and welcome our fellow Americans who
are joining us this afternoon.
Today, we convene to confront a crisis that threatens the
very fabric of the United States of America, an alarming and a
dangerous escalation in violent antisemitic incidents occurring
across our United States of America. In 2023, there were over
9,300 documented antisemitic incidents in the United States--
2023, the most ever recorded in our history.
While the Jewish Americans represent just 2.4 percent of
the population, they are nearly the target of just about 70
percent of all religious hate crimes, according to the FBI.
That is based on 2023 statistics as well. It is not
speculation. It is data. It is real, and it is getting worse.
We have seen in Boulder, Colorado, where a peaceful
gathering to raise awareness about hostages held by Hamas was
attacked with firebombs. We have seen it here in Washington,
DC, where two beautiful Israeli Embassy employees were
murdered. They were shot and they were killed. We have seen it
in Pennsylvania, where an arsonist targeted the home of a
sitting Governor, Governor Shapiro, during a Passover
celebration and intended to kill him.
We have seen it on our college campuses, where Jewish
students report harassment, exclusion, fear of their personal
safety, and are even afraid--and this bothered me so much--to
wear anything that indicates they are Jewish. I will never
forget we had testimony from somebody that was sitting where
you all are sitting, a beautiful young lady, articulate and
smart. She was a college student from a big university. She
said it was a sad day when her mother came to her and said I
think you should probably take off your Jewish star.
She didn't. She was brave. The fact that we even have to
think that way--according to the Anti-Defamation League, more
than 500 protests sympathetic to Hamas has occurred on U.S.
campuses after October 7th. At many of these events, chants
calling for ``intifada'' and ``from the river to the sea'' were
not some fringe comments; they were a message to their fellow
Jewish humans.
Antisemitism at its core is incompatible with American
values. It is un-American. When expressions cross the line into
threats, intimidation, or glorification of violence, that is
not protest. That is not the American tradition. It is
something far more dangerous.
We have seen this from foreign nationals abusing our visa
system to enter this country when engaging in and promoting
hateful extremist activity. We have seen universities refuse to
take firm action when antisemitic behavior occurs at their
campuses. We have seen public institutions respond with
statements that fall too short of the clarity that this moment,
this inflection point in our history, demands.
Let me be clear. Let me be crystal clear. Antisemitism is
not just a threat to one group. It is a warning sign. It is a
warning sign of a greater societal breakdown. The persecution
of the Jewish people is not a new phenomenon. It is one of the
oldest forms of hate known to civilization. It began over 3,000
years ago when the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, their
identity suppressed, and their freedom denied. That is when
Moses led them to liberation.
We saw it again during the siege of Jerusalem when Roman
legions destroyed the Second Temple and violently uprooted
Jewish life in its holiest city. We saw it in Spain during the
Inquisition in 1492, when Jews were forced to convert, flee, or
face execution for practicing their faith. We saw it in the
pogroms in Eastern Europe, particularly between the 1880s and
the 1920s, where Jewish communities were massacred, homes
burned, and families driven into exile by State-tolerated mobs,
to the atrocities of the Holocaust where six million--six
million--Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime.
We have some professors and some universities that deny
that any of this or that all of it ever existed. History has
taught us time and again that when antisemitism festers,
violence is not far behind. The United States was founded--we
are a different country. We were founded in a different way, in
large part as a refuge from that kind of religious persecution.
Our founding fathers enshrined freedom as a core--as part of
our religion, as a core tenant of the American experiment.
This is everything that America doesn't stand for. At that
time, it was unique yet deliberate to move to do so. America
stands apart from so many other Nations because it is committed
from the beginning to the idea that people of all faiths should
be able to live without fear or coercion or violence. We have a
responsibility, not just as elected officials, but as
Americans, to address this with the seriousness that it
deserves, with the same vigor we use to protect our other
rights and freedoms, like free speech.
This Committee should speak out with one unified voice.
That type of hatred has no place in our communities--and that
Jewish Americans, like all Americans, have the right to live,
learn, worship, and participate fully in society without fear
because hatred rarely stops with its first target. When we stay
silent while others are attacked, the hate doesn't disappear.
It grows. It festers. It becomes bolder. Eventually, it will
turn to each and every one of us. If we wait until it is our
turn to care, it will already be too late.
The American experiment is unique. It is why I truly
believe that we are a different God and that with all our fault
as a country, we are still the best Nation on the face of the
earth. A part of that American experiment makes this so
unacceptable. This is something we thought happens in other
countries; it happens in Europe; and it happens in Asia.
America is different. We are founded in a different way. We are
better than that. I don't mean that we are superior to anybody,
but I mean that in our ideology as a Nation, we are better than
that. We don't expect that here, and we shouldn't expect it
here, and we shouldn't tolerate it here.
It is time to move on, and I thank you again all for being
here. I see that--you are not going next. I am sorry. OK. We--
yes. I never know how you all are--including my side, by the
way. That is a bipartisan thing. I never know how everybody is
going to go.
I am going to recognize the Ranking Member of the entire
Committee, Mr. Raskin from Maryland.
Mr. Raskin. Well, thank you, Chair Van Drew, for your
leadership.
Thanks to all the witnesses for joining us today.
Antisemitism is the world's oldest hatred, a form of racism
that has mutated in evermore dangerous ways over the centuries,
from religious persecution based on allegations of deicide to
medieval blood libels, to Russian pogroms, to Nazi eugenics,
and the Holocaust to contemporary anti-Zionist antisemitism,
holding all Jews everywhere accountable for the actions and
policies of the Israeli Government and imputing monolithic
ethnic thinking, collective guilt, and guilt by association.
Antisemitism is a perennial threat, not only to millions of
Jews all over the world but to reason, tolerance, and prospects
for human progress. Antisemitism is a dark career in America.
We have seen plenty of outbreaks of antisemitic violence and
hatred: The framing and lynching of Leo Frank in 1913, which
some antisemites are defending to this very day; the official
refusal to accept ships filled with Jewish refugees fleeing
Nazi persecution; neo-Nazis at the Unite the Right rally in
Charlottesville in 2017 chanting, ``Jews will not replace us'';
the mass murder of 11 Jews worshiping at the Tree of Life
synagogue in Pittsburgh by extremist Robert Bowers, who
promoted the Great Replacement theory; the antisemitic arson
attempt against Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and his
family on the first night of Passover; the murder of two
Israeli Embassy staffers outside of the Capital Jewish Museum
here in Washington; and a fire-bombing attack in Boulder at a
gathering calling for the return of Hamas-held Israeli
hostages.
Since Hamas' vicious terror attack on Israel on October 7,
2023, which killed more than 1,200 people, and the subsequent
bloody war in Gaza in which more than 57,000 Palestinians and
Israelis have been killed, the number of antisemitic incidents
around the world has exploded. This resurge in antisemitism has
drawn bipartisan condemnation in Congress, such as in Mr. Van
Drew's resolution we were all proud to support.
Now is the time to act against antisemitism, not just
denounce it. I confess little faith in this administration's
willingness to actually do that, and I am not alone. Nearly
two-thirds of all Jewish voters disapprove of the job Donald
Trump is doing to fight antisemitism. It is not surprising for
several reasons, the first being that Trump has populated his
administration with antisemites and fans of neo-Nazis. He has
nominated people like Ed Martin and Paul Ingrassia to top-level
positions despite their documented support for and close
relationships with neo-Nazis and antisemites.
Ed Martin, Trump's once nominee for the U.S. Attorney for
the District of Columbia, has enthusiastically embraced Timothy
Hale-Cusanelli, a neo-Nazi who paints a Hitler mustache on
himself and tells coworkers that Hitler should have finished
the job. Martin, who is Trump's acting U.S. Attorney, called
Hale-Cusanelli an amazing guy and a great friend. Though Martin
tried to cover up and minimize their friendship, Trump was
eventually forced to withdraw the nomination and named Martin,
instead, the U.S. Pardon Attorney, which does not require U.S.
Senate confirmation.
Others in his administration have shared antisemitic posts
on social media. Antisemitism Task Force head Leo Terrell
shared a post by prominent neo-Nazi Patrick Casey saying that
Trump, quote, ``can revoke someone's Jew card.'' Who can forget
Elon Musk's shocking fascist salutes? Pentagon Press Secretary
Kingsley Wilson posted on X that the Great Replacement isn't a
Right-wing conspiracy theory; it is reality.
Trump himself has a disturbing history of antisemitic
actions. He invited over to his house for dinner at Mar-a-Lago
Nick Fuentes, a vicious neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier, and
self-proclaimed Hitler lover Ye. He saw very fine people on
both sides of the antisemitic riot in Charlottesville. He has
claimed that prominent Jews in our government were bad Jews,
calling Senator Schumer not Jewish anymore, and repeatedly
referred to him as a Palestinian, including just this morning,
and said that any Jewish person who doesn't vote for Trump
should have their heads examined.
When Trump claims he is actively combating antisemitism, we
know there is a lot more to the picture than meets the eye. He
has thoroughly destroyed the infrastructure within our
government to detect, prevent, and prosecute domestic
extremism, hate crimes, and antisemitic attacks. In just a few
months, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Department
of Homeland Security have fired experienced domestic terrorism
experts and deleted key offices which monitor and act to
prevent terrorist attacks and racial hate crimes.
On the day after Trump took office, the DOJ demoted senior
career attorneys in the National Security Division and Criminal
Division, reassigning them to the new Sanctuary Cities Task
Force. Nearly all left the Department of Justice instead,
draining the government of decades of counterterrorism
experience.
The DOJ slashed its Civil Rights Division that is charged
with prosecuting hate crimes. It has illegally gutted the
Community Relations Service, which has been a crucial tool for
countering hate crimes by working directly with communities
across the country. The FBI has cut staffing in its Domestic
Terrorism Unit and has stopped using a nationwide database to
track domestic terror and hate crimes. The Department of
Education cut in half the Office for Civil Rights, the agency
tasked with addressing discrimination and hostile learning
environments, including antisemitic events on campus.
