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Arab News
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Washington attack was wrong and does not help Palestine
The chant 'Free Palestine' is powerful and appropriate at protests across the US and around the world. But it is wholly inappropriate when shouted following a violent, fatal attack in the American capital. Such an attack must be unequivocally condemned. Palestinians, even as they endure unimaginable suffering in Gaza, must find the moral clarity and courage to reject violence of this kind. It does not matter that the victims were Israeli diplomats, nor that one of them had tweeted a provocative message suggesting that Israel should assassinate a Yemeni leader. The Palestinian cause demands international pressure and Israeli accountability, not violence in a city thousands of miles away from the conflict. Palestinians seek an end to Israel's war, siege and occupation of Palestinian territories. Targets outside the region are not, and must never be, part of the Palestinian struggle. The demand to stop genocide and war crimes — crimes prohibited under international law — must be pursued in the proper arena: The Hague. Indeed, the Israeli government has deliberately weaponized starvation against Palestinians in Gaza. This crisis must be urgently addressed. But just as Western leaders were beginning to shift toward sanctions and other measures against Israeli violations, this reprehensible attack on two Israeli diplomats has served only to deflect attention — and relieve pressure on Israel. The Palestinian cause demands international pressure and Israeli accountability, not violence in a city thousands of miles away Daoud Kuttab The condemnation of this act must be unequivocal. At the same time, we must reject Israel's attempt to frame it as an act against Jews or as part of a global antisemitic campaign. While invoking 'Free Palestine' in this context is wholly inappropriate, support for Palestinian rights is not inherently antisemitic. Israel is a state whose citizens include Jews, Muslims, Christians and others. Zionism itself is not exclusive to Jews; it also includes some Christians. To conflate criticism of Israel or Zionism with antisemitism is both dishonest and dangerous. Leaders in Europe, the UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere should not allow this act to deter them from their recent calls for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the war on Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's inflammatory response — blaming international opposition to Israel's policies for inciting violence in Washington — is unacceptable. Netanyahu, currently facing multiple criminal charges for corruption and abuse of power, is prolonging this war to preserve his political survival. By calling international criticism antisemitic, he attempts to silence dissent and bully world leaders into complicity. There should be no prohibition of justified criticism of Israeli policies. Despite their legal obligations under international law, most Western leaders have yet to act meaningfully. Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions requires signatories to 'respect and to ensure respect' for the conventions in all circumstances. That includes taking concrete steps to prevent violations — steps that go beyond words. While recent statements from Western leaders are welcome, they remain insufficient if not followed up by action. This is precisely why the Netanyahu government wants to shut them down — and why he is exploiting the Washington attack to do so. Because of the publicity surrounding this case, the world now knows the names of the two Israeli diplomats attacked in Washington — Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim. But how many people know the names of the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza? According to UNICEF, after nearly 18 months of war, more than 15,000 Palestinian children have been killed, about 34,000 injured and nearly 1 million repeatedly displaced and denied access to basic services. Thanks to the courageous student protesters at Columbia University, one name has broken through the silence: Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces during the invasion of Gaza. Six of her family members and two paramedics trying to save her were also killed. At the same time, we must reject Israel's attempt to frame it as an act against Jews or as part of a global antisemitic campaign Daoud Kuttab The UN estimates that more than 28,000 women and girls have also been killed. On International Women's Day, Jordan's Radio Al-Balad — the station I am involved with — read the names of some of these women on air. Politicians, celebrities and even a princess participated in the campaign, titled 'We Are Not Numbers.' This war must end immediately. According to multiple media reports, Hamas has expressed a willingness to release all Israeli hostages if the Netanyahu government agrees to end the war. The group has also reportedly offered to relinquish control of Gaza to a transitional Palestinian committee ahead of elections for a new unified Palestinian government. Any lasting resolution must address the root of the conflict: Israel's ongoing occupation of the territories it captured in 1967. Palestinians must be allowed their fundamental right to self-determination. Peace will only come through the implementation of long-standing international resolutions, including the creation of a sovereign and democratic Palestinian state alongside Israel and a just solution for Palestinian refugees. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be resolved in the Middle East, with the support of the international community. Justice — and peace — will only come when the underlying injustices are addressed. What is needed now is persistent, principled pressure from the global community, including peace-loving Israelis. A violent attack against diplomats in Washington is not the way to free Palestine.
