At last Thursday's Senate Health Committee hearing, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) spoke to witnesses about combating antisemitism on college campuses.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Senator Marshall.
00:02Senator Baldwin, I assume I don't have your list over here.
00:09Are you next?
00:10I was not here at the gavel.
00:11Oh, good.
00:12Then Senator Hassan.
00:14Hate to admit that.
00:19Good morning.
00:20Thank you all for being here.
00:21I want to thank the chair and the ranking member
00:24for this hearing today.
00:27Before I turn to my questions, I want
00:29to say a few words regarding the alarming and disturbing
00:32anti-Semitism that we are seeing across the country.
00:35Vigorous debates regarding foreign policy
00:37are constitutionally protected.
00:39But too often, since October 7th,
00:42when Hamas attacked Israel, these debates and protests
00:46have veered into both implicit and explicit anti-Semitism.
00:50Across the country, Jewish centers on campus
00:52have been protested and vandalized,
00:54and Jewish faculty and administrators
00:56have been targeted.
00:57At one school, Jewish students had
00:59to be escorted by security to escape a mob.
01:04And too often during protests, we've
01:05heard chants and slogans that justify and even celebrate
01:09Hamas's violence, or heard speakers
01:11deny Hamas's atrocities, including the atrocity
01:15of sexual violence.
01:16There is no legal right to threaten
01:19the safety of any student.
01:21Even if someone has a legal right to say hateful words,
01:26it's still wrong to say them.
01:28And the rest of us have the right and responsibility
01:31to condemn them.
01:32Denouncing anti-Semitism should not be a partisan issue.
01:36Whether by torchlight in Charlottesville
01:39or on the quads of our universities,
01:41anti-Semitism is always, always wrong,
01:44and entirely at odds with what our country is supposed to be,
01:49what people like my dad, who served in World War II,
01:52knew America could be.
01:54The fact that we are seeing this kind of anti-Semitism
01:57in today's day and age is shameful and a reminder,
02:00obviously, that we need to do much, much better.
02:03Because extremism, no matter what fringe it comes from,
02:06doesn't go away on its own.
02:09And frankly, on this issue and others in our politics today,
02:13I do fear that the further we are removed from World War II,
02:16the more likely we are to forget the lessons that many
02:19paid a terrible price for all of us to learn.
02:25I was going to ask the same question that Senator Murray
02:27did about the Office of Civil Rights
02:30at the Department of Education, an incredibly important office.
02:34I was grateful, Rabbi, for your description
02:38of how it has been undermined and what
02:41the impact of that will be, and Mr. Stern, yours as well.
02:44It's an incredibly important tool.
02:46It is extremely disappointing, more than disappointing.
02:51It is wrong that this administration
02:53has worked to undermine it so quickly and so strongly.
02:57And it is at odds with the administration's rhetoric
03:01about wanting to do something about anti-Semitism
03:04on our campuses.
03:05But I do have a couple of other questions.
03:07And Rabbi Saperstein, I want to start with you.
03:10In your testimony, you highlight the importance
03:12of strengthening resources for security
03:15of our religious and communal institutions.
03:17We've made progress in recent years
03:19by creating the Nonprofit Security Grant
03:21Program at the Department of Homeland Security,
03:24which helps to address the security
03:26needs at houses of worship.
03:27But there's still more work to do.
03:29Senator Johnson and I have a bill
03:31called the Pray Safe Act, which would establish a federal
03:34clearinghouse through which faith-based organizations,
03:37houses of worship, and other nonprofits
03:39could access information on safety and security
03:42best practices, available federal grant
03:44programs, and training opportunities.
03:46The Pray Safe Act passed out of the Senate Homeland Security
03:49and Governmental Affairs Committee by unanimous consent
03:52last Congress.
03:53I invite my colleagues to work with me
03:55in getting it signed into law this Congress.
03:57Rabbi, can you speak to how a centralized,
04:00easy-to-navigate clearinghouse like this
04:02would help you and other faith leaders?
04:04And also, if there are other supports
04:06you'd like to see us work to provide,
04:09please comment on those.
04:10Well, thank you for your comments
04:11at the beginning about the state of where
04:14we are with anti-Semitism.
04:16Great with everyone.
04:17We're hearing things I never thought
04:19we would hear again after the Holocaust.
04:22We're seeing things I never thought
04:23I would see in my lifetime.
04:25So thank you so much for that.
04:27I spent much of my career working
04:29with the National Reform Jewish Movement, the largest
04:32movement I think I can speak for all of the movements,
04:35that that kind of clearinghouse is invaluable to us.
04:38We have nearly 900 synagogues around the country here.
04:43And they desperately need guidance.
04:45They desperately need to know what best practices are here.
04:49This is the safety that they have
04:51to worry about every single time they gather,
04:54every single time they pray, every single time they teach,
04:57every single time they provide social services
05:00to the community.
05:01So it would be an invaluable contribution.
05:03Well, I appreciate that very much.
05:05And I have very little time left.
05:08But I do just want to comment that one step I think
05:11we can take to counter the hate we are seeing
05:14is investing in Holocaust education programs
05:17so that our young people understand the evils that
05:19drive anti-Semitism.
05:21So I will submit a question for the record
05:24to you, Rabbi Shemtov, about the role
05:26that Holocaust education can play in fighting
05:29the spread of anti-Semitism.
05:33Should I answer?
05:34And for the record, I am.