Jason Smith: Hamas' attack exposes trouble on college campuses

(From Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith)

On October 7, Hamas terrorists murdered innocent Israeli civilians in attacks that included rape, torture, and beheadings. It was a disgusting violation of the most basic morality. 

Any country whose civilians had been attacked in such a manner would and should be well within their rights to target and dismantle an enemy that would act in such a manner. Indeed, the United States stands in complete support of Israel’s right to eliminate this terrorist threat on their border.

But shockingly, Hamas’ attack has not been met with universal condemnation. In fact, at colleges and universities across this country – institutions which supposedly are training the next generation of leaders – we have seen massive protests in support of Hamas’ actions and university administrators, who are often quick to condemn speech they don’t like, suddenly unable to express condemnation of these terrorists’ actions.

In one example, 34 Harvard student organizations issued a joint statement holding Israel at fault for the attack on their own people. University administrators initially defended these students’ right to free speech before the university president alone condemned the attacks after three days of withering criticism for the university. But apparently a number of leading voices at the university didn’t get the message, because on October 19, more than 70 Harvard academics issued a statement calling on the university president to condemn harassment of student supporters of Palestinian liberation at Harvard. It’s hard not to notice the lack of a similar show of support for Jewish students following the attacks.

Even more troublingly, university professors around the country have explicitly supported violence. Cornell University Associate Professor Russell Rickford called the attacks on the Jewish people “exhilarating” and “exciting”. University of California-Davis Professor Jemma Decristo tweeted pictures of knives, axes, and blood with a message calling on activists to target “Zionist journalists” at their homes and their children’s schools. 

Yale professor Zareena Grewal tweeted in the hours after the attack that “Palestinians have every right to resist through armed struggle” and called Israel “a murderous, genocidal settler state.” These are the people supposedly teaching our next generation!

Failing to condemn – or, even worse, supporting – the rape, torture and murder of innocent people is unforgivable and runs counter to our values as a nation. Congress and the American people will not forget on what side these institutions stood the day the largest number of Jewish people were killed since the Holocaust, and they must be held to account for their implicit, vile support of Hamas terrorists and violence against the people of Israel. Many of these organizations currently enjoy tax-exempt status in the United States, and their statements call into question the academic or charitable missions they claim to pursue.

As the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, I can promise that we will be looking further into what mission these universities are pursuing and will do everything we can to ensure our next generations are being educated – not indoctrinated – at the expense of American taxpayers.