Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., chair of the House Republican Conference, center, is joined by fellow Republican leaders to talk to reporters about their plans to respond to student protests over the Israel-Hamas war, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. From left are Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Chair Stefanik, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

North Country Rep. Stefanik on Tuesday called for the president of Columbia University to be immediately removed after protesters at the college occupied a university building and barricaded it from the police while making demands that the university divest from Israel in response to its war in Gaza.

She has accused college presidents who have had pro-Palestinian protests on their campuses of caving to the “pro-Hamas mob.”

On Wednesday, she also helped the House pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act.

But while calling out antisemitism on college campuses on social media, Stefanik has used antisemitic language from conspiracy theories revolving around George Soros, who has been the target of neo-Nazis for many years, saying he is “trying to fund the downfall of America.”

In a letter to two Columbia University trustee co-chairs, Stefanik claims Columbia President Nemat Minouche Shafik “prevent(ed) NYPD from removing the encampment” of protestors who set up tents on campus.

She links to a New York Post article which only cited unnamed sources. At the time the article was written, Shafik had already had 100 protesters arrested and later called in NYPD in riot gear to arrest more.

Stefanik accused Shafik of appeasing protestors.

“This is a dereliction of duty. President Shafik has bent over backwards to appease antisemitic radicals and agitators who have sown chaos,” Stefanik said in her letter.

Stefanik said Columbia officials have “repeatedly extended deadlines” to negotiate with protestors.

“There can be no negotiations with self-proclaimed Hamas terrorists and their sympathizers,” she said.

Columbia University has made no agreements with the protestors yet, and the protests are ongoing.

“Students defending the barbaric actions of Hamas have chosen the side of terrorism,” Stefanik, a senior member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said in a statement.

A Columbia University student and an organizer of the protest has been suspended and banned from campus after a January video surfaced of him saying “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”

Many Jewish students who support Israel report being harassed or intimidated at these protests.

Stefanik said “unsanctioned mobs of antisemites … threaten their very existence” and that “the Far Left and university leaders have enabled this antisemitic hatred to fester and spread.”

Many protest organizers and attendees are Jewish, too. Jewish Voice for Peace also helped organize the Columbia University protest. The protests have largely been peaceful outside of arrests, though there have been fights at some. On Tuesday night, pro-Israel counter-protestors threw fireworks into a pro-Palestine protest at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“It’s wildly disturbing and unacceptable for Democrats and the mainstream media to downplay the threats of violence against our Jewish students and community members on college campuses across the country,” Stefanik said in an email to the Enterprise.

The college protestors are demanding their institutions divest from Israel and are broadly opposing the war in Gaza.

“Columbia has surrendered to the radical pro-Hamas antisemitic mob instead of securing campus and protecting Columbia’s Jewish students,” Stefanik said in a statement.

More than 1,200 protesters have been arrested nationally. Heavily armed riot police with batons, guns, tasers and tear gas have broken up encampments and violently arrested students and faculty. Some of these students have been suspended or expelled.

Stefanik praised Texas Governor Greg Abbott for sending in police to arrest 57 protesters at an unsanctioned but nonviolent University of Texas event, but all charges against these people have been dropped, citing a lack of probable cause.

“I will continue to use every resource available to hold these morally bankrupt campus leaders accountable,” Stefanik said in a statement.

She is pushing for arrested students on visas to be deported.

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Antisemitism, death threats in response to Stefanik post

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On April 26, reposting an article about how the wealthy Democratic donor George Soros was funding some of the campus protests, Stefanik wrote “George Soros is trying to fund the downfall of America.”

Soros, a Jewish man who grew up in Nazi-occupied Hungary, is a popular target for neo-Nazis. The idea that he is trying to destroy America is an antisemitic trope which has been cited in the 2022 Buffalo mass shooter’s manifesto, and by the 2018 Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooter, who shouted “All Jews must die,” before opening fire. It was also a conspiracy theory held by a man who mailed a pipe bomb to Soros’ home in 2018, which was discovered in the mail and detonated in the woods.

Below her post, in comments, people called for Soros to be banned from America, imprisoned or killed. One user posted a photo of Soros with gun sights on his face and asked “Is there a contract out on this c***?” Another wrote “There must be a way to hold him accountable. Most severely accountable.” Another said “DO SOMETHING ABOUT HIM.”

Stefanik did not answer any questions about this tweet, including if she felt responsible for the death threats in her comments and if her tweet contributed to antisemitism.

Stefanik was asked about why she calls Jan. 6 rioters like Matthew Beddingfield “hostages” while calling the college protestors “terrorist sympathizers.”

Beddingfield is currently in prison for attacking police with a metal flagpole at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot where he was also filmed doing a Nazi salute. In an online message, authorities quoted him as saying “the only tragedy that happened was that Hitler didn’t finish the job.” Beddingfield was out on bail for allegedly shooting a 17-year-old Hispanic male in a Walmart parking lot when he took part in the insurrection.

Stefanik did not respond to a question asking why she is supporting those arrested at the Jan. 6 riot who have used antisemitic language but criticizing college protestors.

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Antisemitism Awareness Act

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On Wednesday, Stefanik voted for the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act, saying it will force the “failed leadership” of universities like Columbia and her alma mater Harvard to “finally crack down on antisemitic violence and harassment.”

The act would require the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and its contemporary examples when enforcing anti-discrimination laws.

In a press release, Stefanik’s office says the IHRA definition of antisemitism “includes modern manifestations of antisemitism like justifying the killing of Jews and holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.”

“I’m proud to support this important legislation that will protect our brave Jewish students who are watching their campuses be taken over by unsanctioned mobs of antisemites,” Stefanik said in a statement.

Stefanik said this bill is based on a 2019 executive order from then-President Donald Trump, which included the IHRA’s definition in Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The new act passed the House 320 to 91. Opposition came from 70 Democrats and 21 Republicans. The American Civil Liberties Union also opposed the bill, saying federal law already prohibits antisemitic discrimination and harassment by federally funded entities and that the bill could “incorrectly equat(e) criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.”

The act will now need to be voted on by the Senate.

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that George Soros was born in Nazi Germany; he was born in Nazi-occupied Hungary. The Enterprise regrets the error.