Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Antisemitic Incident At Cornell University And The Rise Of Antisemitism In The United States
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding the rise of antisemitism in the United States. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
I am sickened and frightened by the news that has come out of Cornell University, where over the weekend messages appeared on a non-campus online forum calling for violence against the school’s Jewish community.
These posts made specific references to a building on campus housing the Center for Jewish Living, and called for violence towards Jewish students. Cornell has decried this appalling act and has alerted the FBI.
The incident targeting Cornell’s Jewish community is utterly revolting, but unfortunately, it was not an isolated occurrence. Across the country, on campuses and public spaces, the ancient poison of antisemitism has found new life.
The ADL reports that the incidents of antisemitism are up over 300% since Hamas’s attack in Israel on October 7th. In cities ranging from L.A. to Indianapolis to New York—and in fact all around the world—Jews are receiving death threats, vandalism, and public assaults for no other reason than because of who they are.
In one instance reported by the ADL, a woman was punched in the face in Grand Central terminal in New York. When she asked her assailant why he did that, he said “You are Jewish.”
Antisemitism is absolutely on the rise here in America, and we have an obligation – an obligation, a strong obligation – to condemn this behavior whenever we see it, wherever we see it, and no matter who spreads it.
Every single American – no matter his or her background, no matter their beliefs, no matter how they may feel about the awful violence in the Middle East and its history – ought to condemn, with full-throated clarity, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of racial and religious prejudice. We must condemn all forms of hate.
Nobody denies that people of goodwill can have disagreements about the conflict in the Middle East, but the red line is crossed when these disagreements lead to violence or threats of violence, like what is happening unfortunately in too many communities around the country.
And no matter what our beliefs, all of us must remain vigilant – absolutely vigilant – against critiques that quickly turn into threats of violence and outright antisemitism.
Here in America, we must condemn antisemitism, always.
We must condemn all forms of Islamophobia, always.
We must fight all discrimination and preserve the values that make us American to begin with, that all people have dignity and a right to live securely. Always.
###
