Support for Israel, allegations of campus antisemitism, and condemnations of pro-Palestine protests have all been reoccurring features of this week’s Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee.
On Tuesday night Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the fourth-ranking House Republican, addressed the crowd and highlighted the Gaza protests in her speech.
“What has been the response [to the October 7th attack] from the radical left on our college campuses? Vile antisemitism, chanting ‘Death to Israel. Death to Jews. Death to America,’ Stefanik lied. “This is Joe Biden’s Democrat party.”
Stefanik has led the fight to oust university presidents over their alleged refusal to crack down on pro-Palestine campus protests and she bragged about helping to force some of them to resign.
In May, Stefanik delivered an address to members of the Israeli Knesset where she called for “crushing” the Palestine solidarity movement and “wiping those responsible for October 7th off the face of the earth.” In the speech Stefanik referred to student activists as “pro-Hamas apologists” who are protesting “in a paroxysm of blood lust.”
On Wednesday night Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Harvard Divinity School graduate who is currently suing the university over its alleged failure to respond to antisemitism, gave a speech.
Kestenbaum’s lawsuit represents a growing trend in which pro-Israel students attempt utilize Civil Rights law to argue that they’ve been discriminated against. While President, Trump signed an executive order that classifies Judaism as a race, thus allowing the Department of Education to crack down on alleged campus antisemitism. The order relies on an interpretation of antisemitism that includes some criticisms of Israel
“I came to Harvard to study religion, the foundation of Western civilization,” said Kestenbaum. “What I found was not theology but a contempt for it. My problem with Harvard is not its liberalism but its illiberalism. Too often, students at Harvard are taught not how to think but what to think. I found myself immersed in a culture that is anti-Western, that is anti-American, and that is antisemitic.”
“Students and professors have openly called for new Hamas-style attacks against the United States, and perhaps most damning, when Hamas terrorists butchered 45 American citizens on October 7 — when they took twelve Americans hostage — Harvard refused to immediately and unequivocally condemn this atrocity,” he continued.
Kestenbaum is a former progressive who says he moved to the right over the issue.
“Although I once voted for Bernie Sanders, I now recognize that the far Left has not only abandoned the Jewish people but the American people,” he explained “The Democratic Party — the party I registered to vote for the day I turned 18 — has become ideologically poisoned. And it is this poison, it is this corruption, that is infecting far too many young American students. Let’s be clear: The far Left’s antisemitic extremism has no virtue, and the radicalism on our campuses and on our streets has no moral legitimacy.”
“Tonight, we fight back,” he added. “I am proud to support President Trump’s policies to expel foreign students who violate our laws, harass our Jewish classmates, and desecrate our freedoms. Let’s elect a president who will instill patriotism in our schools. Once again, let’s elect a president who will confront terrorism and its supporters.”
The RNC also honored a group of University of North Carolina (UNC) fraternity brothers who protected an American flag from being taken down during a Gaza protest on campus.
“When a mob tried to take down the American flag on our campus, we knew we couldn’t let that happen,” said one of them. “It was all about respect, not just for the cloth, but for everything that the flag stands for.”
The first day of proceedings was marked by Trump’s selection of Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate.
Vance is a staunch supporter of Israel and an Iran hawk. He’s also called for schools to crack down on Gaza solidarity encampments.
In May he introduced legislation that would prevent universities from receiving federal assistance if they failed to shut down Palestine protests on their campuses.
“We cannot allow people who hate our country to turn campuses into garbage dumps,” said Vance. “My legislation will force colleges to follow the law, protect their students, and shut these encampments down. If they refuse, they’ll pay a hefty price. It’s time to end this national embarrassment.”
Last fall Vance joined a group of Republican Senators in urging the Biden administration to avoid implementing immigration protections for Palestinian refugees, claiming that such a move could endanger Jewish people.
“We cannot discern that any benefit would come from granting TPS or DED to a foreign population that includes a sizable number of terrorist sympathizers,” read their letter to The White House. “And neither can neighboring countries, like Egypt and Jordan, which have already rejected the possibility of taking in new Palestinian refugees. We do, however, already have ample evidence of the dangers that granting such designations to Palestinian migrants would entail. And those dangers would be borne heavily by Jewish Americans …In our humble opinion, we should be finding ways to reduce the number of terrorist sympathizers in America, not increase them.”
Trump didn’t mention the protests in his rambling closing speech, but he did claim that Hamas would not have carried out its attack if he had still been president.
“And to the entire world, I tell you this, we want our hostages back — and they better be back before I assume office, or you will be paying a very big price,” he told the crowd. “With our victory in November, the years of war, weakness and chaos will be over.”
Earlier this year Trump reportedly told a group of Jewish Republican donors that he would crush the Gaza encampments and deport protesters if necessary.
“If you get me re-elected, we’re going to set that movement back 25 or 30 years,” said the former President.
