‘They Don’t Know Why They’re Protesting’: Nick Langworthy Condemns Anti-Israel Protests At Columbia

5/5/2024

On “Forbes Newsroom,” Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) was asked about the Anti-Israel protests at Columbia University and colleges nationwide.

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Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News. Joining me now is Congressman

00:04Nick Langworthy. Congressman, thank you so much for joining me.

00:07Thank you so much for having me, Brittany.

00:09Earlier this week, we saw police raid Columbia University after demonstrators

00:14took over Hamilton Hall on campus. This action resulted in over 100 arrests.

00:19So what's your reaction to what we've seen unfold on campuses across the country?

00:24And more importantly, Columbia, because Columbia is in New York, a state you represent.

00:31Well, I was very pleased to see the NYPD come in and take care of business because

00:37the American people have watched this unfold over the last week to 10 days, these protests

00:43on campuses. I mean, young people who have had their minds polluted into becoming sympathizers

00:49for terrorist organizations. It's misinformation that they're festering with. They don't know why

00:58they're protesting. In some of the video clips, it's really a sad commentary. But I think this

01:04is basically the manifestation of what we've seen come for some time, really, since October 7th.

01:10You have an anti-Semitism problem on America's campuses. You have very liberal professors that

01:15promote a culture that is downright anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and pro-Hamas. Now, you have these

01:25young people protesting for Gaza. We don't want to see any civilians hurt any more than have to be.

01:30But there's a horrible war going on that was brought on by the attacks of October 7th.

01:37We had a ceasefire on October 6th. There can be a ceasefire again if they can just return

01:42the hostages. But these young people that are so idealistic, that are just looking for a cause,

01:49they want to be a past generation that was fighting for civil rights in the United

01:54States, what their parents or grandparents were doing on campuses. And they're just so sadly

01:59mistaken. You're watching this privilege and these students that are going to

02:07colleges that cost $90,000, $100,000, and they think they're going to create unrest without

02:13consequences. I was very pleased to see the NYPD clean up that campus, arrest the perpetrators,

02:19and just get that entire assembly scattered. Because these people have woken up a silent

02:27majority in this country that are done with academia. They're done with what's happening

02:33on America's campuses. And it's time that we reclaim some of that. And I know my staff is

02:39working right now with me on looking for a legislative solution because we have foreign

02:44nationals in this country currently on a student visa that are out there spewing anti-Semitic

02:50rhetoric, anti-American rhetoric on our campuses. And I want a legislative solution to cancel those

02:57student visas for people that perpetrate this. Congressman, you bring up a really

03:02interesting point. And a lot of other people have brought it up as well, that we have seen

03:08protests on college campuses for decades now, anti-war, civil rights, amongst other things.

03:14How are these protests different from them? The difference here is, you know, when you start

03:20hearing someone chant from the river to the sea, that means the extermination of Jews.

03:24You know, this is code language. And some of it harkens back to the Holocaust. I mean, we're not,

03:31this is not fun and games. This isn't just, you know, you're upset that a war has escalated.

03:37They're calling for the destruction of the Israeli state. I just came back from Israel.

03:43I was there first five years ago. This trip was far different, you know, to see a country so

03:49transformed in the scars of the attacks. I mean, 1,100 plus brutally murdered in ways that we

03:57haven't seen, you know, since medieval times. You know, I've watched every minute of footage

04:03that Hamas put out there on October 7th. And I think all these kids, and I call them kids because

04:10they're not even acting like young adults, they need to go watch that footage and understand what

04:16they're even talking about. Because the horror that was inflicted on the Israeli people,

04:21and I had a chance to meet with hostage parents. I've had a chance to meet with and share a

04:27Shabbos dinner with a family that had three son-in-laws have to go off to war in the days

04:33following that. And to see, you know, anti-Semitic rhetoric coming out of, you know, children of

04:40privilege here in the United States on Ivy League campuses is a slap in the face of every American

04:46Jew, every family of a hostage, and we still have five American citizens held in Gaza right now,

04:55and pray every day that they're still alive. And this is not, you know, a Vietnam protest from,

05:05you know, 1968. This is a group of overprivileged young people looking for a cause,

05:13and they've been polluted by whether it's faculty or TikTok or whatever.

05:18They have, their young impressionable minds have been led to an area of anti-Semitism.

05:24You know, people calling for the eradication of Jews. If you filled in, you know,

05:31take Jew out and put any other ethnicity there, there'd be an automatic cancellation of that person.

05:38Their careers would be ended. There's a reason that these young people are wearing masks.

05:44They're not worried about COVID. They know what they're doing. And we need to get this

05:50wiped off America's college campuses. We should have a zero tolerance policy for this.

05:55Freedom of speech doesn't mean that you can call for the eradication of a race of people.

‘They Don’t Know Why They’re Protesting’: Nick Langworthy Condemns Anti-Israel Protests At Columbia

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