[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 200 (Tuesday, December 5, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S5721]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Anti-Semitism

  Mr. President, now, on another matter, in the 59 days since October 
7, an alarming surge in anti-Semitic hate has swept the world. And the 
United States, unfortunately, has not been exempt.
  On Sunday, an angry mob descended on a Philadelphia restaurant co-
owned by an Israeli-born Jew. Protesters demanded that customers 
boycott it, and outrageously charged the business and its proprietors 
with genocide.
  Unfortunately, this is hardly an isolated incident. Across social 
media, leftwing activists have whipped followers into a frenzy about 
proclaiming the urgent need to boycott hundreds of American businesses 
for the alleged crime of supporting Israel's right to exist.
  They have committed acts of violence and vandalism, including against 
the homes of Members of Congress.
  Anti-Semitic online mobs are insisting that organizations that do 
business in Israel are complicit in ethnic cleansing.
  Unfortunately, these situations seem most often to flare up on the 
campuses of elite universities. This week, a prominent Harvard alumnus 
penned an open letter to Harvard's president cataloging that 
institution's continued insanity when it comes to Israel's right to 
self-defense.
  At Princeton, a faculty group recently signed a letter invoking 
academic freedom as a shield for students around the country to have 
parroted terrorist propaganda. Of course, in the same document, the 
professors found room to hurl their own accusation of ``apartheid'' at 
Israel.
  American higher education has become the epicenter of an alarming 
wave of hatred toward Jews. Luckily, there are glimmers of hope. At 
Franciscan University in Ohio, administrators created an expedited 
transfer process to welcome students facing anti-Semitic threats at 
other schools. Catholic friars in rural Appalachia are eager to accept 
Jewish students that the Ivy League is failing to protect.
  But, unfortunately, stories like these are few and far between. It's 
especially alarming to see anti-Semitic hatred bleeding into secondary 
education as well.
  Last month, an organization known as The People's Forum helped 
organize a massive anti-Israel protest and walkout at schools in New 
York City. The group, which has direct ties to both domestic radical 
activists and state propagandists in Beijing, is creating toolkits and 
posters to facilitate such events at other schools.
  As I have said before, I am a strong supporter of freedom of speech. 
Our Nation gives hateful people the right to say appalling things. But 
it also gives people with a moral compass the right to condemn them in 
the strongest possible terms.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Republican whip.