Senator Josh Hawley is calling on the Justice Department to investigate whether college student groups that supported Hamas following its deadly terrorist attack on Israel are receiving funding from the jihadist group.
Hawley (R-Mo.), 43, stated in a Monday letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland that it is “entirely possible that many of these student organizations” received or transferred funds as part of a terrorist network.
“In the wake of Hamas’ brutal terrorist attacks against Israel, we have witnessed an alarming rise in support for violence against the Jewish people,” Hawley wrote.
“Public reports indicate that several far-left student groups have lined up to effectively applaud Hamas’s genocidal war against the people of Israel,” he added, pointing to recent pronouncements and demonstrations at Harvard, UCLA, Columbia and the University of Virginia.
At UCLA, protesters called for an “intifada,” or violent uprising, against Jews.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is calling on the Justice Department to investigate whether anti-Semitic college student groups are receiving funding from Hamas. AP The senator is asking Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate whether student groups receive or transfer funds as part of a terrorist network. AFP via Getty Images
At UVA, the university chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine celebrated the Oct. 7 massacre of more than 1,300 people in southern Israel, including at least 30 Americans.
Hawley also cited a letter from 34 Harvard student organizations stating that Israel was “entirely responsible” for the violence Hamas perpetrated against Jews, as well as the assault of a Jewish student at Columbia by a pro-Palestinian student.
“These student organizations are apparently lobbying in support of the murder of innocent people, including children and babies,” Hawley wrote. “They are threatening American Jews within our cities. And they are doing it in what appears to be a coordinated manner.”
Hawley cited an assault on a Jewish student at Columbia University by an apparently pro-Palestinian student, among other incidents on American college campuses in the wake of the attack.REUTERS
“There is a long, sordid history of supposedly independent ‘human rights’ groups operating within US borders and having long-standing ties to foreign terrorist organizations,” the senator added, noting that more than a decade ago, the Department Justice cut off funding to the Holy Land Foundation for Aid and Development and imprisoned its founders for transferring money to Hamas, an officially designated terrorist group.
Hawley said it was within Garland’s authority to seek financial information because any link would “threaten national security.”
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and six other Harvard alumni serving in Congress sent a letter to Harvard President Claudine Gay on Friday, asking her to resign for not denounce the “dangerous anti-Semitism” advocated by the groups.
“These student organizations are apparently lobbying to support the murder of innocent people, including children and babies,” Hawley said.Getty Images
“The Iranian-backed terrorist organization massacred more than 1,000 people on the first day of its attack, the largest loss of life for the Jewish community in a single day since the Holocaust,” wrote Stefanik and Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas). , Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) and Brian Mast (R-Fla.), as well as Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).
“Any voice that justifies the massacre of innocent women, children and babies has chosen the side of evil and terrorism,” they said. “Harvard University must publicly condemn this statement and make clear that it opposes violence against Israeli citizens.”
Gay condemned the “barbaric atrocities perpetrated by Hamas” but did not mention the statement by the university’s Palestinian Solidarity Committee, which blamed Israel’s “apartheid regime” for the horrific acts of violence.
The Missouri Republican told Garland that it was within the Justice Department’s authority to request the financial information because any link would “threaten national security.”
“Our university rejects the harassment or intimidation of people based on their beliefs,” Gay said. “That commitment extends even to opinions that many of us consider objectionable, even scandalous. “We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such opinions.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Israel on Campus Coalition has also called on American universities to end funding for all Students for Justice in Palestine chapters, according to Fox News, which first reported Hawley’s letter.
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