At last Thursday's Senate Health Committee hearing, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) had a tense questioning of Dr. Charles Asher Small, Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism & Policy, over Qatar.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome, everybody, as well.
00:04Certainly, there's no doubt that 70% of Jewish students feel harassed.
00:09They feel threatened.
00:10And, unfortunately, I found that in my home state.
00:13At the University of Kansas, I went and sat down and visited with the Jewish students
00:17there.
00:18And when these riots and protests were going on, to Senator Collins' point, the leaders
00:24of the riots were actually teachers there, and graduate students, and outsiders showing
00:31them how to do this type of rioting.
00:33The students were being followed into their classrooms.
00:37The protesters, the class, maybe it was a class in Jewish history, and the protesters
00:41were inside the buildings, outside the class, harassing these students.
00:46And certainly, this is all very, very unacceptable.
00:51And I'm glad that we're proceeding this.
00:53I think there's a great opportunity for some type of an anti-Semitic commission going forward.
00:58This problem was happening 2,000 years ago.
01:01It's going to keep happening, and we need to keep this in mind, as well.
01:05I want to go to Dr. Small first.
01:08Dr. Small, what was Qatar's role in the hostage release of Americans?
01:13It's a good question.
01:16I'm not an expert at that level, but I know that the Qataris certainly were funding Hamas.
01:21They have very good relations.
01:22That's not my question.
01:24I'll answer the question for you.
01:26So the Qataris were vastly responsible for the freeing of American hostages and many others.
01:32Dr. Small, what was Qatar's role in the evacuation of Afghanistan, and especially how did it impact America?
01:42The Qatari regime has good relations with the Taliban, with the Iranian revolutionary regime, and Hamas.
01:46It's interesting, just the prejudice that I hear coming out of your mouth, here.
01:53Qatar was so important.
01:54Of the 120,000 people evacuated from Afghanistan, in our moment of need, Qatar stood beside us.
02:01Of the 120,000 removed, 60,000 of them came through Qatar.
02:06Without Qatar, we would have had thousands more deaths, as well.
02:10So I don't know why you won't answer that question.
02:13I want to think about just a little bit more objective, here.
02:18I'm going to say this century, in the past decade or so, Qatar has given about $5 billion to the educational institutions of America.
02:25And a vast majority of that, probably 80%, is setting up universities in Qatar.
02:30Whether it's Texas A&M and Engineering, Cornell and Medicine, a vast amount of that money is research-oriented, as well.
02:37Qatar's been a great ally to America, so I don't know why you're attacking them.
02:41And then, why don't you compare?
02:43So, China's given over $3 billion.
02:44The Saudis, $1.5 billion.
02:46UK, a billion.
02:48Germany, over a billion.
02:49So, why aren't we attacking them, as well?
02:52And I want you to answer this question.
02:56Two universities, heavily funded by Qatar, were Carnegie Mellon and VCU.
03:03Were there any large anti-Semitic riots or protests, there?
03:08So, this is a very important issue, and I would say ...
03:10So, were there any anti-Semitic riots or protests in VCU or Carnegie Mellon?
03:15The answer is no. So, the answer is no.
03:17So, they were vastly funded, but yet, there were no riots there.
03:20So, I don't understand why you're picking on the Qataris, here, when other people are funding.
03:25Take Texas and Texas A&M.
03:27Texas A&M has a university presence in Qatar.
03:32University of Texas doesn't.
03:34So, you would make the conclusion that Texas A&M was funded.
03:37But, UT is where the riots were.
03:39UT had nothing to do with Qatari funding, there.
03:42I don't know how causation doesn't ...
03:46What's my saying, here, that Senator Cassius uses all the time, here?
03:50What is it? Association is not necessarily causation.
03:53There you go. Association is not causation.
03:56So, I don't know why we're here fueling the fire.
04:00Not all Muslims are anti-Semitic.
04:05Not all Muslims are anti-American.
04:07And, here, we have a Muslim country that has stood beside America, for the most part, and they're not perfect.
04:13They're not perfect, but they help us get back hostages.
04:16They saved the day in Afghanistan. In so many ways, they've stood beside us.
04:22I think you're picking on them.
04:24I think you're coming to conclusions that are not well-founded.
04:28I think that that's called discrimination. I think it's prejudiced, as well.
04:32Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
04:33May I respond, please? May I answer the question?
04:36In 26 seconds.
04:37Pardon me?
04:40Well, I would just say that Qatar is a country with less than 350,000 citizens.
04:45They give more money to American universities than any country in the world.
04:49The greatest victims of political, radical Islam are Muslims.
04:54But, you're missing the rest of the story, though.
04:56This just continues the prejudice that you have.
04:59You don't mention China. You don't mention Saudi. You don't mention the UK.
05:03They all have significant donations, as well.
05:06Look, nobody is perfect.
05:08And, I know that you built your life on this one thing.
05:12But, no country is perfect.
05:13And, I'm as pro-Israel as any member is up here.
05:17I certainly recognize the anti-Semitism that's been around for over 2,000 years.
05:23I don't know why you want to make, to use an anti-Semitic term,
05:25I don't know why you want to make Qatar the scapegoat, here.
05:29Thank you. Thank you, Senator Marshall.
05:32Senator Baldwin.
05:36I assume, I don't have your list over here. Are you next?
05:40I was not here at the gavel.
05:41Oh, good. Then, Senator Hassan.
05:44Hate to admit that.