The Trump Administration froze or canceled community
safety, violence intervention, and terror prevention programs
across America. It is ending a terrorism prevention program
focused on lone wolf attacks, attacks like the ones we just saw
in Boulder and outside of the Capital Jewish Museum here in
D.C., because the programs, quote, ``do not align with the
administration's priorities.''
The DHS has also cut grants to programs supported by the
Center for Prevention, Programs, and Partnerships, or CP3.
Since 2020, CP3 has helped prevent more than 1,000 violent
plots in what national security experts have called pioneering
work with an enormous public policy payoff. Ignoring this track
record, the Trump Administration gutted CP3, fired 75 percent
of its staff, and froze tens of millions of dollars for
violence prevention. He even appointed a 22-year-old with no
national security experience to run what is left of CP3. It is
shocking that a guy who graduated from college last year would
be tasked with leading the fight against extremist political
violence in America, although in fairness, he did do Model
United Nations in the fall semester of his senior year.
Other DHS-supported programs, including the not-for-profit
Security Grant Program, which helps Jewish institutions install
security cameras, train staff, and add protective barriers, has
also been left without adequate funding.
The decimation of counterterrorism and hate crime
capabilities is reckless in today's heightened-threat
landscape. Even as the DHS demands over half a billion dollars
more for immigration enforcement and border security, it is
neglecting its basic responsibilities to monitor and prevent
hate crimes and domestic terrorism. This negligence has been
accompanied by a spike in shocking antise-
mitic attacks across America.
Beyond countenancing antisemitism in its own ranks and
dismantling the infrastructure that opposes it, the
administration has also repeatedly invoked fighting
antisemitism as a vague and arbitrary, all-purpose excuse for
eroding constitutional rights and imposing authoritarian
control. Seizing control of college student admissions, faculty
hiring, and curricular content at colleges and universities has
nothing to do with protecting Jewish students. Conducting
ideological purges in the name of the Jewish community just
exposes Jews to recrimination and revenge.
When the government uses fighting antisemitism as the
pretext for snatching graduate students off the streets and
jailing them for exercise of their free speech rights, this
ploy practically invites people to blame Jews for the erosion
of civic freedom and constitutional liberty in America. When
government deploys antisemitism as the rationale for canceling
hundreds of millions of dollars of Federal research grants for
treating cancer, curing cystic fibrosis, and conquering other
diseases, that does not make Jews safer from antisemitism.
Rather, it makes Jews the scapegoat again, the reason why the
public is losing progress in science and medical care.
If the administration truly wants to fight antisemitism, it
should begin by firing the antisemites it has hired. It can
then restore and rebuild the antiterror and antihate crime
infrastructure that it has demolished. Then, it can call off
the sinister effort to dress authori-tarianism in the language
of opposing antisemitism.
The late Jewish leader Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks said,
Antisemitism is about the inability of a group to make space
for difference. And because we are all different, the hate that
begins with Jews never ends with Jews. Antisemitism is the
world's most reliable early warning sign of a major threat to
all freedom, humanity, and the dignity of difference. It
matters to all of us, which is why we must fight it together.
I hope we can do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield back.
Mr. Van Drew. Thank you. I now recognize the Chair of the
Full Committee, Congressman Jordan.
Chair Jordan. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really appreciate the
long history that you laid about this disgusting behavior and--
as well as the Ranking Member.
We need to look no further than the past three months. On
April 13th, Governor Shapiro's home was arsoned--fire at his
home. On May 21st, Israeli Embassy workers were killed right
here in D.C. On June 1st, out in Boulder, Colorado, a terrorist
attack on Jewish individuals. Of course, just last week, one of
our colleagues, Max Miller, faced it himself.
This is as real and present as it gets. I appreciate the
Chair and our witnesses for being here to talk about how we--to
do everything--talking about it and doing everything we can.
There are resolutions I think we should pass on the floor--
anything and everything we can do to stop this disgusting--
excuse me, wrong behavior.
So, again, thank you, Mr. Chair, for doing this. Thank you
to our witnesses for being here. I yield back.
Mr. Van Drew. Thank you. Without objection, all other
opening statements will be included in the record. Oh, I am
sorry. I now recognize the Ranking Member of the Oversight
Subcommittee, Jasmine Crockett. I apologize.
Ms. Crockett. No worries. I will absolutely give you some
of your time back so that we can move on to these amazing
witnesses.
I want to thank each and every one of the Members that have
opened and given a recitation of the hate that is taking place.
I want to go a little bit further, though, since I can skip
over some of my remarks about Nick Fuentes and about Elon and
others. I want to be clear that one of the things that is so
hurtful to me that we have consistently discussed as I've been
out on the road is the fact that there is a consistent rise in
hate in general in this country. If we continue to allow people
to divide us, then our country will continue to fall down this
terrible rabbit hole that we have fallen down.
The reality is that united we stand and divided we fall.
What we have got going on now is that people are saying if you
like this type of person, then you have got to hate this kind
of person, and that kind of stuff. Frankly, I think that we
need to have more hearings on hate overall. We need to address
racial hate, homophobic hate, and yes, even political hate.
Unfortunately, we are seeing a rise in all of it.
This hate is being directed at our neighbors, our
community, and even Members of Congress. The violence and death
threats that people are experiencing, including some of my
colleagues here today, because of their faith or their presumed
faith or simply because of their political affiliation, is
unconscionable and needs to stop.
You are not allowed to be different--or you are allowed to
be different. You are allowed to have your own faith. You are
allowed to disagree. What we won't allow is using these
differences to justify threats and violence against people
different than you.
Everyone, including Congress and the President, needs to do
all that we can to reject hate and violence in all forms. To do
that, my colleagues need to be honest about what has allowed
this behavior to flourish. That means confronting the fact that
Donald Trump has played a significant role in emboldening this
behavior by repeatedly legitimizing extremists who have
continued to spread and promote antisemitism and religious
hate.
Growing up, we were told we need to lead by example; lead
others in a way that you see the world or how you think it
should be. For me, I lead by example by acknowledging what is
right and what is wrong, by standing up for marginalized
communities, by calling out and combating hate, and finding the
humanity in everyone and everything. How does the man currently
occupying the Oval Office choose to lead by example within the
context of antisemitism?
It is Trump who, again, invited Nick Fuentes, is holding a
press conference to say that there, quote, ``were some very
fine people on both sides,'' after Charlottesville, and we know
that the reason we have to talk about Charlottesville is
because there were White supremacists who flocked to that city
and held torches and Nazi flags, chanting, ``You will not
replace us.''
It is Trump refusing to condemn the January 6th
insurrectionists who carried Nazi flags into these very halls
of Congress, and then, after all of that, deciding to pardon
them. It is Trump who recruited Elon Musk, and we know that he
not only did the Nazi salute on the inaugural stage, but he
also told Germany two days before Holocaust Remembrance Day
that, quote, ``There is too much focus on past guilt.''
It is allowing Musk and others to continue to enable
religious hate groups to post hate and threats online. It is
redirecting attorneys at the Department of Justice's Office of
Civil Rights, the primary office for enforcing discrimination
laws, including religious discrimination, away from their work
and placing them to work on immigration cases.
It is Trump redirecting attorneys on the Department of
Justice's Office of Civil Rights who are supposed to work on
things such as religious hate. It is Trump having his
Department of State ban the term racially or ethnically
motivated violent extremism from classification and the Style
Guide at the State Department.
That is how Trump is supposedly leading by example here and
now. You would think that an administration wanting to take
this seriously would place highly qualified individuals in
agency roles tasked with combating religious terrorist hate,
threats, and violence. Yet, Trump hasn't even cleared that low
hurdle because we know that we ended up with Thomas.
The guy that Trump currently has in charge of Department of
Homeland Security's Center for Prevention Programs and
Partnerships, the division tasked with working with State and
local governments and other stakeholders to prevent terrorism,
including religious terrorism, is just 23 years old with no
experience in government, antiterrorism, or really anything
else.
The person who Thomas took over for had over two decades of
national security experience. Now, under Trump, we have an
immature, incompetent, infantile person who has barely even
lived for two decades, in charge of this important work. It is
ridiculous, it is shameful, and it is dangerous.
Allowing religious hate to thrive in one corner allows it
to spread everywhere across all corners, all denominations, and
all faiths. As the Members of Congress, we cannot allow another
synagogue or, for that matter, another church, mosque, or home
risk being attacked or shot up by Nazis or extremists simply
because elected officials don't have the courage and leadership
to condemn them before they act.
Trump's disgusting refusal to cut ties from Nazi supporters
and sympathizers have given violent extremists both a
figurative and literal get-out-of-jail-free card. It is
signaling that these hateful beliefs and actions will be
tolerated, so long as they pledge their loyalty to Trump.
We owe it to every American to condemn this behavior and
fight back by confronting this intolerance with courage and
leading from our hearts.
I yield back.
Mr. Van Drew. OK. Without objection, Mr. Goldman will be
permitted to participate in today's hearing for the purpose of
questioning witnesses if a Member yields him time for that
purpose.
Without objection, all other opening statements will be
included in the record.
We will now introduce today's witnesses.
Ms. Debra Cooper--Ms. Cooper is the Chief of Digital
Activism at the End Jew Hatred, a grassroots organization that
focuses on combating discrimination and oppression targeting
Jews. She is also Director of Strategy of the Jewish Advocacy
Research and Writer group. Her work focuses on the development
and the implementation of advocacy efforts to protect the right
of Jews and Israelis in the United States and abroad.
Welcome. Good to see you again.
