'This Isn't In Gaza... This Is Right Here In Our Country': Fry Plays Video Of Campus Protests

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At a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) spoke about antisemitism on college campuses.   Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00 Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today,

00:05 what you've testified to.

00:06 We've heard this not only here in Congress, but in our communities back home, and I myself

00:11 just came back from Israel, where there is a deep-seated fear that there is a separation

00:16 between Israel and the United States because of the policies of this administration.

00:21 According to Hillel International, there have been 1,584 total reported anti-Semitic incidents

00:27 on college campuses since October 7th.

00:31 Since October 7th.

00:32 That's a 700% increase compared to just last year.

00:36 At 65 institutions of higher education have been placed under investigation since October

00:41 7th of last year.

00:42 65.

00:43 Mr. Chairman, I request unanimous consent to enter into the record the statistics from

00:47 Hillel International.

00:48 Without objection.

00:49 So let's take a look at these statistics in action.

00:53 Let's play a video.

01:00 [video playing] [crowd cheering]

01:23 So

01:38 these clips are just a snippet of the nonsense that we have seen on college campuses since

01:44 October 7th.

01:46 This isn't in Gaza.

01:48 This isn't in the West Bank.

01:49 This is right here in our country.

01:54 Institutions of higher education, which are supposed to be great institutions of learning

02:02 where you develop as an individual, are now places of repression and suppression, depending

02:09 on who you are.

02:11 The last photo is George Washington visualized dressed up, I think is one of the most important

02:15 things that I've seen.

02:16 That's right here in our nation's capital.

02:18 It's heartbreaking to see that.

02:19 And I'm not Jewish, but I empathize with what you two have gone through in your classmates.

02:26 And not only your schools, but in dozens of schools across the country.

02:29 Mr. Kessenbaum, just yesterday, protesters at Harvard finally took down their tents as

02:33 the university officials agreed to the students to discuss the questions about the university's

02:39 endowment.

02:40 Have Harvard officials publicly condemned anti-Semitism that Jewish students have faced

02:44 on campus in any which way?

02:46 As it pertains to the encampments, Harvard, forget about hasn't condemned the anti-Semitism

02:50 from the encampments.

02:51 They haven't even acknowledged that it happened.

02:54 Do you feel that Jewish students at Harvard have an ally and an advocate in the administration?

03:00 In no uncertain terms, let me be absolutely clear.

03:03 Jewish students do not have a single advocate at Harvard University.

03:06 The president doesn't meet with us or care about us.

03:09 Our respective deans don't meet with us or care about us.

03:12 We have students who have seen that there is no responsibility or accountability for

03:17 their actions.

03:18 So they can chant, "Globalize the Intifada."

03:19 They can chant, "Calls for the ethnic genocide of Jewish people."

03:22 They can draw our Jewish university president as a devil because they know they will get

03:25 away with it.

03:26 It is inconceivable that any other minority group in the United States would be treated

03:29 with the scorn and contempt and disregard that Harvard treats its Jewish student population.

03:34 And let me just add, it is a damning indictment that in order for Jewish students at Harvard

03:39 to receive equity, equality, or justice, we have to go to a court of law, we have to go

03:43 to the United States Congress, we have to go to the media, because the people at Harvard,

03:47 who again, I'm sure are watching this, they won't even talk to us.

03:49 Yeah, isn't that absurd, right?

03:51 Like you're followed on a college campus, you can't go to school.

03:54 In some universities, they're canceling commencement.

03:56 I mean, y'all are the generation that couldn't go to your own commencement for high school

04:00 because of COVID.

04:01 And now these radical lunatics are taking over a college campus and we can't ensure

04:05 the security of our own students.

04:07 So we're going to cancel things.

04:09 And then we adhere and acquiesce to the demands of this lunatic fringe.

04:14 It just doesn't, it makes no sense to me.

04:16 Mr. Yacobi, earlier this month, you delivered a petition to shut down the encampments.

04:20 I think you got 3,200 signatures.

04:22 You delivered it to the president, the provost and the board of trustees.

04:25 You did not receive a timely response.

04:27 So you sent a letter.

04:28 I think it was in an email and you laid out a few demands.

04:30 Can you elaborate what those were, really briefly?

04:33 Thank you for the question, Representative Frye.

04:36 The demands were actually exactly what the president stated within 24 hours of the encampment

04:39 is disbanding an encampment, which is allowing violence, pro-terrorism support to happen.

04:45 We got 3,300 signatures on that petition.

04:48 And then after a week, when we hadn't heard a response, we sent another petition where

04:52 we got 2,800 signatures within 24 hours, both of which were not responded to.

04:57 And yet the administration had three meetings with the encampment.

05:01 And in my last question here, do you believe, both of you, do you believe that your universities

05:05 are doing enough to prevent anti-Semitism on college campuses?

05:11 That's an obvious answer, I think.

05:12 I wouldn't say that they're not doing enough.

05:15 They're not doing anything.

05:16 Mr. Yacobi?

05:18 It's almost a satirical question with how little they're doing.

05:22 Thank you so much.

05:23 Appreciate your time, your bravery today to be here.

05:25 With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

05:26 Thank you, gentlemen.

05:27 South Carolina, I recognize the gentlelady for a UC request.

05:29 Yeah, I request unanimous consent to enter into a vote.

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