A Senate Democrat on Thursday blocked a Republican resolution condemning the hateful and anti-Semitic pro-Hamas rhetoric on college campuses across the country.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the resolution after a wave of protests around the country exposed that genocidal attitudes toward Jews are shared by many left-wing, pro-Palestinian students and faculty.
“My resolution unequivocally condemns Hamas and the hateful, antisemitic rhetoric that the recent terrorist attack has inspired on our college campuses. This is particularly urgent given the rise in threats against Jewish Americans across our country,” Hawley wrote in a dear colleague.
Pro-Hamas demonstrations have erupted up on campuses throughout the U.S. in protest of Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Gaza in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attack against Israel. In several cities, students and other individuals have been seen tearing off the pictures of Israeli hostages of of walls.
Hawley said the resolution would condemn the “rhetoric of anti-Israel, pro-Hamas student groups as anti-Semitic, repugnant and morally contemptible,” denounce the terrorist attacks, acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself and encourage the U.S. government to “fully and completely” support Israel.
The Republican tried to get the Senate to pass the resolution via unanimous consent, but Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) objected, arguing that it smeared students who merely attended the pro-Hamas terrorist protests.
“What you are doing here is smearing all the students who went to these protests,” Van Hollen said, “yes you are.” The Democrat left the floor before Hawley could respond.
In an interview with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton radio show, Hawley stressed that he had made sure to limit condemnation to specific statements, but Democrats still argued that the protesters were being smeared.
“This is moral equivalency at its worst,” he said. “When you say that we’re going to celebrate killing Jews and we think the State of Israel ought to be eliminated, yeah that’s anti-Semitism, this isn’t hard, let’s condemn it.”
On Thursday, Hawley also fired off a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding how Department of Homeland Security employee Newja Ali was hired to sensitive immigration positions given her “documented history of making virulently antisemitic, pro-Hamas statements.”
Ali was placed on administrative leave on Wednesday, after the Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak reported that the former Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) spokeswoman was employed at USCIS.
Hawley called on Mayorkas to immediately fire her from her role adjudicating United States immigration cases, arguing that as someone who “harbors intensely negative views against the State of Israel and supports the recent barbarism perpetrated against its citizens by Hamas terrorists,” she has no place at DHS.
“Ms. Ali’s troubling personal views apparently carry into her professional life—including her roles at DHS,” Hawley wrote, noting that “in one social media post associated with her name, she included the hashtags ‘#asylumseekers #palestine #refugeeswelcome’—suggesting that she may preference certain immigration cases over others at DHS.”
Following Hamas’ October 7 massacre in Israel, Ali posted “F* Israel, the government, and its military. Are you ready for your downfall?” on Instagram, as well as an image “depicting armed terrorists paragliding into Israel with the caption ‘Free PALESTINE’.”
“These statements appear to cast severe doubt on her ability to impartially evaluate immigration cases,” Hawley said. “I am glad to see that she has now been placed on administrative leave—but that is not enough. If these reports are accurate, you must terminate her employment immediately.”