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Pro-Palestinian author brands DC Jewish Museum victims 'genocide cheerleaders'
An acclaimed Palestinian-American author and activist called two murdered Israeli diplomats 'genocide cheerleaders' and 'human garbage'. Susan Abulhawa celebrated the deaths of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, in a terrorist attack on the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night. The young soon-to-be-engaged couple were hit by some of the 21 bullets allegedly fired by Elias Rodriguez, 31, who screamed 'free Palestine ' as he was arrested. Abulhawa rejected even the slightest sympathy for their families and even speculated the shooting was a 'false flag' by pro-Israel agents. 'Now we're supposed to feel bad for two genocide cheerleaders after watching these colonizer baby killers slaughter people by the hundreds every day for two years,' she wrote on Twitter. 'I've seen the inside of too many children's skulls to give a crap about the human garbage who get off on mass murder. 'It wouldn't surprise me if it was a false flag to focus on manufactured antisemitism instead of the actual holocaust being committed by Jewish supremacists.' Hours earlier, Abulhawa came close to calling for more murders of random Jewish civilians around the world in revenge for Palestinians killed in Gaza. 'When governments fail to hold Israel accountable for an actual holocaust being committed before our very eyes, no genocidal Zionist should be safe anywhere in the world,' she wrote. 'What Mr Rodriguez did should come as no surprise. In fact, I'm surprised it has not happened sooner. 'Human beings with a conscience literally cannot bear to witness such evil day and day out being inflicted upon the bodies, minds, and futures of an utterly defenseless people, by such a hateful, racist, colonial state.' Abulhawa doubled down by comparing the murders to the assassination of a Nazi diplomat by a Jewish teenager in 1938. 'Once you understand that Zionism and Nazism are two sides of the same coin, the world we live in will make a lot more sense,' she wrote. She called both killings 'an act of resistance because governments refused to stop a genocide'. Nazi Germany was yet to invade Poland and begin World War II in 1938, but had been mass murdering Jews inside its borders for years. The couple were hit by some of the 21 bullets allegedly fired by Elias Rodriguez, 31, who screamed 'free Palestine ' as he was arrested Abulhawa frequently posts inflammatory content about the Israeli invasion of Gaza since the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas. Even before that, she spent much of her career writing about Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and elsewhere. Her breakout novel Mornings in Jenin followed multiple generations of a Palestinian family living in a city in the northern West Bank. The book's original title was Scar of David in 2006 but it was re-released to critical acclaim without the more pointed title in 2010. It was translated into 32 languages and sold more than a million copies, already making her the most read Palestinian author of all time. Abulhawa published two more successful novels, and six other anthologies, books of poetry, and non-fiction works. She was the director of the controversial 2023 Palestine Writes festival at the University of Pennsylvania. Her hostility to Israel after fleeing Palestine as a war refugee caused her to decline various invitations and speaking engagements. Abulhawa's position is that Israel is an apartheid state similar to South Africa and should be abolished. Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen, and Milgrim, an American, were gunned down at a Jewish conference of the American Jewish Committee focused on peace. One witness reported seeing Rodriguez throw his gun away after it stopped firing. Another witness earlier recalled how well-meaning security guards allowed him inside the building, wrongly assuming he was a victim of the shooting. At the museum, according to a charging affidavit, he told police: 'I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza. I am unarmed.'