Mr. Kenneth L. Marcus--Mr. Marcus is the Founder, Chair,
and CEO of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under
Law, a nonprofit organization that works to advance the civil
and human rights of Jewish people. He also serves as a lecturer
at the George Washington University Law School and previously
served as the Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil
Rights.
Mr. Dan Schneider--Mr. Schneider is the Vice President for
Free Speech at the Media Research Center, a media watchdog
organization. He previously served in the White House,
Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services,
and as a House and Senate staffer.
I want to pronounce your name right. Mr. Matt Nosanchuk--
got it. Good. Mr. Nosanchuk is the former Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Operations and Outreach in the Office of Civil
Rights at the Department of Education. He previously co-founded
and led the New York Jewish Agenda, a nonprofit organization
focused on education and advocacy for the Jewish community in
New York.
We are going to begin by swearing you all in. Would you all
please rise? Raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm
under penalty of perjury that the testimony you are about to
give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge,
information, and belief, so help you God?
Thank you. Be seated.
Let the record reflect that the witnesses have answered in
the affirmative.
Please know that your written testimony will be entered
into the record in its entirety. Accordingly, we ask that you
summarize your testimony in five minutes.
Ms. Cooper, you may begin.
STATEMENT OF DEBRA COOPER
Ms. Cooper. Good afternoon. My primary focus on strategy,
research, and writing is really on education as it relates to
groups with links to terrorism. I also work directly with
students, teachers, and other victims of antisemitism, as well
as with affected community members.
America is in crisis, experiencing levels of Jew hatred not
seen since the Holocaust, as well as other religious hate and
extreme anti-America, anti-Israel, and generally hate of the
West. This has morphed into what has become normalized,
dangerous, open support, praise for violence and terrorism, and
the outright rejection of our laws, tolerance, decency, and
democratic values.
October 7th offered plausible deniability for the explosion
of open Jew hatred in America. It has been brewing for decades
but now has escalated to a dangerous, unprecedented level due
to the prior administration's failure to take meaningful
action, despite the clear threats and signs of imminent
escalation and danger.
Hamas offshoots CAIR, AMP, PYM, and NSJP, that is the
Council for American-Islamic Relations, American Muslims for
Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, and the National
Students for Justice in Palestine, and other dangerous groups
have been allowed to operate freely in our country with
demonstrations spearheaded by them promoting hatred, terrorism,
violence, and death to Jews in America without any
consequences.
CAIR has been infiltrating our educational institutions for
at least 20 years, poisoning the minds of our young people, our
most vulnerable population, with false narratives demonizing
Jews, Israelis, and the State of Israel, narratives no honest
educator actually believes.
Insidious Jew-hating teachers, professors, and educational
unions have taken over our schools, silencing Jewish voices
through intimidation, harassment, and covert means and
manipulation. Without challenge or investigation by our
government, our educational institutions allowed antisemitism
in violation of Title VI to flourish under the pretext of
academic freedom.
The university administrators used the guise of
intellectual inquiry and the balancing of interests to allow
Jew hatred to pose as legitimate academic discourse. The laws
and policies were only an abstract thought.
Our government, those ultimately responsible for the safety
and security of our Nation, including protecting our civil
rights, did absolutely nothing in response to these school
administrators' repeated failures to enforce the laws and
school policies, even as events escalated.
We have created a culture of Jew hatred, the normalization
of Jew baiting, the constant, hateful rhetoric directed at the
Jewish people, where they become demonized and dehumanized.
This is precisely what the Nazis did during the Holocaust to
foster a climate of indifference against the Jews that
permitted the murder of six million Jews.
Now, unsurprisingly, 20 months later and probably even
longer, emboldened by inaction and a lack of meaningful
consequences, America and Americans of all backgrounds are
being terrorized by our young people, who reject and hate
everything we value in America.
What has become clear from these demonstrations is that
pro-Palestinian advocacy uses code words such as anti-Israel,
workers' rights, freedom of expression, and anti-America
rhetoric, all of which are nothing more than a pretext for Jew
hatred and the destruction of Western civilization.
What has also become clear is that the Free Palestine
movement is not a grassroots or spontaneous or even spontaneous
movement, or even a response to the Hamas-Israel war. Instead,
the movement is well-organized, complete with toolkits and
professional signage, statements and press releases, even
identical encampment tents, clearly with outside funding.
The prior administration allowed brazen, dangerous hatred
to flourish in the country unabated. Each failure at every
level, our young people were emboldened to escalate further.
Now we are seeing the dangerous real-time consequences, both in
our colleges and on our streets.
The recent Los Angeles protests, the murders of a young
couple outside the Jewish museum in Washington, DC, and the
Denver, Colorado, attack with a makeshift Molotov cocktail,
which set several Americans on fire, are just the start of this
escalating trend.
We are now, for the first time, seeing progress. We ask you
to use your authority to identify and investigate these
individuals and organizations who are clearly working together
to conspire to deprive Jewish Americans of their civil rights
and to destroy America and Western civilization.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Cooper follows:]
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Mr. Van Drew. Thank you, Ms. Cooper. Mr. Marcus, you may
begin.
STATEMENT OF KENNETH L. MARCUS
Mr. Marcus. Chair Van Drew, Ranking Member Crockett, and
the distinguished Members of this Committee, my name is Kenneth
L. Marcus. I am Chair and CEO of the Louis D. Brandeis Center
for Human Rights Under Law.
Thank you for this invitation, and more than that, thank
you for the strong words of the Chair, the Ranking Members, and
the Members of this Committee condemning antisemitism. As
Americans, it is good to hear unity, it is good to hear that
the voices against antisemitism and hate are strong.
We as Americans are reeling. We are reeling from a drumbeat
of lethal antisemitism, violence that has surged from campus
encampments into the streets, fueled by the extremist rhetoric
and fostered by institutional complacency. The same
confrontation between terror and democracy that has sparked way
between Israel and Iran now plays out in the United States,
where anti-Israel activists have called for the eradication of
Western civilization.
Since October 7, 2023, much violence has focused on Jewish
targets, but we know, as Members have emphasized already today,
that what begins with the Jews does not end with the Jews. We
see that what developed on our campuses does not remain on our
campuses. This lethal unrest is a threat to all Americans, and
it must be stopped.
The roots of this crisis are both global and domestic.
Israel's recent war with both Iran and also ongoing with Hamas
have emboldened anti-Jewish sentiment worldwide. At home, that
sentiment has taken on a violent and organized character.
What we are witnessing on American campuses is not a
collection of spontaneous protests, but part of a broader,
well-resourced campaign coordinated by student activists,
external organizations, and aligned faculty networks.
As described in a Brandeis Center complaint, the violent
takeover of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, for example,
was premeditated and planned in concert with outside pro-Hamas
groups, which held strategy meetings just hours before the
takeover attended by over 100 individuals and featuring
breakout sessions on resistance.
Similarly, at UCLA, one encampment organized by Students
for Justice in Palestine created a de facto exclusion zone
where Jewish students were physically prevented from entering
parts of campus. Participants used coordinated messaging,
occupation tactics, and physical intimidation to advance a
hostile agenda.
Last year, then-Director of National Intelligence Avril
Haines confirmed that Iranian Government actors have sought to
opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding
the war in Gaza, noting that individuals tied to Iran have
posed as activists online, encouraged demonstrations, and even
provided financial support to protests.
The members that were originally created to combat
discrimination, like diversity, equity, and inclusion
initiatives, have in some cases been coopted to excuse or
normalize antisemitism.
It is not just that antisemitism or Jewish identity are
excluded from DEI initiatives, but rather that some of this
programming reduces everyone to either oppressor or oppressed,
sometimes castigating Jews, as if Jews were White supremacists,
with Jews being told to own our privilege, including Jews who
might be descendants of Holocaust survivors. This can lead to
age-old stereotypes of Jewish power and privilege.
Let me be clear: Nothing in my testimony is intended to
restrict exercise of free speech criticizing any government,
including Israel's, as protected under the First Amendment. The
harmful and often violent ideology plaguing our universities is
no longer confined to the campus. We are seeing it in K-12
classrooms, health-care facilities, workplaces, unions, other
taxpayer-funded programs.
In education, both K-12 schools and universities have
become breeding grounds for anti-Israel and antisemitic
indoctrination. Under the banner of decolonization or liberated
ethnic studies, some curricula portray Jews as colonial
oppressors, erasing indigenous connection to the land of
Israel, and reframing Jewish identity as inherently oppressive.
For example, in Santa Ana, California, the Brandeis Center
filed suit after the school district approved ethnic studies
curricula that erased Jewish identity, promoted antisemitic
narratives, and excluded Jewish voices from the curriculum
process. Steering committee members openly referred to the sole
Jewish participant as a colonized Jewish mind and discussed
scheduling meetings on Jewish holidays to reduce Jewish
participation.
In healthcare, antisemitism is increasingly surfacing under
the guise of decolonizing therapy and similar movements. Under
decolonizing therapy, this approach to mental health casts
Zionism as a mental illness and frames Jewish identity as a
symptom of colonial privilege, marginalizing Jewish patients
and professionals alike.
In one case, a Jewish patient was denied a prenatal
appointment after the provider described Israel as a colonial
oppressor. Another patient reported that her therapist equated
Jewish identity with White supremacy.
In view of all of this, I am grateful both for the whole-
of-government approach of the Trump Administration and the
whole-of-the-Congress approach of this Congress and urge both
additional legislation, both to implement the Trump Executive
Order on combating antisemitism and also additional measures to
ensure continued strong enforcement by the Executive Branch.
I thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Marcus follows:]
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Mr. Van Drew. Thank you, Mr. Marcus. Mr. Schneider, you may
begin.
STATEMENT OF DAN SCHNEIDER
Mr. Schneider. Thank you. Ranking Member Crockett.
