[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 15, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3797-H3798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THIS HOUSE IS NOT IN ORDER
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Zeldin) for 5 minutes.
Mr. ZELDIN. Madam Speaker, this Chamber is going in the wrong
direction in the effort to combat the BDS movement, to combat anti-
Israel hate, to combat anti-Semitism.
I went through kindergarten through 12th grade, college, law school,
4 years of Active Duty. I never once experienced anti-Semitism. But now
I hear countless stories all across our country and college campuses
today. It is infiltrating American politics, college campuses, and the
Halls of Congress.
We need to do something about it, not just send a strong message,
which is important, but actually pass something with teeth to do
something about it.
One of my colleagues from Michigan gave a talk last Friday, gave an
interview. She was asked about her support for a one-state solution
that would remove Jews from power in their own country, in Israel. Her
response was that the Holocaust gives her a calming feeling because of
the safe haven that the Palestinians provided to Jews.
Now, that happens to be the opposite of factually accurate. But then,
if you have any problem with those words, that makes you automatically
an Islamophobe and a racist idiot, according to the person who had said
that.
Then the Speaker of the House is calling for us to come to the floor
and apologize to Ms. Tlaib.
Well, here I am. My apology is for everyone who is insulted across
America
[[Page H3798]]
that we passed a watered-down, spineless resolution, after countless
acts of anti-Semitism by another Member, that does not name names.
I apologize to everyone across this country expecting this House to
act. We failed them.
The students at the University of California who had to read the
posting: ``Gas them, burn them, and dismantle their power structure.
Humanity cannot progress with the parasitic Jew.''
The founder of BDS was blatantly anti-Semitic. Take his own words:
``No Palestinian--rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian--will
ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.''
Or this other quote: ``We are witnessing the rapid demise of Zionism,
and nothing can be done to save it, for Zionism is intent on killing
itself. I, for one, support euthanasia.''
Or we could take this quote: ``Many of the methods of collective and
individual `punishment' meted out to Palestinian civilians at the hands
of young, racist, often sadistic and ever impervious Israeli soldiers .
. . are reminiscent of common Nazi practices against the Jews.'' This
is the founder of the BDS movement.
You want an apology, Madam Speaker? Well, how about the students at
Berkeley who sit in the classroom and the maps that go up on the board?
Where it is supposed to say Israel, it says Palestine. Or the students
in Michigan whose professor refused to sign off on a letter of
recommendation because the student wanted to study abroad in Israel.
This past Thursday, we had an imam give the opening prayer here
before this Chamber. This imam--a simple Google search, by the way, in
the vetting would have come up with the background, and it is a long
list--is not just a supporter of the BDS movement but has compared the
Israelis to the Nazis, called the Israelis a terrorist regime, called
for a third Palestinian intifada, and posted in support of the Muslim
Brotherhood.
I mentioned earlier one of my colleagues who had multiple anti-
Semitic postings. One started with: ``Israel has hypnotized the world,
may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of
Israel''; or saying that if you support Israel, then you must have been
bought off by Jews; or when she said if you support the U.S-Israel
relationship, then you must have pledged your allegiance to a foreign
power.
You want an apology, Madam Speaker? How about the students at Warren
Wilson College who had a speaker tell them Jews are doing the same
thing to the Palestinians as the Nazis did to the Jews?
Students from coast to coast all across this entire country are
expecting, demanding, this House to act.
Now, you could go to the Twitter account of Ms. Tlaib. You will see
over the course of the last few days postings from Tamika Mallory and
fellow organizer Linda Sarsour.
Tamika Mallory says that Louis Farrakhan is the ``greatest of all
time,'' Louis Farrakhan, the same guy who said: ``So when they talk
about Farrakhan, call me a hater, you do what they do, call me an anti-
Semite. Stop it, I'm anti-Termite''; or, ``Satanic Jews have infected
the whole world with poison and deceit''; or what he said about Adolf
Hitler of Nazi Germany, who was responsible for murdering 6 million
Jewish people and millions of others, ``He was a very great man.''
We have Members of this Chamber who have associated themselves with
Farrakhan, not just Tamika Mallory.
I mentioned Linda Sarsour. She said: ``Only Jews . . . are the ones
that condone violence against Arabs and are cool with mosques being
attacked.''
We have an issue in this Chamber, and we need to do something about
it, not mask it, not empower it, not elevate it. It must be identified
and crushed.
And no, Madam Speaker, I am not coming to this floor and apologizing
to my colleagues who push it. I will apologize to everyone across this
country offended by the lack of action by the Speaker.
Madam Speaker, your House is not in order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their
remarks to the Chair and not to a perceived viewing audience.
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