Click here to view Senator Cotton’s remarks.
In case you missed it — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), along with Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), Rick Scott (R-Florida), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), held a press conference today condemning the rampant anti-Semitic protests at universities and colleges across the country.
In part, Senator Cotton said:
“These little Gazas are disgusting cesspools of anti-Semitic hate full of pro Hamas sympathizers, fanatics, and freaks. Here's just a sampling of what these lunatics were saying, just days after Hamas's atrocity against Israel: a Cornell professor called the October 7 attack ‘exhilarating.’ A Columbia professor called it ‘awesome.’ A Yale professor called it an ‘extraordinary day.’”
Senator Cotton’s full remarks and responses to questions may be found here and below.
Senator Cotton: We're here to discuss the little Gazas that have risen up on campuses across America, and the liberal college administrators and politicians who refuse to restore law and order and to protect other students. These little Gazas are disgusting cesspools of anti-Semitic hate full of pro Hamas sympathizers, fanatics, and freaks. Here's just a sampling of what these lunatics were saying, just days after Hamas's atrocity against Israel: a Cornell professor called the October 7 attack "exhilarating." A Columbia professor called it "awesome." A Yale professor called it an "extraordinary day." More than 30 Harvard students signed a letter claiming that Israel was, quote, "entirely responsible" for the attack. A pro-Hamas student group at the University of Virginia called Hamas terrorists, "Palestinian resistance fighters." And remember, this was all before Israel had seriously retaliated. The terrorist sympathizers in these little Gazas aren't peacefully protesting Israel's conduct of the war. They're violently and illegally demanding death for Israel, just like their ideological twins, the Ayatollahs in Iran.
Just look at what's going on in these little Gazas. These criminals are chanting eliminationist slogans, like from "the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free" and "globalize the Intifada." At Stanford, they wore Hamas headbands. At Princeton, they flew the Hezbollah flag. At Harvard, they ripped down the stars and stripes and replaced it with the Palestinian flag. At George Washington University, they called for the "final solution" and posted sign saying they wouldn't leave until Jews go back to their "real homes." And look at some of the consequences. At Columbia, a rabbi had to tell students that the university was no longer safe for Jews. At UCLA, Hamas sympathizers, blocked Jewish students from attending classes and assaulted Jewish students. USC canceled its graduation and a fear of pro Hamas riots. It's time to stop these anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas mobs today. And if liberal college administrators won't take action, the mayors and the governors of these campuses should. And so should Joe Biden. When will the President himself, not his mouthpieces, condemn these hate filled little Gazas. President Biden needs to denounce the Hamas's campus sympathizers without equivocating about Israelis fighting a righteous war of survival. The State Department needs to yank the visa of foreign students in these little Gazas. And DHS needs to deport them. The Justice Department should investigate the funding sources behind these little Gazas, and the Department of Education needs to withhold funding for colleges that won't protect the civil rights of their Jewish students. Instead, Joe Biden is putting more pressure on Israel these days that he is on Hamas itself, or on the pro-Hamas chapters on America's campuses. But I guess that's what we should expect from the leader of the Democratic Party that has let its anti-Semitic elements fester and grow for years. Another four years for Joe Biden means another four years of little Gazas all across America. And that's something, I suspect, the American people will keep in mind this November.
Reporter: What would you like to see Leader Schumer do over in the Senate? And what do you make of the action the House is going to take today?
Senator Cotton: Senator Schumer, like Joe Biden, should stop equivocating between Israel fighting a righteous war for survival and all these pro-Hamas sympathizers on campuses in these little Gazas. For example, when he meddled two, three weeks ago, calling for new elections in Israel. Maybe Israelis think we should have new elections in New York. Second, I suspect the House of Representatives is going to pass a law today adopting the international definition of Anti-Semitism. That's a bill that we should promptly bring to the floor and pass over here as well. There's just a couple of examples. I don't know if Senator Marshall and Ernst if you have anything else.
Reporter: International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism includes anti-Zionism, and some people would argue that anti Zionism is not inherently anti-Semitic. Do you agree with that or disagree with that?
Senator Cotton: I would submit that some people be very wrong about that. It's just an example of how Israel is held to a unique standard in the world, not just by, say, the United Nations or the International Criminal Court, but by Joe Biden and other Democrats here in the United States. If you demand something of Israel that you don't demand of every other nation, if you threaten their leaders with arrest warrants, if you build these little Gazas on campuses to protest what Israel is doing, you don't do it against say, Bashar al Assad for what he's done to his own people, or what Hamas has done to the Arabs living in Gaza, then that is a double standard. That is the definition of anti-Semitism. So anti-Zionism does belong in that definition.
Reporter: Congresswoman Jayapal, yesterday was asked quote what would your message be to reduce students who doesn't feel safe on their own campus right now? She replied, saying, it is really important to educate yourself without what is anti-Semitic. And it's not anti-Semitic. And then said there are things that are being called anti-Semitic that are not anti-Semitic. If you can just react to that.
Senator Cotton: I mean, I think when we have Jewish students who have to live through these little Gaza encampments where pro-Hamas sympathizers are saying, go back to your real home, or calling for a final solution, or spray painting swastikas on your campus, there's little question that those Jewish students justifiably feel intimidated and harassed, and that college administrators are not doing their job to protect the civil rights of those Jewish students. So, every student in these little Gazas is either violating the law or violating campus rules. They have a right they want to go out and make fools of themselves and protest and on behalf of Hamas if they're American citizens, but they don't have a right to build little Gazas in violation of the laws, committing trespass, committing disorderly conduct, in many cases, committing felonies through burglary or destruction of property. That is what they do not have the right to do. And yes, whenever you're saying go back to your real home or painting swastikas on campuses or flying the Hezbollah flag or wearing a Hamas headband, then you are not protesting Israel's conduct of their righteous war of survival, you are sympathizing with Hamas. Last question.
Reporter: What's your message to them? What would you advise them to do?
Senator Cotton: Well, first off, one of the reasons why we had this press conference, while all of us have been speaking on this issue is to try to encourage these college administrators to take charge of their own campuses and to protect the rights of these Jewish students. And for that matter, any student who just wants to study for final exams and finish this semester in peace, without having little Gaza disrupting them 24 hours a day. Second, a lot of these students, a lot of these universities are going to face massive lawsuits, like look at UCLA, where you have Jewish students who are being blocked from entering their classrooms by a bunch of pro-Hamas radicals, wearing masks and keffiyehs, like it's some scene out of the 1930s in Germany. So, a lot of these students should be consulting with a lawyer because by the time this is all said and done, they may have buildings on these campuses named after them. And, they shouldn't hesitate. They shouldn't hesitate to go to the local authorities as well. If the administrators on campus won't protect them, then they have every right to go to the local authorities and ask for their protection as well. Just a few things that they should do: most important, they should know that all of these all of these pro-Hamas fanatics in little Gaza may be getting a lot of attention now. But the vast majority of normal, sane patriotic Americans support them, not Hamas.