Rutgers University president Jonathan Holloway refused on Thursday during a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism to say whether he thinks Israel‘s government is “genocidal.”
In an exchange with Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) at a House Education and Workforce Committee Hearing titled “Calling For Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos,” Holloway took issue with a question probing his thoughts on whether Israel is a “genocidal” regime.
“I don’t have an opinion on Israel’s — in terms of that phrase,” Holloway said. “I think Israel has a right to exist and to protect itself.”
Later in the hearing, when asked again by Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO), Holloway decided that he did not think Israel was a “genocidal state.”
Rutgers is currently under investigation by the committee for its response to pro-Palestinian protests on its campus.
Good’s line of questioning was based on Rutgers-Newark’s Center for Security, Race, and Rights, which the Virginia Republican said called Israel “genocidal.” He also said the CSRR is half funded by the school chancellor’s discretionary budget, and center director Sahar Aziz’s nearly quarter-million-dollar salary is paid for by the school.
Good pointed to more statements from the CSRR, which aimed at capitalizing on the Biden administration‘s criticisms of Israel as a “gain that can and must be built on,” and that “the real threat to American Jews comes not from students, but from MAGA Republicans who are shouting about antisemitism the loudest,” according to Good.
Holloway said “these statements that you’re reading I find all deeply troubling and unsettling,” but added he was “not in the position to answer” whether he believed “MAGA Republicans” are a threat to American Jews.
As the Washington Examiner reported, Aziz and others at the CSRR have been accused of justifying the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, stating, “To assess Hamas’s October 7th operation and the Israeli regime’s subsequent response in isolation is to ignore over 75 years of colonial violence and the horrific consequences born out of these decades of oppression and attempted erasure.”
The CSRR also hosted former University of South Florida professor Sami al Arian in 2021 for a 9/11 anniversary event that “challenges the exceptionalization of 9/11/2001; legitimization of ‘war on terror’ and other imperialist wars and interventions; justification of the ‘Security’ State, and promotion of hyper masculinity and a colonial gender and sexualized order of modernization and ‘civilization.’”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Al Arian pleaded guilty and was convicted of “providing material support to the designated terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”
When confronted with these concerns by Good, Holloway said, “There’s very little that I find easy about the center, sir. I personally disagree deeply with a lot of the ideas that come from that center.” However, Holloway said he had no plans to close it.