Bernie Sanders: These Are Major Concerns Around The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act

Forbes Breaking News

At Wednesday's Senate Health and Education Committee hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) expressed concerns around the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act.

Transcript

00:00With that, I recognize Senator Sanders for his opening statement.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and let us be as clear as we can all be,

00:10and that is that hate and discrimination of any kind is beyond unacceptable

00:15and has no place in American society.

00:18In the United States of America in the year 2025,

00:22it should not be controversial to say that anti-Semitism is a horrific, vile ideology.

00:30And must not be tolerated any place or any time.

00:35Let us never forget that anti-Semitism resulted in the slaughter of some 6 million Jews

00:40during the Holocaust and for thousands of years has plagued people throughout the world.

00:47Anti-Semitism must be condemned, whether it be on college campuses

00:50or any other place in our society or throughout the world.

00:55Anti-Semitism must be condemned by political leaders here in the U.S.

00:59and political leaders in other countries across the world.

01:04But today, we should also be clear that we, and I hope I speak for all of my colleagues

01:11on both sides of the aisle, condemn all forms of bigotry.

01:16Vile hatred is not something that should exist in the United States or America,

01:20whether it is anti-Semitism, racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia,

01:27or any other forms of discrimination.

01:30And I will be offering an amendment today to make that clear.

01:34Today, while we must focus on combating anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry,

01:39we must also make it clear that we vigorously defend the Constitution of the United States,

01:47the First Amendment of the Constitution, and the right of people in our country to peacefully protest.

01:54Let me be very clear.

01:56I worry very much that the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act that we are considering today is unconstitutional

02:03and will move us far along in the authoritarian direction that the Trump administration is taking us.

02:11Let us remember, this is an amendment that is, let us remember,

02:16this is an administration that is currently suing the media

02:20because they report stories that the president doesn't like.

02:24This is an administration that is usurping the constitutional responsibilities of Congress

02:30and shutting down agencies without congressional approval.

02:34This is an administration that responds to judicial decisions that they don't like

02:40by threatening to impeach the judges who rendered those decisions.

02:45This is an administration which seeks to punish law firms that have represented clients

02:51who took legal action against Donald Trump, his policies, or his associates.

02:56This is an administration that literally seeks to tell major universities

03:01what courses they can offer and who can teach those courses

03:05if they are to retain federal funding.

03:08This is an administration which is illegally locking up,

03:12detaining, and deporting university students and others

03:16with no warrant, with no due process, and without notifying their families.

03:22Mr. Chairman, given the reality of what is happening in America today,

03:26I think it would be very dangerous and a very bad idea

03:30to give this administration new authority

03:33to continue their unconstitutional and authoritarian ways.

03:37As you will recall, Mr. Chairman, in the recent hearing we held on this issue,

03:44we had five witnesses.

03:46Three of them were invited by you.

03:49And all five of them made it clear, let me reiterate,

03:53all five, including the three Republican witnesses,

03:55made it clear that criticizing the extremist government of Netanyahu

04:00over their policies in Gaza is not, not anti-Semitic.

04:06Let me repeat, one can criticize the government of Israel,

04:10government of any country on earth for their policies,

04:14and that does not make one anti-Semitic or hateful of the people

04:19in any of those countries.

04:21It goes without saying that people in the United States of America

04:25have the right to criticize any government on earth for their policies.

04:28Unfortunately and unacceptably,

04:31the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act we are considering today

04:33would label speech that criticizes the Israeli government

04:38and Netanyahu's horrific war in Gaza as anti-Semitic

04:42and a violation of civil rights laws,

04:45and that is an extremely dangerous precedent.

04:48So with that, Mr. Chairman, I should tell you

04:51we'll be offering a number of amendments

04:53that address some of these concerns that I have.

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