Chuck Schumer: Trump's Is Using Antisemitism As 'Pretext' To Go After Harvard

Forbes Breaking News

In an interview on CNN, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about the threat of antisemitism and responded to President Trump's crackdown on Harvard over the issue.

Transcript

00:00go at their peril. I want to turn to a book that you have recently written and is out. It is

00:06entitled Anti-Semitism in America, a Warning. You talk about anti-Semitism on the right,

00:12but you also address anti-Semitism within your own party. Here's part of what you wrote, quote,

00:18I worry also about the larger American left, which may look the other way and be too complacent or

00:24forgiving about those who exhibit anti-Semitism in their ranks. You say that's one of the

00:29biggest reasons you wrote this book. Well, I wrote the book to warn about anti-Semitism overall in

00:38America, on the left and on the right. We owe it. Conor Cruz O'Brien, the great Irish poet, said

00:44anti-Semitism is a light sleeper. And when there are times of trouble, as there are now, anti-Semitism

00:50raises its head. On the right, it's despicable and awful. I've experienced it myself when on the

00:57January 6th takeover. I was within 30 feet of these hooligans, and one of them said,

01:02there's the big Jew, let's get them. But we've also seen it on the left, not in the Democratic

01:06Party, but on the left. And we have seen things that we never used to see before. For instance,

01:13someone getting on a subway and saying, all the effing Zionists get off the subway. Jewish delis,

01:21which have nothing to do with Israel, having stones thrown through their windows. The head

01:27of the Brooklyn Museum, who's Jewish, but the Brooklyn Museum has nothing to do with Israel,

01:32a few blocks away from here where we're sitting, had red paint all over her. And I believe we have

01:37to alert America to anti-Semitism and teach them. That's why I wrote the book. The best antidote is

01:44for people to know the truth. Here's a terrifying fact that 25, 20 percent of people under 30 don't

01:51believe the Holocaust was a myth, and another 50 percent have never heard of it. We need an

01:56education. And my goal is to have this book read in the high schools and colleges across America,

02:02because I think it would just shatter the myths that are out there, which have always been below

02:07the surface and are popping up on the both the left and the right much too much.

02:11I want to read something else you wrote in your book. You wrote, at Harvard, my alma mater,

02:16more than 30 organizations signed a statement calling the Israeli regime entirely responsible

02:21for the attack. And the months since October 7th have brought too many examples, far too many,

02:27of overt anti-Semitism. American Jews being harassed, attacked, and villainized simply for being Jewish.

02:35President Trump, as you well know, says he's cracking down on Harvard and other universities

02:40because of their response, or lack thereof, to those anti-Semitic incidents that you're describing.

02:49How do you think he's doing with that?

02:51Right. Well, first, Harvard did not do enough to curb anti-Semitism. I've been vocal about that.

02:58But let me just say this. What Trump is doing goes way beyond anti-Semitism. He is going after these

03:05universities, like he's going after judges, like he's going after law firms, like he's going after

03:12the media, because he just doesn't, he's not, he doesn't believe in democracy. He thinks he's king,

03:21as he said. And he did this at Harvard. So seven, a bunch of us, Jewish senators, just sent a letter

03:27to the administration, saying, detail the specific incidents of anti-Semitism and why cutting money

03:35off to cancer research or to Alzheimer's research has anything to do with anti-Semitism. It doesn't.

03:43He is using anti-Semitism, and it's appropriate to go after specific incidents of anti-Semitism,

03:48as a pretext to hurt these great universities. It's going to hurt every American. It's going to hurt

03:54the kids at the universities who've had nothing to do with protesting, but it's also going to hurt

03:58the kind of medical research and other kinds of great research that is done at Harvard and other

04:03universities. So we sent him a very strong letter just the other day asking eight very strong questions

04:11about why this isn't just a pretext.

Category

Transcript

Recommended