Sadly, this hearing is very timely. We all know the data;
we have stories before us. The question is why. Why is there
this massive spike in antisemitism?
It is not because of a handful of neo-Nazis in their
mothers' basements. We have always had people who hate, who
hold hate in their hearts and in their minds. Sadly, we always
will. What is the difference and why this spike?
I believe it is because there are a handful or a few of
these massive, mega corporations that now create, curate, and
distribute information to an unprecedented degree. These
corporations are intent on amplifying narratives that harm
Jews. Let me be very clear, just as the Chair and the Ranking
Member have been very clear. When Jews are attacked, our entire
society is hurt.
What are these organizations? Well, they are politicized
legacy media outlets, starting with the Associated Press. It is
agenda-driven publishers, especially Wikipedia. It is Big Tech
platforms, including search engines like Google and AI systems.
I will point out in particular Microsoft's Copilot.
First, let me address legacy media and the AP. When AP and
its Stylebook create double standards and use those standards
to target Jews and to target Israel, it creates license for
others not only within its own, on its own payroll, but for
other media outlets to attack Jews either through attacking
Israel and condemning Jews broadly because of attacks against
Israel, or when they fail to identify the reason that there are
attacks on American Jews.
Covering stories that ignore why somebody was harmed, why
there were massive mobs of people going after Jews after a
soccer game. Why a terrorist with a homemade flamethrower was
going after protesters in Boulder. When the media fails to
cover these stories, it gives license for more people and for
hate to grow.
Let me turn to the Associated Press in particular. It has a
long history. The Nazis allowed the AP to stay in its country
in the 1930s because the AP was willing to comply with the Nazi
rules, firing all the Jews on staff and only publishing stories
and images that the Nazis approved.
The AP Stylebook has very poor definitions of genocide, of
antisemitism, and of the Holocaust itself. That is why when
there are stories written by the AP and by other media outlets
it glosses over the harm that is really being caused.
It gives license for people to throw around the term
genocide in inappropriate ways that smear both Jews in America
and the Israeli Government when the Israeli Government is
simply trying to defend itself against terrorism.
Let me point out other media outlets and what they have
done. A Washington Post journalist recently posted that it is a
beautiful thing, 600 Israeli dead. An NPR journalist called
Jewish people pigs and pointed--and posted, ``Let it be a curse
upon the Jews and their supporters.''
The PBS's Jeffrey Brown called American Jewish students the
face of oppression. A CBS journalist asked the question, ``Are
the Jews human?'' CNN's Jessica Dean said that ``the Boulder
terrorist attack was not necessarily a terrorist attack.'' I am
not sure what she thought it would have been.
For those who are really concerned about genocide and try
to flippantly throw that term to blame Israel for defending
itself, why are they not asking about what happened in Rwanda?
Why are they not asking about what is going on in the Congo?
Why are they not asking about what is happening to the Uyghurs
in China, where true genocide is taking place?
I also want to turn to Wikipedia. Wikipedia has a long
history now. Sadly, it was founded as an online encyclopedia to
democratize information. It has instead been hijacked by
radicals to promote a radical agenda.
Wikipedia has treated Jews, Judaism, and Israel in
abominable ways. It also has a series of blacklists to prevent
media outlets on the Right and including pro-Israel and pre-
Jewish outlets on the Left. If one wonders what it takes for
the ADL and other Left-wing organizations to be banned by
Wikipedia, here is the answer: Be Jewish.
Mr. Chair, I have additional information in my written
testimony, but I am happy to answer questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Schneider follows:]
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Mr. Van Drew. Thank you for your statement, and that
opportunity will definitely come to you. Mr. Nosanchuk, you may
begin.
STATEMENT OF MATHEW S. NOSANCHUK
Mr. Nosanchuk. Thank you. Good afternoon, my name is Matt
Nosanchuk. I am a former Senior Government Official and Jewish
community nonprofit leader. Galvanizing action and developing
policy to counter antisemitism has been the central focus of my
work.
I want to thank you, Chair Van Drew, Ranking Member
Crockett, and Ranking Member for the Full Committee Raskin, for
inviting me to testify before the Committee today.
Last month, I attended the opening of a new exhibit at the
Capital Jewish Museum, where six days later Yaron Lischinsky
and Sarah Milgram were fatally gunned down in an act of
coldblooded antisemitic violence. Because the museum is just
blocks away from my home, I heard the sirens.
The proximity made one thing devastatingly clear: The
victim could have been me. That is how hate violence works. It
makes every member of the targeted group feel afraid and
vulnerable.
Add to this horror the arson at the Pennsylvania Governor's
residence and the firebombing of a demonstration in Boulder. By
every measure, antisemitism is still increasing and getting
more brazen and violent. According to FBI statistics,
antisemitic hate crimes more than doubled between 2021-2023.
Jews are targeted at a rate of 291 per one million people,
a much higher rate per capita than any other group. The latest
shootings confirm that antisemitism is dangerous no matter
where it is tolerated and fueled. From the Right it is well-
established that the increase in domestic terror results
principally from the actions of White supremacists.
In addition, we see normalization of conspiracy theories
and the appointment of antisemites into positions of political
power. From the Left, criticism of Israel's policies has at
times crossed into antisemitic rhetoric and violence, as we saw
in recent months.
Also, when Jews are asked to renounce or check their
relationship with Israel at the door to participate in
coalitions, civil society is not just failing Jewish community
members, they are falling short of progressive ideals of
pluralism and respect for difference.
I described in my written statement my role in OCR at the
Department of Education supporting the unprecedented number of
antisemitism investigations after October 7th. However, by the
time a government investigation is warranted, we have missed
opportunities for earlier intervention.
America is failing Jews when antisemitic hate is normalized
in the public square and tolerated or endorsed by the most
prominent national officials. When Nazi symbols and ideas are
publicly invoked. When Holocaust education and remembrance are
eliminated in our Federal agencies.
When leaders invoke countering antisemitism to demonize
other ethnic groups and use Jewish vulnerability to trample on
the freedoms and due process rights of any group. When we allow
charges of antisemitism to be used as a political wedge issue
to sow divisions between Jews and other communities. When we
fail to recognize that rising antisemitism is part of a broader
rise in hate that can only be eradicated if we find common
cause with other communities.
My message is this: Leaders who respond to rising
antisemitism by imposing draconian policies that trample on due
process of others, advance anti-immigrant policies, and strip
billions in funding from universities do not make Jews any
safer.
They undermine democratic institutions and norms under
which Jews and other groups have thrived, and they actually
make antisemitism worse by justifying these measures in the
name of combating antisemitism, putting Jews in the position of
being scape-goated.
By contrast, I commend Chair Van Drew and his co-sponsors
for passing House Resolution 481, which focused on condemning
violent antisemitism, not scoring partisan political points.
We will succeed only if we recognize that antisemitism is
antisemitism wherever it originates on the ideological
spectrum, and focus not on fearmongering, but on effective
strategies that bring communities together to fight it.
First, government leaders need to speak out and condemn
antisemitism from wherever it emanates. Second, continue
implementation of the national strategy to counter
antisemitism.
For example, restore critical funding for hate crime
prevention grants that were terminated and funding for the
Justice Department's community relations service. Fully fund
OCR and restore the expertise that has been lost through the
mass layoffs and closure of regional offices.
Expand Holocaust education and antisemitism awareness
programs. Work with social media companies to address
antisemitic conspiracy theories and incitement.
Antisemitism is a clear and present danger to Jews and to
America's values, but we must fight it in a way that
strengthens rather than weakens the democratic institutions
that have been the foundation of Jewish safety and belonging in
America.
Thank you for your attention to this critical issue. I look
forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Nosanchuk follows:]
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Mr. Van Drew. Thank you, Mr. Nosanchuk.
We will now proceed under the five-minute rule with the
questions you were eagerly anticipating. The Chair recognizes
the gentleman from the great State of Alabama.
Mr. Moore. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
President Trump established a dedicated antisemitism task
force within the Department of Justice and reinforced the
Federal Bureau of Investigation's resources and directives to
proactively identify, investigate, and neutralize threats
against Jewish communities nationwide.
Additionally, the Department of Education Office for Civil
Rights is investigating colleges and universities that allow
antisemitism to occur on campuses without serious consequences.
The President has restricted foreign student visas for Harvard
University.
Mr. Marcus, what other actions has President Trump taken so
far in this second term that have helped?
Mr. Marcus. Thank you, Congressman Moore. We have never
seen such active, energetic, aggressive enforcement of laws
against antisemitism as we have seen from this administration.
In addition to the task force efforts that you have seen, I
would say first, the Justice Department has engaged in a very
serious way, which we haven't seen in the prior administration.
We have seen proactive investigations from OCR rather than
waiting for complaints to come through the door. We have seen
significant outreach now. We got that from the prior
administration also, but we have seen significant outreach. We
have seen a much more muscular approach using the whole-of-
government, including agencies like GSA that had previously not
been engaged whatsoever.
The novel, forceful approaches to deal with the
extraordinary crisis that we are now seeing.
Mr. Moore. Ms. Cooper, how does an open border make America
more susceptible to attacks from antisemitic proterror groups?
Turn your mic on please, ma'am.
Ms. Cooper. Part of the problem is that we had an open
border. We had probably 20 million or more come into our
country. We don't know if they are terrorists, we don't know
who they are.
We don't know if they are bringing drugs. They don't know
if they are trafficking children or women. An open border is
probably in large part why we are here today.
Mr. Moore. You think maybe a lot of the protesters may have
come across an open border at some point in the past.
Ms. Cooper. I think so. I would have to say there is
probably a good number of people who are here. There is also
the problem actually started many years ago. The Jew hatred
movement is not just something that has happened since October
7th.
