More than half of the Senate GOP conference insisted the Biden administration “take action” Tuesday to safeguard Jewish college students across the country and restore order amid a spate of anti-Israel protests on campus.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) led a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, calling on them to brief lawmakers on their actions to quell the unrest by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
“You need to take action to restore order and protect Jewish students on our college campuses,” wrote Cotton and 25 of his Senate Republican colleagues. “President Biden issued a statement on Sunday, purporting to condemn the outbreak of anti-Semitism [sic].
“If that statement was serious, it must be accompanied by immediate action from your departments.”
President Biden released a statement Sunday to herald the Jewish holiday of Passover in which he denounced “the alarming surge of Antisemitism [sic] – in our schools, communities, and online.”
“Silence is complicity. Even in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews,” Biden added. “This blatant Antisemitism [sic] is reprehensible and dangerous – and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.”
On the same day that the president’s statement came out, a campus rabbi at Columbia University messaged Jewish students via WhatsApp and told them to go home due to “extreme antisemitism.”
On Monday, Biden issued a qualified condemnation of the demonstrations.
“I condemn the antisemitic protests,” he said at an Earth Day event in Virginia. “That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”
The Senate Republicans contended that protesters at Columbia and Yale, among other schools, were breaking the law with some of their actions.
“Rioting violates federal law. Violence or attempted violence against anyone because of their Jewish heritage violates federal law,” they wrote.
“School administrators’ failure to protect Jewish students from discrimination or harassment violates federal law and is grounds for those schools losing access to federal funds.”
In addition to the Columbia rabbi’s warning to Jewish students, the lawmakers noted an incident at Yale University where a student journalist was attacked and struck in the eye by a Palestinian flag.
Cotton, 46, has been one of the most forceful Senate Republicans in demanding punitive measures against protesters.
On Monday, Cotton echoed Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) entreaty for Biden to mobilize the National Guard, saying the president “has a duty to take charge and break up these mobs.”
Hawley, 44, also signed Cotton’s Tuesday letter to Garland and Cardona.
Last week, Cotton encouraged bystanders to take matters into their own hands when faced with disruptions from anti-Israel demonstrators.
In addition to Cotton and Hawley, the letter was signed by Republican senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Katie Britt of Alabama, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, John Cornyn of Texas, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Ted Cruz of Texas, Steve Daines of Montana, Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Hoeven of North Dakota, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, John Kennedy of Louisiana, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Jerry Moran of Kansas, James Risch of Idaho, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Rick Scott of Florida, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, John Thune of South Dakota, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