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Neighbor of gunman who killed Israeli diplomat says 'girlfriend' vanished from their Chicago apartment weeks before shooting
The suspected pro-Palestine gunman who murdered two young Israeli diplomats in Washington DC lived with a 'girlfriend' at his modest apartment in Chicago, can exclusively reveal. Elias Rodriguez, 31, moved in with a woman whose last name is believed to be Oliver roughly two years ago, 71-year-old neighbor John Fry said. But it appears she recently mysteriously vanished. 'There was a young woman, although I haven't seen her for a couple of weeks now. I can't say exactly when she left,' Fry added. 'I'm guessing she was in her late 20s, about 5ft 3ins tall, dark hair. Nothing special about her build. Difficult to really describe her much after that. 'I don't know why she apparently hasn't been around.' He would not speculate that the couple could have fallen out before the murderous assault outside the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night – where Rodriguez shouted 'Free Palestine' after the killing spree. 'They were a really quiet couple. Although in these apartment buildings people only tend to just say hi to each other, not much more than that,' said Fry. 'I didn't exchange that many words with her. Fry said he also had not seen Rodriguez – who allegedly unleashed 21 rounds from his H&K pistol to kill soon-to-be engaged Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim – for days either. A small pair of women's size black CAT sneakers remained outside the door of the couple's second floor apartment today despite the FBI raid on the premises 24 hours earlier. On the dark wood front door is a cardboard graphic of what appears to be a Hello Kitty Chinese New Year decal, with a male and a female version of the Sanrio mascot, linked together with Chinese characters, as revealed in exclusive photos. The apartment building is in the mixed Albany Park area of the city, where support is strong for Palestine following the October 7 Hamas atrocities and Israel's military response in Gaza. Fry said he too supported the Palestinian cause but added: 'What he did was so wrong. And if I'd had any idea that he would do such a thing I believe I could have talked him out of it. 'If he wanted to support Palestine, this is not the way to do it. What's killing two people doing to do? It was so stupid, so counterproductive. 'There's a very strong Palestine support network in this neighborhood. And for him to do what he did, he did it because he had lost hope. I believe he just lost hope over the death and destruction. It pushed him over the edge.' Fry also revealed the FBI did not seem particularly interested in the girlfriend. 'I told them about her, but they didn't appear to pick up on it,' he said. 'The comment they made to me was that the people they had talked to all seemed to think he was a nice guy. And that was the way he came across to me. He was quiet, he was friendly.' Referring to a sign in Rodriguez's window saying Justice for Wadea, with a picture of murdered six-year-old Palestinian-American Wadea al-Fayoume,' Fry said: 'That's the kind of sign a sensitive person would put up. Fry said he had no idea Rodriguez had been a gun owner for five years, but added: 'This is Chicago. When I moved here a cop friend of mine said, John, get a gun. And that was when the city was trying to get them off the streets.' It was also revealed today that the father of the accused gunman was a special guest of a Democratic congressman for President Donald Trump 's March address to Congress. 'Eric Rodriguez was our guest during the President's Joint Speech to Congress, but we don't know his family,' a spokesperson for Rep. Jesús 'Chuy' García (D-Ill.) confirmed to the New York Post. At the time, García's office celebrated Rodriguez as an 'outspoken advocate against attacks on veterans' services and the rights of unionized federal employees.' Eric Rodriguez identified himself as a disabled Iraq War veteran and was involved in anti-Trump protests of cuts to the federal government. 'Veterans, we're under attack,' he said tearfully at an event with congressional Democrats. 'They're slashing staff, crushing unions and selling out the VA, for what?' he said. 'So billionaires can make more money while veterans sit on wait lists, or worse, they'll get no treatment.' Congressman Garcia hailed Rodriguez, the father of the shooter, as a hero. 'Eric represents the very best of our community — someone who has served his country, continues to serve his fellow veterans and fights every day to protect the dignity of working people,' the congressman said in a statement at the time. He also posted video of Rodriguez's speech on Instagram. After the shooting, Rep. Garcia condemned the shooting as a 'horrible senseless act of antisemitism.' 'My heart is with the victims, and everyone impacted by the attack. We mourn the lives lost and reject the idea that justice can be won through violence,' he wrote on social media. Elias Rodriguez graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago and was increasingly involved in left-wing activism. He also donated $500 Joe Biden's presidential campaign in 2020. His mother Elvira Rodriguez declined to comment to Daily Mail. 'I have no comment, thank you,' she said. Rodriguez, 30, worked as a far-left activist who worked as an 'oral history researcher' on African American communities at educational non-profit TheHistoryMakers, participated in anti-capitalist demonstrations, and has been a member of the party for 'socialism and liberation.' President Trump issued a statement late Wednesday night condemning 'hatred and radicalism' which led to the vicious attack. 'These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!' he wrote on social media.