It has been formulated, it has been created in our schools,
in politics, and in our social society. It has been a plan, and
I think October 7th was really just like the impetus that let
the Jew hatred and the hatred of America explode. I don't think
it is necessarily related to the influx of immigrants, although
I am sure it is feeding into it for the purposes of the illegal
activities.
This problem is much, much deeper than just some protests
on campus. I am not minimizing anything. I am not minimizing
what happened in D.C., or in Colorado. The problem is much
deeper, and it is a little bit like under the surface.
Mr. Moore. This weekend I was at an event, and it was a
group of ladies that leads America. There was a young girl, she
was 13 years old, and she called me off to the side.
I could just tell in the education system that she thought
the people in Gaza were the good people. I really had to walk
her through that process. Having been to the Gaza Strip and
been in those tunnels, when you see somebody that will spend a
lifetime drilling in limestone rock six inches at a time to
kill their neighbors, there is a great bit of hatred there.
I was trying to walk her, but all of a sudden I realized
the education system in America is failing American students,
certainly in these narratives that they get off the media.
Another question, Ms. Cooper, what are the digital warnings
signs? If any were visible from some of the recent attacks, or
do you all see those visible warning signs?
Ms. Cooper. Sure.
Mr. Moore. Is it on social media where these 13-year-olds
are going in and seeing that stuff, is that what is going on?
Or how-when you see a digital warning sign, what does that look
like?
Ms. Cooper. OK, so I want to just address the first
question that you said.
Mr. Moore. Sure.
Ms. Cooper. The 13-year-old isn't necessarily getting the
information from social media. Our teachers in K through-not
just universities. There is a really deep problem with K-12.
Even starting out in kindergarten, you are getting that
false, essentially it is the Hamas narratives that the Jews,
Israelis, Israel, basically we commit these crimes or that they
portray a false narrative in which Jews, Israelis, the State of
Israel are demonized, delegitimized. They are accused of crimes
they do not commit.
This has been taught and is being taught right now in our
schools. It is not even just limited to the classroom, it is
extracurricular activities, it is the unions, both at the K-12
level and at the college level, are insidiously antisemitic. I
can go into detail about that, but--
Mr. Moore. Thank you, Ms. Cooper, please don't, I am out of
time.
Ms. Cooper. Yes, yes.
Mr. Moore. With that, Mr. Chair, I will yield back. Thank
you, though.
Ms. Cooper. Thank you.
Mr. Van Drew. Thank the gentleman. I now recognize the
gentleman from the great State of Georgia.
Mr. Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake about it, hate is on
the rise in the United States of America. For the past recent
years the Jewish community, the Jewish people have been at the
bull's eye of hate.
I want to make a statement today. I stand on the side of my
Jewish brothers and sisters against hate and antisemitism.
The Trump Administration and MAGA Republicans have a lot of
empty talk about fighting antisemitism. The talk a big game
while they strip funding from the agencies that fight domestic
terrorism, pause vital security grants to synagogues and
religious schools, and fill Trump's Administration with Right-
wing extremists who cozy up to Nazi sympathizers.
The Trump Administration and MAGA Republicans use these
empty words because their focus on antisemitism is not actually
about the safety of Jews. Instead, they are cynically
weaponizing antisemitism to justify anti-immigrant and anti-
First Amendment actions that make Jews less safe.
Trump and MAGA Republicans' silencing of free speech and
turn toward nativism is bad for Jews just as they are bad for
all minority groups who depend on America's robust democracy
for safety.
Now, I yield the balance of my time to my friend,
Representative Goldman.
Mr. Goldman. I thank the gentleman from Georgia. It is a
very important point that the gentleman raises.
Because, as a number of my colleagues on the Democratic
side have raised today, the antisemitism that seems to be given
permission from this Administration through its hiring of
avowed antisemites, and through its defunding of a number of
programs that would fight antisemitism, stands in stark
contrast to a lot of the rhetoric that we hear.
Now, I am going to do as Mr. Nosanchuk suggested, which is,
I will call out antisemitism wherever it exists. It certainly
exists on the right.
Mr. Schneider, you are right, that has been there for a
long time. We have seen it in circles, Unite the Right, and
other neo-Nazi extremist groups.
There is no question that we are seeing a significant rise
on the extreme left. I am a Democratic elected official who
condemns extremism and antisemitism wherever it is on the
extreme Right and the extreme Left, including phrases such as
``Globalize the Intifada'' or ``from the river to the sea,'' or
all sorts of other slogans that are well understood to be
antisemitic by Jews.
As a Jew, I can tell you I am sick and tired of being told
by others what is antisemitic and what is not. We all need to
take a bipartisan view of this, a nonpartisan view of this, if
we are going to tackle this problem.
I say that to my Democratic colleagues, and I say it to my
Republican colleagues. The reason why you hear frustration on
the Democratic side of the aisle here, is because we hear so
much lip service from our Republican colleagues about
antisemitism, about how terrible the protests are, the rallies,
and what is going on in universities. I agree.
Then on the other hand, we see nonprofit security grants
funded at $305 million, which is the same as Fiscal Year 2023,
before October 7th, that protects Jewish synagogues.
We are seeing a rise in violent hate crimes now, where
Jewish institutions need much more protection. We are not
getting it.
We see antisemitism being used as a pretext to go after
immigration policy or to go after universities. That has
nothing to do with antisemitism.
I concur with Mr. Nosanchuk, and I have said this to the
Chair himself, I was very pleased that he introduced a very
straightforward resolution condemning antisemitism.
Unfortunately, on that same day, there was another
resolution that tried to use antisemitism as a pretext with the
Boulder, Colorado, shooting related to some immigration policy.
I look forward, I hope, to having a little bit more time to
ask some questions. I really want to take this opportunity to
urge all my colleagues, and all these witnesses here, to stop
playing the blame game.
Let's focus on antisemitism. Let's put the funding where it
needs to be so that we can actually attack the issue. I thank
the Chair. I yield back.
Mr. Van Drew. The gentleman yields back to the gentleman
from Georgia. The gentleman from Georgia yields back.
I will now recognize the gentleman from Missouri.
Mr. Onder. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to all the
witnesses for being here today.
We are holding this hearing today in light of the recent
antisemitic violence, including the arson at the home of
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, the brutal murder of
Israeli embassy employees, and of course, the barbaric Boulder,
Colorado, terrorist attack that injured 15 people, and even the
road rage incident affecting one of our own Members.
Mr. Schneider, has the media accurately reported on the
motives of the suspects in these recent attacks?
Mr. Schneider. Congressman, thank you for the question. One
broadly speaking, what the media does is fail to report stories
more often than not. When they do report stories, they fail to
report the facts.
Mr. Onder. Or, they report stories that, at their
narrative.
Mr. Schneider. They ignore so many stories and then focus
on the things that they want to focus on, oftentimes for a
political agenda.
Then, for example, as I previously indicated, when the
terrorist in Boulder with a flamethrower attacked Jews who were
simply asking for Hamas to return the hostages, so many media
outlets failed to indicate this was a terrorist act. They
didn't want--
Mr. Onder. Peaceful protestors, elderly protestors.
Mr. Schneider. That is right, sir. We see time and again
our public broadcasters, NPR and PBS, time and time again, they
will run stories oftentimes with antisemitic tropes over and
over.
Ignoring root causes of the war. Ignoring root causes of
antisemitism, instead of going after the other side, those
responsible for these sorts of attacks.
Mr. Onder. Yes. If I recall that the media outlets
initially downplayed the ideological motives of the attacker in
Boulder, Colorado. Am I wrong there?
Mr. Schneider. This is a consistent pattern with so many in
legacy media.
Mr. Onder. Are there any particular regions or cities
where, we know campuses, college campuses, but where
antisemitic violence has surged more than others?
Mr. Schneider. Congressman, I am not aware that there is
any particular--
Mr. Onder. Pretty much everywhere.
Mr. Schneider. The cities are is worse than others. What we
do see, if you look at a map like a heat blister map, you will
see that these antisemitic protests or antisemitic empowered
protests are all over.
You will see media outlets, large, small, public, private,
all employing the same sorts of devices. That is why I really
do focus on the Associated Press and the Stylebook that sets
the definition and the tone for so many of these things.
Mr. Onder. We see that in so many areas.
Mr. Schneider. That is right.
Mr. Onder. Gender affirming care, give me a break.
Mr. Schneider. Right.
Mr. Onder. It is in the AP Stylebook. No, thank you. Ms.
Cooper, what do you identify as the key failures of the Biden
Administration, regarding the vetting and border enforcement
that allowed Mohamed Sabry Soliman to execute a yearlong plot
that ultimately culminated in the firebombing in the pro-Israel
rally?
Ms. Cooper. I just want to expand on one comment about
the--
Mr. Onder. Please do.
Ms. Cooper. The exacerbation of antisemitism. I don't, it
is, I have seen, I know I read recently some report that says
that the universities that have chapters of the Faculty for
Justice in Palestine, have a far higher incident rate of
antisemitism than universities that do not.
Faculty for Justice, the FJP, basically started the month
after October 7th. They are essentially the teachers that are
involved in the encampments, the protests, they work with the
students.
Mr. Onder. So, yes, I hadn't heard. I heard of Students for
Justice in Palestine. The Faculty for Justice in Palestine
started shortly after October 7th?
Ms. Cooper. Yes. Correct.
Mr. Onder. OK.
Ms. Cooper. The National Students for Justice in Palestine,
they have various chapters on the campuses that we always read
about, which are the SJP, Students for Justice in Palestine.
Mr. Onder. Right.
Ms. Cooper. The FJP was started to support the Students for
Justice in Palestine.
Mr. Onder. You mentioned the issue of unions in our
educational institutions playing a role in the rise of
antisemitism. I am assuming, I always like to name names, in K-
12 schools, are we are talking about American Federation of
Teachers and NEA?
