U.S. House passes Kelly-backed resolution condemning pro-terror, antisemitic groups on American campuses
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Thursday, the U.S. House passed a resolution, introduced by Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) and supported by Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), which condemns the support of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations at American institutions of higher education which have created a hostile environment for Jewish students, faculty, and staff.
The resolution passed 396-23. The vote follows a series of antisemitic messages and anti-Jewish death threats on college campuses nationwide in recent weeks since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the terror group Hamas. Notably, this week at New York's Cornell University in which a 21-year-old engineering student was arrested and named in a federal complaint charging him with posting threats to kill or injure Jewish people, according to reports.
"The antisemitic hate toward Jewish students and staff at college campuses is unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms," Rep. Kelly said. "We must call out these threats for what they are: hate speech. Students of all backgrounds and religious beliefs deserve to feel safe on college campuses in Western Pennsylvania and across the United States. The brutal and barbaric actions we have seen Hamas take against Israel and the Jewish people are acts of terrorism -- nothing less."
“I never thought I’d see American students celebrate a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people,” said Rep. Owens, Chairman of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee. “Elite institutions have failed their students and alumni by offering inadequate statements of condemnation. This has exposed the deep rot of antisemitism in our higher education system, from statements placing blame solely on Israel for the atrocities of Hamas to demonstrations glorifying mass murder, rape, torture, and kidnapping. It is not nuanced or difficult to stand against terror.”