Fox News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
'THAT IS THE SPIRIT OF HOLOCAUST': Sen. Josh Hawley SLAMS Dems Who Refuse to Condemn Antisemitic Violence
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), who serves on the Senate Committees on the Judiciary; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship, joined The Guy Benson Show today to discuss the tragic murder of two Israeli embassy workers in Washington, D.C. by a pro-Hamas protester. He condemned the lack of response from Democrats like Ilhan Omar, calling out what he sees as a disturbing silence in the face of antisemitic violence. Hawley also weighed in on the passage of Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' praising the widespread tax relief it delivers and outlining how he believes federal spending can still be cut without sacrificing Medicaid for truly struggling Americans. Listen to the full interview below! Listen to the full interview below: Listen to the full podcast below: Read the full (automated) transcript below: Ben Domenech: The deaths of two young Israeli diplomats attending an event here in D.C. Last night has actually shook the system, I think, in a way that is going to lead to all sorts of consequences, ramifications that we are just going to be learning about, I believe, in the coming days and weeks, as the issue of anti-Semitism now takes the main stage in terms of a conversation that has now come to the nation's capital in a ways it has not before, but seems now inevitable. And joining me now to discuss this and more is Missouri Senator Josh Hawley. Thanks so much for taking the time to join me today, Senator. What was your initial reaction when you saw this terrible news? Sen. Hawley: Well, horror to begin with. Thanks for having me, Ben. It's great to be on with you, but it just absolutely was horrified by it. One of the victims, Sarah Milgram, is from the Kansas City area, on the Kansas side of it, but very close. To to an area where I went to high school. I know well, so this is there's there's a personal feel to this I've heard from so many members of the Jewish community Just this morning about the shockwaves that this is sending you think about this This is a brazen act of murderous violence in the nation's capital. And while it wasn't broad daylight, it was pretty close I mean this was this wasn't like it was 3 a.m. And it was some you know, some random mugging now This was targeted. This was deliberate This was really an act of terrorism and I think it speaks volumes and not good volumes about where we are right now in terms of the brazenness of the anti-Israel, anti-American movement in this country, which is turning increasingly violent, increasingly murderous and needs to be confronted. Ben Domenech: You know, I think we hear a lot of platitudes often in the wake of something like this, that this is unacceptable, you know. I mean, and obviously in the moment, those are the kind of responses you expect from people like Mayor Bowser and others. But what does it really mean to say that this something that is unacceptable? What is the government able to do and what do you think it should be doing to make sure that this type of anti-Semitic terror is not tolerated, is not allowed, and is really battled in America? Sen. Hawley: Well, number one, and I say this as a former prosecutor, you prosecute the heck out of the perpetrator. I mean, you go out there and you prosecuted him to the fullest extent of the law. And there's an advantage to having a trial and putting this guy on trial. You get all the evidence about his beliefs, his motivation, what it is that he is committed to. And I understand he was involved with various radical left groups. He was chanting free Palestine as he was shooting, apparently. And people need to understand where these ideologies lead to, where these radical anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, anti American ideologies, they end in violence and murder. So you've got to prosecute this guy, you've gotta put him away for life, you gotta make clear what it is he stands for. And then we've gotta draw the line, I mean, this same murderous ideology, let's just be honest, has been flourishing on America's so-called elite college campuses. I mean he had the president of Columbia apologizing, groveling really just a few days ago in public talking about how horrible it was that the pro-Hamas student to the graduate student to Trump administration kicked out, how he couldn't be here because of free speech. This is garbage. We need to say clearly that when you are advocating for violence, it is a crime. You can't advocate for violence, number one, but number two. Even if your speech is protected by the First Amendment, it is morally reprehensible to call for the slaughter of Jewish Americans or Jews anywhere. There's something really sick about that, and we've got to speak with moral clarity. Ben Domenech: Some of your colleagues in the Senate on the Democratic side were going after Secretary Rubio this week about topics related to this, about the issues related to kicking some of these people out who are on student visas and the like. How do you find the right balance there of honoring America's tradition of free speech, but also recognizing that some of these people are here on purpose to agitate, on purpose, to create and foment the kind of terror that we saw happen on the streets of D.C. Last night. Sen. Hawley: Yeah, and it's that lighter category of people who don't have any business being in this country. And I just reiterate that when you're here on a visa, you're there as a guest. And by the way, our law, perfectly consistent with the First Amendment, our laws says that the United States government, if you're on a Visa… Student visa, the United States government can expel you if you present a danger to the United States as either to our citizens or to our security interests. And I just argue if you are on campus stirring up violent riots, if you were on campus encouraging people to break the law, and if you're on campus advocating for terrorist organizations, You shouldn't be here. And I don't have any qualms about saying, sorry, you do that garbage, you're