Ms. Cooper. Yes. Then, you are talking about the AAUP on
college campuses, yes.
Mr. Onder. How about the unions? We don't necessarily
always consider as being teachers' unions, SEIU and AFSCME?
Ms. Cooper. I am not sure about them. The major unions I
know, for example, the NEA, which is like one of the largest
unions, they were involved in some recent National Day of
Protest. They created the toolkit for it.
Mr. Onder. Right.
Ms. Cooper. It was for in the name of Palestine, or the
Free Palestine movement.
Mr. Onder. What does a union have to do with that?
Ms. Cooper. Right.
Mr. Onder. Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. Van Drew. Thank you, Dr. Onder. I do recognize the
gentleman from Florida.
Mr. Moskowitz. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for your
attention to this matter.
I have all sorts of notes on this. I am living it every day
now. Every day. To be Jewish in this country now, is an out of
body experience on what is going on.
My grandmother escaped the Holocaust. She was part of the
Kindertransport out of Germany. Her parents were killed in
Auschwitz.
She lost all sorts of other family in Poland. This is not
comparable to that. The very beginnings of that are very
comparable. Right?
Because you have got to dehumanize them first. Right? You
have got to make them others. You have got to make them feel
like they don't belong. Right?
You have got to make them feel, you have got to make other
people feel. You have got to build coalitions. You have got to
build a consensus that the Jews don't belong.
I want to be clear, this theory out there that, oh, you can
be anti-Zionist, or you can be anti-Israel and not be
antisemitic, I would say that theoretically you could. That is
not what is happening. It is not what is happening.
You can absolutely criticize the government. Great,
wonderful. We do it here. That is not what is happening.
It wasn't what was happening on university campuses. I went
to Columbia, as did Mr. Goldman, during Passover to be with
those students. That was not what was happening when they were
holding up signs saying go back to Poland. It had nothing to do
with Netanyahu.
People were silent. The Jewish families across the country
knew the stuff that was going on across college campuses. OK,
if that happened with any other minority group, it wouldn't
have gotten past lunchtime on the first day.
I have police outside my house 24 hours a day. You think
that is because of Netanyahu? Right, my kids have death threats
against them.
I had an assassination attempt by a resident. A guy that
was picked up, going to go to jail for a decade, right. Had an
antisemitic manifesto. My name was the target, was Googling
where my wife worked, was Googling wind resistance and
distance, had a scope, had a vest, had hundreds of rounds of
ammunition, and had a
sniper.
I know what is going on in this country. I would tell you
there is one thing that is uniting the Left and the Right, and
that is Jews.
This is not just a problem on the Left. Go look at what is
going on with social media on the woke Right. It isn't just
some Nazis in a basement anymore. OK?
Marjorie Taylor Greene is holding up the Antisemitism
Awareness Act, because she wants to be able to say that Jews
killed Jesus. This is a problem in both of our houses.
Pretending it is not, is one of the reasons why we are not
cleaning it up. Because we are just saying, oh, you over there
or you over there.
This is not going well for Jews right now. It isn't getting
better by the way. We have not yet peaked where this is going
to go.
Yes, we can talk about the legacy media all day long, Mr.
Schneider. That is not where we are losing the youth of this
country.
We are losing them on TikTok, which is owned by a foreign
country that the President now has extended beyond what the law
has allowed. I don't want TikTok to go away, but I want it to
get out of the hands of the Chinese. OK?
They are doing the Nazi playbook. They are dividing us.
They are fomenting. They don't need to do it with B2 bombers.
That is not what the Chinese plan is.
The Chinese plan is to get us to fighting among ourselves.
The Chinese plan is to get us angry and divisive. The Chinese
plan is to start with the easiest target possible, and that is
us.
Until we stop doing this who did what to who stuff, OK? We
are not going to solve this. Jews are losing their usual
allies. Those allies that we have had for decades and decades
and decades. Groups that Jews have stood up for, we are losing
them by the moment, especially among young people.
I am called a foreign asset, right? That I am a foreign
lobbyist. I mean, it is just endless. Go look, any post I put
up, the hatred andthe vitriol that is going on.
I appreciate this hearing, Mr. Chair, but this hearing
ain't going to fix shit. OK?
This is a virus that is spreading. Until we are serious
about stopping what is going on online and the brainwashing of
our kids, this is going to get worse, and more people are going
to die in this country, and it is going to be us.
I yield back.
Mr. Van Drew. The gentleman yields back.
Mr. Johnson. If the gentleman would yield for just a quick
second.
Mr. Moskowitz. If the Chair would allow me just an extra 15
seconds, Mr. Chair?
Mr. Van Drew. We will record everything or maybe there will
be a chance further on down the road. In all fairness, if I
give it to you, then I have to give it to all the Members--
Mr. Moskowitz. I understand. I won't say that was
antisemitic.
Mr. Van Drew. We will be here all--it is not. I think you
know--
Mr. Moskowitz. A little humor doesn't hurt. A little humor
doesn't hurt.
Mr. Van Drew. We don't agree. He is a funny guy. I tell him
that all the time.
Mr. Moskowitz. A little humor doesn't hurt.
Mr. Van Drew. He has a great sense of humor in all times
and you know that I agree with some of what you said.
I am going to yield some time to myself. Then, Mr. Schmidt,
actually you will come in the next round. I want to address
some of those things.
I have really attempted to do this hearing in as
nonpartisan a way as I possibly can. I would agree with Mr.
Moskowitz that there is some fault on the Right.
There is no question. We have some extreme Right wing, and
I am conservative. I am a very conservative person. There is no
room for this on any side.
Some of the examples that are given of how this
Administration is antisemitic, or done the wrong thing by Jews
in general, I don't buy that. I really don't.
Let me be clear, some of the government-funded agencies
were promoting antisemitic anti-equality, I don't use equity, I
use equality, proposals.
Let me be clear, many universities, Ms. Cooper, you and I
have spoken about it. My university, I graduated undergraduate,
I went to dental school after, but undergraduate, I am just
pouring out my heart here, I don't have this all written down.
I went to Rutgers University. I am proud of Rutgers. It is
a good school. It is a good public school. Some of the things
that are said and are going on, some of the professors that are
tenured, you have got to be kidding me.
I would say the same thing to my friends on the Left, on
the Democrat side, whatever you want to say, don't tell me that
you don't see that, because if you don't, then your eyes are
closed.
We have a real problem. You want to talk about a real
problem? We have got a real problem in our universities. We
have got a real problem in our colleges. We have got a real
problem with what we are teaching young kids.
There is a desire to change the fabric and structure of the
United States of America. This is one of the number of ways
they want to go about it.
Our healthcare system, I think it was Mr. Marcus, I am not
sure if Mr. Schneider mentioned, even our healthcare system
doesn't really exhibit equality and has gone after Jews.
Some of the DEI policies weren't DEI policies for everyone.
I don't even like the policies to begin with. Equality for
everyone? Absolutely. Opportunity for everyone.
Some of them were inherently anti-Jewish. Corporation
policies, they were actually promoting were anti-Jew, anti-
Jewish, and antisemitic. Let's tell the truth. It is telling
the truth time.
Media policies I notice this all the time.
I am sorry. I am not trying to be partisan, damn it. I just
saw it.
I see the coverage of things. I see it when I am at a
meeting, and I understand you should cover both. You should
cover the Right. You should cover the Left.
The Universities should cover everything. Allowing hate and
venom and a call to violence, some of these young people are
influenced by that. The most ironic part of it all, is in these
universities and colleges, the very people who are doing the
anti-Jewish propaganda would never be anti-U.S. Government.
Recommending, again, it is their right to speak out. To do
in a way that encourages violence and pain and hurt, is wrong.
My God, if they were in any of these countries that they
are promoting, some of these countries' women can't drive. Some
of these countries' women can't show their face. Some of these
countries if you are gay, you will be killed.
Let's tell the damn truth, since Mr. Moskowitz wants to
tell the truth. I know he does, and I respect him. Let's tell
the truth on this.
Mr. Moskowitz. Would the gentleman yield for a minute?
Mr. Van Drew. In a second. Let's be also clear, we are
trying to, and I get you don't like President Trump. I get it.
I do. You don't. It is OK. There are differences on the Right
and Left, conservative, liberal, Democrat, and Republican.
The statistics that we are using, because it takes a number
of years to actually develop them, are not from when he was
even in the Presidency. They are from when Joe Biden was the
President of the United States.
I am not going to lay that on Joe Biden's feet either. The
point is to push that all on President Trump is inherently
unfair. So, let's stop it.
I know Mr. Moskowitz, you say that this isn't enough, but
damn it, we had to start somewhere. I wish I had more time,
because I can't overuse my time either.
Ms. Cooper, I am going to ask you questions really quickly.
I just want a yes or no. Are universities that tolerate
harassment of Jewish students violating their obligations under
Title VI? Yes or no?
Ms. Cooper. Yes.
Mr. Van Drew. Has the threat environment on campus
escalated tremendously, including Rutgers, and I hope somebody
from Rutgers, including the new president is watching, since
October 7, 2023? Yes or no?
Ms. Cooper. Yes.
Mr. Van Drew. Has the Trump Administration strengthened
enforcement of Title VI through investigations, et cetera? Yes
or no?
Ms. Cooper. Yes.
Mr. Van Drew. Should colleges that allow open support for
terrorist groups like Hamas on their campuses be subject to
loss of Federal funding? Yes or no?
Ms. Cooper. Yes. More.
Mr. Van Drew. The consequences of university administrators
when they treat chants like, ``from the river to the sea,'' as
protected speech instead of addressing them as threats, is that
right? Yes or no?
Ms. Cooper. It is not right.
Mr. Van Drew. It is not right. Should student groups that
glorify terrorist organizations, face disciplinary questions
and conse-
quences? Yes or no?