Memorandum by the Adviser on Political Relations (Murray) to the Secretary of State
[Washington,] June 2, 1942
Mr. Secretary: With reference to the recent conference held in your office concerning the harmful effects of Zionist agitation on the war effort, there is attached, in accordance with your instruction, a draft declaration, based on Atlantic Charter principles, setting forth this Government’s attitude toward the Near Eastern peoples generally, and the peoples of Palestine in particular. There is also enclosed a suggested letter of transmittal to the President.
The war objectives of this Government as stated in the Atlantic Charter include the “desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned”, and respect for “the right of all peoples to choose the form of Government under which they will live”.
This Government is of course dedicated to the application of these principles in the Near East as elsewhere. In Palestine, despite past difficulties, it is highly desirable that a political solution be reached through agreement between the Arab and Jewish communities, and this Government earnestly hopes that outstanding problems will be settled on that basis.
Much has been written and a great deal of blood has been spilled over the Palestine problem, which admittedly is difficult. It is evident, however, that no satisfactory and lasting political solution can be reached except on the basis of common agreement between the Arabs and the Jews in that country. So long as the Zionists feel that they can obtain outside support which will enable them to impose their own solution, they will not be disposed to treat with the Arabs on equal terms. A settlement in Palestine resulting from the use or threat of force, would, of course, be completely opposed to the principles for which we fought the last war and are fighting the present war.
For a year our representatives in Egypt and elsewhere in the Near East have been calling attention to the progressive undermining of the military and political position in the Middle Eastern area as a result of Zionist agitation, and the fact that the authorities here, through silence, appear to support the objectives of political Zionism.
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1942v04/d649
“I came to Harvard to study religion, the foundation of Western civilization,” said Kestenbaum. “What I found was not theology but a contempt for it. My problem with Harvard is not its liberalism but its illiberalism. Too often, students at Harvard are taught not how to think but what to think. I found myself immersed in a culture that is anti-Western, that is anti-American, and that is antisemitic.”
I would argue that democracy, not religion (which has been a source of strife for centuries), is the foundation of Western civilisation. It’s certainly the model – however imperfect – countries have been adopting ever since we stopped fighting over religious doctrine.
“I came to Harvard to study religion, the foundation of Western civilization,” said Kestenbaum. “What I found was not theology but a contempt for it. My problem with Harvard is not its liberalism but its illiberalism. Too often, students at Harvard are taught not how to think but what to think. I found myself immersed in a culture that is anti-Western, that is anti-American, and that is antisemitic.”
This is so utterly absurd. This individual is upset because his preconceived notions about the world were not reinforced by studies at university. Either he is a vile, disingenuous shill for Apartheid Israel, or a moron.
As for the letter to the WH by Republican senators. They should look in the mirror to identify the real terrorist sympathizers. Vile racists these people. Moral monsters and corrupt to the core. They care more about fattening their bank accounts from AIPAC money than humanity.
Re: “In our humble opinion, we should be finding ways to reduce the number of terrorist sympathizers in America, not increase them.”
Let’s start by clarifying the term “terrorist sympathizers”. The ICJ has advised that state officials, including Stefanik, have a duty to immediately stop providing material support for the illegal IDF occupation. The sources of evidence cited included applications of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. They cited evidence of extensive illegal violence and collective punishment of the Palestinian population by Israeli settlers, non-Israel Jewish settlers, and the IDF that routinely go unpunished. Our government officials can’t be part of funding that on-going joint criminal enterprise.
Who ever the legally undefind “Jewish people” living in the USA are, they don’t have the right to abet or provide material support for illegal immigration in Palestine, colonization, terrorism, war crimes, crimes against humanity, aparthied, and genocide. They can’t falsely rebrand those legal offenses as a valid mode of exercising “the Jewish peoples right of self-determination in accordance with international law. The Zionist Organization, AIPAC, the Jewish Federations, the Presidents of the Major Jewish Organizations, and Jewish charities do not enjoy foreign sovereignty in our courts and should be held civilly and criminally liable going forward.
Reid v. Covert established that the President and Congress are creatures of the US Constitution who can’t do anything outside of our territorial jurisdiction that is prohibited by that document. This U.S. Code 22 policy has been employed to violate the establishment clause, freedom of association of anti-Zionist demonstrators, the equal protection clause, and a plethora of statutes and treaties:
For some reason, the US war crimes statute has never been used to prosecute US war crimes committed by our citizens in Israel or Palestine. There are easily 100,000 US citizens in the illegal “regime” cited in the 2004 and 2024 ICJ advisories. They are living in pillaged properties, and plundering the natural resources of Palestine. The ICJ noted non-Israeli Jewish settlers constitute part of the illegal groups who have comitted violence and established de facto control. The ICJ noted their mere presence is unlawful and they must be removed immediately. The Advisory opinion should end the days of our government officials abetting felonies, allowing these criminals freedom of travel, while calling people who protest them “antisemites,” and demanding negotiations over the final status of these US felons.