out, you are gone. You are not an American citizen, you are gone, you go home. I think we've got to be real clear about that. And to have the left, now all of a sudden the left have decided that they are free speech absolutists. These are the people who were just saying just a hot minute ago, oh, misinformation isn't protected by the First Amendment. Now suddenly they think everything is First Amendment speech, it's just ridiculous. Ben Domenech: You know there has not been a lot of response to this shooting yet from your colleagues on the hill One such non-response came from Ilhan Omar cut 12 Sen. Hawley: Congresswoman Omar, can I get your reaction to the shooting that happened in D.C. Last night? Ben Domenech: For now? So that's the kind of attitude that they have toward this. I'm just gonna go for now, I'm not gonna say anything. Why do you think that they're so reluctant to call out something that is such an obvious problem on their side and only seems to be getting worse? Sen. Hawley: Because they're totally enthralled to it. I mean the ones who are who know it's wrong I mean the members of Congress Democrats who know this is wrong are scared to speak out about it because They want the votes and the money and so they're they're Totally cowed by it and then you've got a segment of them who are partakers in this ideology I mean again, let's just be honest. You've got people probably like Ellen Omar who believe it They believe that Israel is an apartheid state, is a corrupt state. They believe Israel should be wiped off the face of the map. And they have, you know, the best you can say about that wing of the Democrat party is, boy, they sure like to play footsie with people who are murderers and who are terrorists. I mean, this is a huge, huge problem for them. And this is why moral clarity is absolutely vital. And whether it's left or right, I don't care where you locate yourself on the spectrum. When you're calling for the destruction of the state of Israel, that is the spirit of apartheid. That is the Spirit of Holocaust. That's what we have got to call out and reject wherever it comes from. And again, this is a basic issue of speaking with moral purpose. Ben Domenech: You know one other area that likes to play footsie with this obviously is the media and I and I got the and Appreciated the Josh Hawley retweet this morning I had posted last night late at one in the morning the shooter shouted free Palestine and I did it for Gaza So motives will tomorrow be reported as unclear and then sure enough the New York Times this morning FBI seeks motive after two Israeli and the embassy aides are killed Why can't the media be honest about this, especially when the person is literally yelling it as they are arrested? Sen. Hawley: Yeah, it's really pretty sickening. I mean, to be honest with you. And it's obvious what the motivation was. This person wanted to kill Jews. If you could kill American Jews so much the better. And you can't ever make progress on this until you're willing to tell people the truth. This is why nobody trusts the legacy media anymore. Whether we're talking about Joe Biden's health or whether we're talking about the motivations of these killers, they just won't be honest when it doesn't suit their political agenda. And, you know, they've got a big problem on the left. And if we allow this to fester, we're going to have a big problem in this country with these people, again, who hide behind the idea that, oh, well, every viewpoint is equal. No, it's not. Every viewpoint is not equal when you're calling for the slaughter of innocents. And we've got to be clear on that. Ben Domenech: I do want to take the time to talk about what's gone on on Capitol Hill over the past couple of days. We've seen this big, beautiful bill come together on the House side with a bunch of trading of different sides when it comes to what the salt Republicans wanted. I don't like to call them moderates. What the fiscal hawks, the last few of them that hold out there in the House, wanted What is your perspective on that bill now that it's gotten to this point? And what are your chief concerns about it as it comes over to the Senate? Sen. Hawley: Well, no, it really gives the Senate the runway to work. I mean, this puts the ball into our court, allows us to get to work, and there's a lot of work to do, and we need to move quickly. So my view is that we've got to adhere to what the president's priorities are, what he ran on, what he won on, what he promised the country, which is, number one, a working class tax cut. No taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, no taxes of Social Security. I think we also need to give every working family in this country with kids a big tax cut, these are our voters, They have been absolutely pummeled by Joe Biden for four years. No working family. Nobody could afford anything in this country. Gas, groceries, rent. They need relief. We need to deliver it to them. I think the president's been strong on that we need to protect Medicaid benefits for working people. The president's been very strong. I don't need to roll back the Biden era spending. I mean, four trillion dollars on Green New Deal subsidies, on giveaways to China. I mean, it's just absurd stuff that needs to be rolled back. I think we do that. It'll be a great product for the American people. Ben Domenech: I want to ask you about Medicaid for just a second, because I want clarify a little bit about your concerns, and some of them are more esoteric, an esoterica, policy concerns related to, you know, the payment processes and things like that. But when it comes to the workforce side of things, I know someone, a friend of mine, she works very hard in her job, a single mom. Her ex doesn't work at all. He gets Medicaid, she works hard enough that she earns too much to get Medicaid. What is the situation that should happen to compel him with Medicaid to get back to work? Sen. Hawley: There ought to be work requirements. I think there's no doubt about that. I mean, this is something that the president's been very clear on, strong on, I think is right. That's certainly how we feel in Missouri. I mean listen, if you're able-bodied… And