Ms. Cooper. Yes. More.
Mr. Van Drew. Do you believe that some of the current
Federal civil rights enforcement tools are too slow or too weak
for modern campus antisemitism?
Ms. Cooper. Very weak, yes.
Mr. Van Drew. OK. Thank you. I yield my time back. Next, we
ask the Ranking Member from the great State of Texas, as she
always likes to point out, right?
Ms. Crockett. Yes. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. As I was
listening to Mr. Moskowitz, it reminded me of the reason that I
started off the remarks the way that I did when I talked about
being united.
He mentioned the alliances. As a civil rights attorney, you
can't come up in the civil rights world and not be told about
the alliance that existed, the alliance that has been
oftentimes referred to as the Grand Alliance between Black and
Jewish Americans.
There is an article that has some really great information
in it. What I want to get to is this one part, because I do
want to yield more time to my colleagues. It says,
The end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society
that can live with its conscience, and that will be a day not
of the White man, not of the Black man, that will be the day of
man as man.
This was in reference, this was a quote from Martin Luther
King, because Martin Luther King marched with so many amazing
Jewish leaders. They came together for the purpose of moving
forward in this country.
It was a great Texan that signed the Voting Rights Act of
1965 into law just a few months after Dr. King was quoted as
saying this.
The reason that I bring this up, is because when we start
to talk about policy, I do want to be clear that this
administration has been very clear that it is anti-DEI.
While they have defined things such as DEI, or diversity,
equity and inclusion to be basically Black, if you just Google,
it will tell you that it refers to the presence of differences
among people encompassing various characteristics like age,
race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and
more.
The reality is that there was a time in which our leaders
understood that marching together for civil rights would
somehow lead to the liberty and the freedom of all. That is
really where I want us to get, instead of saying that it is OK
to love and support one group and hate another.
We need to come together and stand against hate as a whole.
I will yield to Mr. Moskowitz.
Mr. Moskowitz. Thank you, Ranking Member. Just 30 seconds.
Mr. Chair, I know what is going on in the universities. I
promise, I have been there, right?
I know the foreign money that has come into these
universities. I know programs that are being taught there. No
one is denying that this is the deal. It is by design. It is to
go after the youth, right?
It is targeted. OK? Maybe the Left is a couple of years
ahead of you. I want you to understand this is not a partisan
problem.
What you saw, OK, in this strike in Iran, if you look at
social media, I want you to understand that there are a lot of
people on the woke Right that it turned out they hated Jews
more than they liked the President. They picked a side. That is
how much they hated Jews.
It is people, yes, there is all sorts of bots on Twitter.
It is people with millions of followers, and they are
brainwashing. Now, it is happening on both sides. OK?
You know what is happening? It is coming like this. It
starts over here, and then it goes, and then it goes, and then
you have consensus. That is where we are headed.
I am not debating with you that you are not correct. I want
you to open your mind to understanding that this is a problem
everywhere now.
I will yield back.
Ms. Crockett. I will yield to Mr. Goldman.
Mr. Goldman. Thank you to the Ranking Member. I will pick
up on where Mr. Moskowitz.
Mr. Chair, as you may know, I am the Co-Chair of the
Bipartisan Antisemitism Task Force. I will make a deal with
you, I will call out all the antisemitism that I see on the
extreme Left, if you lead by example and call out all the
antisemitism you see on the extreme Right.
Because the more that we go back and forth and accuse the
other of being worse, and try to prop up, oh, what this
Administration has done on Title VI, or on DOJ, or whatever the
litany of questions that you asked Ms. Cooper, the less we are
able to tackle the problem.
The reality is that unfortunately, this administration has
decided to move its enforcement of Title VI from the Department
of Education in OCR, which Mr. Marcus led in the first Trump
Administration, and Mr. Nosanchuk was a Deputy in the last
administration, and now it is to DOJ.
Now, you can make an argument, as Ms. Cooper will likely
make, that this is a stronger cudgel against antisemitism. That
may be the case, but it moves a lot slower.
I would urge us to talk about how we can tackle this
problem, because it is got to be through both. We need a robust
Office of Civil Rights that can move quickly to investigate
antisemitism on campus and remedy the problem before we get to
litigation, which takes a very, very long time.
What I hope we can do, is recognize that to address the
issue on the substance, we have to take the politics out of it.
Because yes, you may have Harvard, Columbia, or Penn, and that
may get a lot of attention, and it may seem like you are really
cracking down on antisemitism.
Mr. Nosanchuk can correct me, there were almost 200
complaints of antisemitism that were filed to the Office of
Civil Rights during the last administration. At one point there
was an average of 51 investigations per employee, at the Office
of Civil Rights. Nobody can do 51 investigations.
Let's get to the bottom of the substance here, rather than
try to put one party ahead of the next. I say this as somebody
who, like Mr. Moskowitz, is eager and open to calling out the
antisemitism that occurs on the extreme Left on campuses.
I will continue to do that. I will be a leader in calling
out my own party. We need people on both sides to be calling
out antisemitism on both sides in order for us to address this.
I thank you for the extra time and I yield back.
Mr. Van Drew. Thank you. Rest assured, when I see
antisemitism, I am willing to work hand in hand with folks on
both sides of the aisle.
Today's attempt, the resolution that I did on the floor,
today's attempt as well, there is no doubt that there is fault
that can be found on both sides. There is fault on both sides.
I don't want it to be that just everything Trump is bad.
Everything Trump is wrong. This all came because of Trump. This
came from a variety of things happening at once. It is a very
challenging time in America for people of Jewish descent. It
just is. It is a serious thing. This is no joke.
I will agree with you that this is no joke. It should be
beyond partisanship. We never seem to succeed in Congress to be
beyond partisanship. Maybe this can be an example of where we
will. I am absolutely willing to give it a shot.
With that, I want to yield to Mr. Schmidt for five minutes.
Mr. Schmidt. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank our
witnesses and thank my colleagues for what I think has been a
genuine exchange of points of view today.
I have heard a passion on this Committee today that I have
not always heard as I have served in the last five months. I am
actually grateful for that.
I will tell you, Mr. Chair, as I have heard the most recent
discussion here, a particular individual came to mind. This is
an issue that is connected to my State.
There was a fellow who was from North Carolina a number of
years ago. He had moved to Southern Missouri. He had been in
years past, been a member of the White Patriot Party.
He then became a Member of the Democratic Party. He then
became a Member of the Republican Party. He then re-registered
as an independent.
On the eve of Passover in 2014, he drove from Southern
Missouri across the State line into Kansas, went to the Jewish
Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas with the intent of
killing Jewish people, and shot and killed three people who
were present. Frazier Glenn Cross or Glenn Miller, he went by
both. He ultimately died in prison in the State of Kansas.
I realized that is not precisely on point. I would use that
case to underscore this exchange that I have just heard among
my colleagues of goodwill that there is nothing partisan about
this on either side of the ledger.
We also just had a very recent case that touched our State
of Kansas. Sarah Milgram, who was one of the two young people
who were murdered here on the streets of Washington just last
month, was a young Kansan.
She was raised in the greater Kansas City area. Was an
alumna of my alma mater at the University of Kansas. We have
all been touched in our own ways and certainly these are fresh
wounds for us in the great State of Kansas.
I'd like to explore an idea with any of our witnesses, but
I am going to start with Mr. Schneider. As we have heard the
discussion today, the prepared testimony, the back and forth,
the questioning, it does seem to me that there is an awful lot
of general agreement that we have for Mr. Schneider's
testimony.
We have out there both in some of the legacy media, but
also, he mentioned Wikipedia and some of the online sources. We
have folks whipping things up either with a specific intent to
cause ill action or otherwise.
It becomes difficult when we start talking about what
government can do in response, what type of State action may be
permissible to respond to even the most atrocious and heinous
discussion, whether it is online or otherwise.
I guess I would just ask Mr. Schneider, you have obviously
given this area a great deal of thought. Are there things in
our current sort of architecture of the First Amendment, either
as the courts have interpreted it, or as we have advocated it,
that we ought to be focused on, concerned about boundaries, is
the architecture suitable for us to do some things in this
space?
Mr. Schneider. Congressman, that is an excellent question.
It actually gets to what Congresswoman Crockett was getting to
as well.
NetChoice before the U.S. Supreme Court last year, arguing
on behalf of these big tech platforms, literally argued
essentially a resurrection of an even worse version of the
Plessy v. Ferguson standard of separate but equal.
These big tech platforms literally are arguing that they
have a First Amendment right to discriminate against anybody
for any reason. That they have a right to discriminate against
somebody if they are Black, if they are Jewish, or for
political speech.
This is a dire threat that these platforms think that they
are above the law. That they can discriminate for any reason
whatsoever. They are.
We are seeing Jews getting kicked out of Uber cabs, and
Uber and Lyft, these rideshare companies are in fact, Big Tech
platforms. We are seeing people of faith whose accounts are
being shut down in the name of Big Tech claiming that they have
got the right to discriminate based on faith.
This is one place where Congress can explore, investigate,
and push back on Big Tech. These are common carriers. They
should not be allowed to discriminate. The State of Texas is
doing good work here. Others are too.
Maybe you and Congresswoman Crockett could work together to
address this real problem.
Mr. Schmidt. I appreciate it, Mr. Schneider.
Ms. Cooper, in the time we have left, you talked a bit
about the threats. Can you tell us what type of online threats
we are most commonly seeing against the Jewish community?
I asked the question against the backdrop of, in terms of
the judicial interpretation of the First Amendment, the speech
clause, we have generally seen true threats and incitement as
probably the most applicable exceptions, too. What are we
seeing and how do they fit?
Ms. Cooper. Every time, aside from like planned events,
incidents, et cetera, whenever something big happens, like for
example, what is happening right now with Iran.
