On Monday’s broadcast of “NewsNation Now,” Afaf Nasher, the Executive Director for the New York Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) dodged multiple questions on antisemitism at protests before finally saying that hatred of Jewish people isn’t acceptable, and “What we are condemning is, first and foremost, the hatred that is consistently and systematically being pursued against advocates for Palestine, and it is systematic.”
After reading criticism of Columbia from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and playing video of President Joe Biden criticizing antisemitic protests and those who “don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians”, host Connell McShane asked, “What would you say about those that ‘don’t understand’? And would you, as the President just did, condemn the antisemitic portion of these protests?”
Nasher responded, “So, in order for there to be any understanding. There needs to be able — both people need to be able to speak on both aisles of the table, correct? But when you are silencing — and this is exactly what campuses have done — when you are silencing only one side of the argument, when you are seeing that folks like JPP, Jewish Voices for Peace, Students for Palestine, and others are unable to hold events, unable to peacefully assemble and to speak, unable to have events of their own, from valedictorians, to protests on campus being silenced, being terminated from their jobs, and being suspended from school, then there is no understanding. So, at the very minimum, these college campuses have to allow for everyone to freely and equally be able to speak and to advocate for what they believe is correct. And again, you essentially have one side that’s saying, we need a ceasefire, an end to violence and we would hope that all sides want to see an end to violence. But for that understanding to take place, what is essential is that the advocacy needs to be able to take place to begin with, and the silencing efforts need to stop.”
McShane then said, “Don’t you want to have fairness for all students, and wouldn’t that include Jewish students? This exchange took place with a Jewish student on the Columbia campus in a back-and-forth with one of the protesters.”
He then played video of a Jewish student saying he’s been called a “baby killer” and Jewish students were told “to go back to Poland, to Belarus.”
McShane then asked, “So, when you have people out and the protesters, I saw the video of it over the weekend, I don’t know how large the contingents that are yelling things like that, but there were people saying, go back to Poland, things like that, to these Jewish students who are on campus trying to go to class or wherever they’re going. What would you say about that?”
Nasher responded, “I would say that you have tens of thousands of protesters, students and non-students alike, who are singularly focused on being able to say that every nation and every people need justice and need the ability to provide for their own self-determination. That includes the Palestinians. And, for that, they have been silenced, they’ve been arrested, they’ve been suspended, and they’ve been terminated. And when you want to talk about fairness, well, let’s not forget that it was Columbia University who had a chemical agent sprayed upon their students, and yet, we did not see the levels of accusations that we constantly see against Muslims. So, if we are to talk about fairness, then let’s talk about fairness. The truth is is that you have one side of the political aisle that’s consistently penalized and punished, while the other side is not.”
She then said that President Joe Biden, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), and New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) are “inflaming the rhetoric against Palestinians.”
McShane then asked, “So, you’re condemning, essentially, the statements that were made by the Mayor and by the Governor, which condemned the antisemitic portion of these protests?”
Nasher responded, “Nobody [condones] anti-Jewish hatred. There is no one that wants to see any kind of hatred proliferate, and that includes the overwhelming 99% of the protesters that are there, that are advocating for self-liberation for Palestine. What we are condemning is, first and foremost, the hatred that is consistently and systematically being pursued against advocates for Palestine, and it is systematic. And number two, the silencing tactics have been overwhelming in order to keep the truth and keep those who are advocating for the end of violence to be able to come out into the streets and into the main realm of speech within our society.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
