Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas singled out an anti-Israel protester who interrupted his questioning of a witness by shouting “fucking Jews” during a Tuesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
The incident took place during a hearing titled “A Threat to Justice Everywhere: Stemming the Tide of Hate Crimes in America,” where Cruz was questioning Rabbi Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, about antisemitic incidents during demonstrations on college campuses. Cruz was expressing frustration about the committee having a hearing on hate in general as opposed to antisemitism when the protester interrupted.
“Fucking Jews and the Israelis, talk about the 40,000. Talk about all these people,” the protester shouted as Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called for order. “Why is it about antisemitism?”
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“So we now have a demonstration of antisemitism. We have a demonstration of the hate,” Cruz said, pointing to the protester as he was ushered out of the hearing. “Rabbi Goldfeder, let me ask you, has the Biden administration cut off the funding of any of the colleges that have allowed this hate? Have they indicted anyone for funding these violent protests? Have they indicted the people paying for the matching tents, or have they sat there silently and at the university, sat there silently while their students are terrified to go to class?”
Goldfeder responded that no indictments had been issued, nor had any colleges lost their funding.
“I can tell you this, next year, if there is a Republican majority on this committee, you will see real leadership. And next year, if there’s a Republican administration, you will see people prosecuted for this sort of violence,” Cruz said in response. “This is being tolerated with the looking away, the blind eye being turned from this administration and this Department of Justice. And it is utterly disgraceful. And under Title VI, any university that allows this should have their funding cut off.”
College campuses have erupted over the last year in largely anti-Israel protests ever since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the radical Islamic terrorist group Hamas that sparked a war between the group and Israel. Protesters at multiple demonstrations around the country have made statements like “resistance is justified,” including at an Oct. 15, 2023 protest where attendees chanted a slogan that has connotations of wiping out Israel after a Cornell University professor called the attack “exhilarating.”
Featured Image Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America