I can give you a few examples. You see the groups, the most
virulent, rabid, antisemitic groups, who are posting things
that incite violence, murder, more.
Right now, in the last few days after, initially just a few
days ago with Iran, the Palestinian Youth Movement, you need to
investigate them. They are a scary group.
They posted, under the guise of immigration also, they
wrote, they posted, ``we will win.'' These are just little
snippets that I took.
Then, National NJP posted, ``Death to Occupation.'' They
also posted in a separate post, ``the empire will fall from
Gaza to Theran.''
Then, they wrote, ``The unprovoked attacks by the U.S. and
the Zionist army have launched against Iran provide one thing,
imperialism in the region will not stop, it is suffocating
Palestine.''
Mr. Van Drew. The gentlelady's time has expired. Sorry. I
recognize the gentleman, the Ranking Member from Maryland, Mr.
Raskin.
Mr. Raskin. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank my
colleague, Mr. Schmidt for his very thoughtful comments.
I have noted that we have been here for a few hours. The
three Majority witnesses have not uttered a single word against
antisemitic violence and rhetoric on the Right.
My colleague Dan Goldman said repeatedly, he, like all
other Democrats, denounce antisemitism on the extreme Left, on
the extreme Right. Somehow there is this troubling silence
which emerges when it comes to that.
I want to try to get to the bottom of it. I would go--
Mr. Van Drew. Would the gentleman yield for five seconds?
Mr. Raskin. Sure.
Mr. Van Drew. Thank you. I have clearly stated that when
there is this kind of behavior on the Right, I am opposed. I
have called it out in the past.
Mr. Raskin. I heard that, and I thank you very much. I was
referring to the witnesses and not to you.
Mr. Van Drew. OK.
Mr. Raskin. I am very pleased with everything I have heard
from the dais today. I am trying to figure out what is going
on.
Part of me thinks maybe this is just a partisan problem.
That they think that it somehow breaks from Republican ranks if
they acknowledge Right-wing antisemitism in America or anywhere
else on the world.
What if Joe Biden had invited a neo-Nazi Holocaust
revisionist to come have dinner with him and Kanye West? Then,
didn't apologize, say he would never do it again, but that is
just accepted as a norm.
What if Joe Biden had found very fine people on both sides
of an antisemitic riot call that began with a march in front of
a synagogue, 15 minutes from where my sister lives in
Charlottesville, with people chanting, Jews will not replace
us, Jews will not replace us? Heather Heyer was killed and all
we hear from Donald Trump is, ``there are very fine people on
both sides.''
The worst antisemitic mass shooting in American history in
Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life Synagogue, done by apparently a
lone ranger neo-Nazi. We get dismissive language, like from Mr.
Schneider, saying well, ``we really shouldn't be worried about
a couple of neo-Nazis living in the basement.''
I mean, my constituents are afraid to go to synagogue
because of neo-Nazis living in the basement, not because of the
American Federation of Teachers, not because of the AAUP, not
because of the Associated Press.
Somehow the people who have great antisemitism detectors in
major media institutions can't see what it means to have neo-
Nazis at large in America, threatening people's lives. People
are afraid. It is costing Jewish institutions a lot of money to
try to protect themselves against this.
Mr. Nosanchuk, you were working with President Biden and
the White House. I remember clearly the U.S. National Strategy
to Counter Antisemitism, actual real steps to move forward.
We couldn't get, forgive me, Mr. Chair, it sounds like a
partisan point, I am not trying to make it a partisan point, we
couldn't get bipartisan cooperation undoing all these things. I
wonder if you would say a word about what is in there?
More importantly, why is it that some people just want to
see antisemitism on one side? Whether it is the extreme Right
or the extreme Left.
I would go beyond that, because there is antisemitism in
the center, in the government. I don't know exactly what Elon
Musk is, but that guy used a fascist salute.
When people protested about it, he sent out a text making
fun of the whole thing. Some people, he is using Nazi war
criminals to make a joke. Some people will Goebbels down
anything. Stop Goring your enemies. His pronouns would have
been he, Himler. Bet you did Nazi that coming. OK?
So, it is a big joke for Elon Musk. How come we can't get
across the board denunciation of that? Why must it be a
partisan football?
If you would take a few seconds on that, Mr. Nosanchuk?
Mr. Nosanchuk. Sure. Thank you, Ranking Member Raskin.
First, on the National Strategy, what I would like to say, and
I brought it with me as well, because I had an opportunity to
both have input into it before it was released in 2023 when I
was outside of government, and then, when I was inside of
government following September 2023, I was very much involved
in implement-
ing it.
It contains more than 100 recommendations for a whole of
government approach to addressing the problem of antisemitism.
Every agency in the Federal Government that had any stake in
addressing the problem, from the Department of Agriculture to
the Department of Education, the Department of Defense, and the
Department of State, all looked at what they could do to
effectively address the problem of that.
Mr. Raskin. To move forward. Let me intervene here, just to
ask you, why is it that groups that are at least nominally
organized around antisemitism, will not call out antisemitism
in the government, like with Ed Martin, who embraces a neo-Nazi
who wears a Hitler mustache?
He defends him. Why can we not get the groups who are
nominally organized around this to say anything about it?
Mr. Nosanchuk. Right. As somebody who was a nonprofit
leader in the Jewish community, I was very insistent on calling
out antisemitism on the Right, or on the Left, wherever it--
Mr. Raskin. In the center or in the government.
Mr. Nosanchuk. In the center for that matter as well. I
also said that most of the domestic terror is originating from
the antisemitism on the Right. That is a fact.
When I was in New York, we had instances where there were
bomb threats that were foiled, that were White supremacists who
were coming into Manhattan to try to blow up a synagogue.
It is critical to be even-handed, as Mr. Goldman said, and
as others have said, about calling this out wherever it arises.
Mr. Raskin. All right. I thank you. I yield back to you,
Mr. Chair.
Mr. Van Drew. Thank you. I recognize the gentleman from the
great State of Texas, Mr. Gill.
Mr. Gill. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for holding this
hearing. I agree, wherever antisemitism is found, we should
denounce it vehemently.
This is a huge issue that has come up, particularly in the
past few years. Antisemitism is rooted not just in an ancient
bigotry against the Jewish people, but oftentimes in a movement
that seeks to fundamentally unwind civilization, particularly
Western civilization.
Of course, our Western civilization that we enjoy, is
rooted in Judeo-Christian values, the very cultural foundations
that we as conservatives seek to conserve.
Unfortunately, we find too often that there are
organizations, particularly and oftentimes on the Left, that
are vehemently anti-
semitic.
We have seen for years the BDS Movement grow in the United
States, a movement that refers to Israel as an apartheid State,
refers to their supposed genocide and calls them a settler
colonialist State. Refers to them as supremacists.
We have seen the rise in the Students for Justice in
Palestine Movement, a movement linked to Hamas that openly,
across college campuses after October 7th, praised Hamas and
defended them. Making college campuses oftentimes completely
inhospitable for Jewish students. Shut them down oftentimes.
Then, we have Code Pink. We saw some of their Members in
this room earlier today, a group that is connected to the CCP,
that is ostensibly antiwar.
Yet, right after October 7th, the day after October 7th,
put out a statement not condemning the genocide of Jews, but
supporting the Palestinian movement saying,
Resistance is a human right. The human reaction to being
oppressed is to resist. And Palestinians deserve that right
just as much as everyone else on the planet.
They went on to say,
Palestinians are confronting the world with their truth, and it
is one that should be supported and respected.
That was the day after October 7th.
Then, we have Members of Congress comparing Jews to
termites, saying that ``Israel has hypnotized the world and
calling it evil.'' Then, of course, shouting the slogan, ``from
the river to the sea.''
There is a leading mayoral candidate in New York right now,
right now, who refuses to condemn the phrase ``Globalize the
intifada.'' That is sickening that this is in our political
system.
I again, want to thank you, Mr. Chair, for holding this
hearing. Mr. Nosanchuk, thank you for being here and for the
work against antisemitism that you do. Do you believe that the
slogan, ``from the river to the sea,'' is antisemitic?
Mr. Nosanchuk. Terms have different meanings to different
people. It is clear that some language has now fueled violent
attacks on Jews. Those terms must be understood through that
lens.
Mr. Gill. Well, do you believe that that phrase is
antisemitic, though? I agree we should disagree with the
substance of it.
Mr. Nosanchuk. It depends on the way in which the terms are
used. Many Jews hear that as antisemitic. In that vein, they
should, people who say it need to understand that this is how
it is experienced.
In assessing from a civil rights perspective whether there
has been antisemitism, we look to bias motivation. Certainly,
language like that can be probative of antisemitic bias.
Mr. Gill. It seems to me a phrase that excludes the
existence of the Jewish State would be pretty clearly
antisemitic.
Do you believe that the phrase ``Globalize the Intifada,''
is antisemitic?
Mr. Nosanchuk. When I hear the phrase ``Globalize the
Intifada'' today, in light of the shooting that occurred at the
Capitol Jewish Museum, in light of what happened at Boulder, in
light of what happened at Governor Shapiro's house, there is no
question that I experience that as being incredibly
problematic.
Mr. Gill. Problematic, yes, I agree. Do you believe that it
is antisemitic? Are you willing to condemn that phrase?
Mr. Nosanchuk. I condemn the use of that phrase, yes.
Mr. Gill. That is great. Thank you. Thank you guys for
being here. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Van Drew. The gentleman yields back. I want to thank
you all for being here. Time is precious and I appreciate you
sharing your time. That concludes today's hearing. We thank our
witnesses again for being here.
Without objection, all Members will have five legislative
days to submit additional written questions for the witnesses
or additional materials for the record.
Without objection, this hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:44 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
All materials submitted for the record by Members of the
Subcommittee on Oversight can be found at: https://
docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=118411.