you're not working. You need to go work if you want to get Medicaid benefits. Now, I will tell you, Ben, in my state, over a million people in the state of Missouri, working class people, are getting Medicaid benefits where their kids are, and the vast majority of them are working. And nobody can afford private health insurance. That's the underlying issue here that I think we've got to be real clear on and confront. This is why the president, I mean, I just talked to the president last night. He said to me, and I quote, ''Josh, don't touch Medicaid.'' And that's what he's getting at there. I mean he's right about that. I agree with them 100%. But work requirements, illegal immigrants on Medicaid, that's absurd, that's ridiculous. There's all kinds of fraud in every federal program. We should root that out. So I think there's lots we can do to make sure that it is truly working folks who need it, who deserve it, who qualify for it, can get it. And listen, if we're looking for stuff to cut, we could start with Joe Biden's budgets from the last four years. Like I said, about $4 trillion in new spending, almost none of which is good for America. That's where I'd go. Ben Domenech: You know, when it comes to the issue of cutting spending, we obviously saw the way that Elon must change the conversation with Doge here in Washington. But now, what really matters going forward is making sure that cuts like that are permanent, as opposed to just something that happens briefly, and then the bureaucracy inevitably claws back that money they believe to be rightfully theirs that those greedy taxpayers are holding onto. Can be done to make sure that those cuts are made more permanent and not just something that goes away in under the change of an administration Sen. Hawley: Well, you can do the kind of structural reform that I think the president is pursuing. I mean, take USAID, where Musk started, and then covered so much fraud and corruption and billions of dollars, billions wasted, you know, this is just in one fiscal year, So the president has overhauled USAID. He's pursuing that in a number of these agencies. That kind of structure reform to, frankly, root out the bureaucracy, to turn the deep state on its head, I think is absolutely necessary. And then, you know, Congress ultimately is going to have to come in in these budgets that we pass and follow suit here and say, again, we're not going to spend money on We're not gonna spend money transgender operas in Peru anymore. And we're doing that. And we are not going spend money in bureaucrats who don't show up to work and on federal buildings that are empty because all these bureaucrats are allegedly working from We're just not doing that anymore. And that, I think, is how you make it permanent. So you've got to pursue structural reform. President's right to target that. You've got to transform the whole shape of the bureaucracy. And you've got make these programs that Americans are paying so much money for, all the tax money that goes into these. You got to make them actually work and deliver and do stuff. You know, I mean, we've got, I think FEMA, for example, this is fresh in my mind, because in Missouri, we're grappling with huge natural disasters. You know, FEMA is such a catastrophe. I mean they don't get the relief you need. They don't get people on the ground. It takes forever to get them to do stuff. I kind of, those kind of bureaucracies, that has to change. There's got to be structural change there. Ben Domenech: Last question for you, Senator. I know that you care a great deal about the negative influence of China and the effect that it's had on higher education through its Confucius centers and things like that over the years. In terms of the president and the administration's policies toward higher ed at this moment, not just on the anti-Semitism question, what do you think about what they're doing so far and what do they need to be doing that they aren't yet? Sen. Hawley: Well, I think that using the hammer of federal funding is the right thing to do when it comes to compliance with Title IX, for example, and you've got universities that are still saying, oh, no, we're just going to go ahead and have biological men in women's sports and in women locker rooms. It's absurd. It's a violation of federal law. Whether we're talking about anti-Semitism on these campuses, as we were discussing earlier today, I mean, we need these campuses to come out. I'll give you an example. The president of Yale was in my office not long ago, begging, of course, for money, more money. And so I asked her, I said, what are you doing to protect Jewish students on your campus? She looked at me like I had three heads. And she said, What do you mean? And I said what do I mean? I mean that your campus has looked like a Nazi rally at various points for the last three years. Like what are doing? She couldn't name, I kid you not, she couldn't named one thing. Why are these campuses getting billions of dollars with their massive endowments when they're not following federal law, when they're promoting open anti-Semitism and open anti Americanism? So I think that the president's harder line is good. And ultimately, Ben, we've got to think about, do these colleges, should they really be able to get all of this money, including all this financial aid, and not be on the hook for it? I think universities should have to pay back at least part of student loans if their graduates can't go out and get jobs. I mean, the universities gobble up the money, pad their endowments, and walk away with it. I mean it's absurd, it's a racket, and I think we've gotta start holding them accountable. Ben Domenech: Absolutely. Thank you so much for taking the time to join me today. Senator, I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
CTV News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Anand ‘appalled' by deadly shooting of two Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C.
Anand 'appalled' by deadly shooting of two Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she is 'absolutely appalled and horrified' following the fatal shooting of two Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C.
