Nikki Haley made the television rounds Thursday morning and promised that, if elected president, she will revoke tax-exempt status for universities that do not fight antisemitism on their campuses.
“What we’re seeing on college campuses is they are not being held accountable,” Haley said. “And if they’re going to do this, if they’re not going to acknowledge the hate that’s on their campuses, I think their tax-exempt status needs to be revoked.”
Haley was referring to the multitude of college students who have celebrated Hamas since it attacked Israel, from statements praising the terrorists as “martyrs” to chants at rallies calling for an “intifada.”
The former United States ambassador to the United Nations sees Israel and antisemitism as a key issue, her campaign explained to National Review.
“Nikki has always stood up for Israel and against antisemitism. From being the first governor in the country to sign anti-BDS legislation to taking on the Israel haters at the U.N., she will always use the power of her voice to defend Israel’s right to exist,” campaign spokesman Ken Farnaso told NR. “As president, antisemitism and anti-Zionism will have no place in America.”
Haley said as president she would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism — which includes denying the right to Jewish self-determination, or anti-Zionism — as federal law. President Joe Biden announced a plan in May to combat antisemitism in the United States but did not utilize IHRA’s definition.
She criticized the Biden administration’s decision not to use the IHRA guidelines, writing that the current president “is pandering to the radical Left and siding with Israel’s enemies.”
In a Wednesday interview with the New York Post, Haley argued that adoption of that definition is necessary in the fight against the hatred of Jews.
“The Oct. 7 massacre and the ensuing weeks have proven what many of us have long known: There is no difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism,” she said. “In order to combat antisemitism, we have to define it, and that starts at the top.”