00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks for holding this hearing. I agree wherever anti-Semitism is found, we should denounce it vehemently.
00:11This is a huge issue that has come up, particularly in the past few years.
00:17I think anti-Semitism is rooted not just in an ancient bigotry against the Jewish people, but oftentimes in a movement that seeks to fundamentally unwind civilization, particularly Western civilization.
00:34Of course, our Western civilization that we enjoy is rooted in Judeo-Christian values, the very cultural foundations that we as conservatives seek to conserve.
00:49But unfortunately, we find too often that there are organizations, particularly and oftentimes on the left, that are vehemently anti-Semitic.
01:00We've seen for years the BDS movement grow in the United States, a movement that refers to Israel as an apartheid state, refers to their supposed genocide, calls them a settler-colonialist state, refers to them as supremacist.
01:17We've seen the rise in the Students for Justice in Palestine movement, a movement linked to Hamas that openly, across college campuses, after October 7th, praised Hamas and defended them, making college campuses oftentimes completely inhospitable for Jewish students, shut them down oftentimes.
01:42And then we have Code Pink, we saw some of their members in this room earlier today, a group that is connected to the CCP that is ostensibly anti-war, and yet, right after October 7th, the day after October 7th, put out a statement, not condemning the genocide of Jews, but supporting the Palestinian movement, saying, quote,
02:12quote, resistance is, quote, resistance is a human right. The human reaction to being oppressed is to resist, and Palestinians deserve that right just as much as everyone else on the planet.
02:24They went on to say, Palestinians are confronting the world with their truth, and it is one that should be supported and respected.
02:33That was the day after October 7th.
02:38And then we have members of Congress comparing Jews to termites, saying that Israel has hypnotized the world and calling it evil.
02:49And then, of course, shouting the slogan, from the river to the sea.
02:54There is a leading mayoral candidate in New York right now, right now, who refuses to condemn the phrase, globalize the intifada.
03:06That is sickening that this is in our political system.
03:11I, again, want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing.
03:18Mr. Nosinchuk, thank you for being here and for the work against anti-Semitism that you do.
03:25Do you believe that the slogan, from the river to the sea, is anti-Semitic?
03:30So, terms have different meanings to different people.
03:35But it's clear that some language has now fueled violent attacks on Jews, and those terms must be understood through that lens.
03:45Well, do you believe that that phrase is anti-Semitic, though?
03:49I agree we should disagree with the substance of it.
03:53I think it depends on the way in which the terms are used.
03:57Many Jews hear that as anti-Semitic.
04:00And in that vein, people who say it need to understand that that is how it is experienced.
04:08And in assessing, you know, from a civil rights perspective, whether there has been anti-Semitism,
04:14we look to bias motivation, and certainly language like that can be probative of anti-Semitic bias.
04:22It seems to me a phrase that excludes the existence of the Jewish state would be pretty clearly anti-Semitic.
04:29Do you believe that the phrase, globalize the Intifada, is anti-Semitic?
04:34When I hear the phrase, globalize the Intifada, today, in light of, you know, the shooting that occurred at the Capitol Jewish Museum,
04:41in light of what happened at Boulder, in light of what happened at Governor Shapiro's house,
04:46there is no question that I experience that as being incredibly problematic.
