Senate Passes Resolution Condemning Hamas, Anti-Semitism on Campuses

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Oct. 3, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The Senate approved a resolution on Oct. 26 that condemns the terrorist group Hamas and anti-Semitism on college campuses nationwide.

The resolution, which was introduced on Oct. 18 by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and passed by voice vote, notes that the latest attacks by Hamas against Israel that started on Oct. 7 have left 30 U.S. citizens dead and at least 13 U.S. citizens missing.

“Hamas has perpetrated barbaric atrocities, including the targeted killing, rape, and mutilation of civilian men, women, and children, including infants,” the resolution states.

The resolution calls out anti-Semitism on college campuses amid the Hamas terrorist attacks on the Jewish state.

The approval comes two days after students at George Washington University projected anti-Semitic messages onto the school’s library, the Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, named for a Jewish couple. The messages, which eventually were shut down by the police, included “Free Palestine From the River to the Sea,” which is a call to annihilate Israel; “Glory to Our Martyrs,” which is a celebration of terrorist groups such as Hamas; and university “President [Ellen] Granberg is Complicit in Genocide in Gaza.”

Incidents at Several Colleges, Universities

Other incidents on college campuses include Jewish students at Cooper Union in New York City being trapped inside the school’s library as pro-Palestinian demonstrators banged on the doors and shouted anti-Semitic statements.

Another is Harvard University student groups releasing a statement blaming Israel for the latest terrorism by Hamas.

A third example includes Ryna Workman, then-president of New York University School of Law’s Student Bar Association, writing a newsletter to fellow students “to express, first and foremost, my unwavering and absolute solidarity with Palestinians in their resistance against oppression toward liberation and self-determination. Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life.”

Video footage has been released of Ms. Workman vandalizing posters of missing Israelis.

“The Senate fully and completely condemns the outrageous terrorist attacks by Hamas on the people of Israel, which resulted in the mass murder of civilians, including babies,” the resolution states.

The Senate resolution “denounces the rhetoric of anti-Israel, pro-Hamas student groups as antisemitic, repugnant, and morally contemptible for sympathizing with genocidal violence against the State of Israel and risking the physical safety of Jewish Americans in the United States.”

The measure also expresses Israel’s “right to exist and defend itself”; “emphasizes that Jewish Americans have the right to safety and security in the United States”; and encourages the U.S. government to “fully and completely support Israel and its right to exist.”

Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds have gone missing in the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas. Israel has launched air strikes on Gaza, which Hamas controls, and is expected to launch a ground operation in the coming days.

Days earlier, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) blocked a move to approve the measure by unanimous consent, arguing that the resolution was too broad.