A newly unearthed video shows House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee plotting a draconian crackdown on criticism of Israel at U.S. colleges and universities, according to a new report from The Guardian.
As with The Federalist Society, AIPAC has faced criticism for aligning with conservative — even extremist — politicians, as well as wielding its wealth in dubious ways to help elect them. Frankly, this video will only fuel that criticism.
Here’s how The Guardian summarized Scalise’s plans in its report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News:
The offensive, which would be coordinated with the White House should Donald Trump win the presidential race in November, could even threaten the existence of universities, Scalise warned. He talked about revoking accreditation, the system by which higher education institutions are approved and to which the bulk of federal funds are tied. “Your accreditation is on the line,” Scalise said. “You’re not playing games anymore, or else you’re not a school anymore.”
Disturbing details and stunning quotes abound in The Guardian’s account of this meeting, in which the outlet said there was “no attempt during the hour-long conversation to distinguish hatred of Jews from pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli government sentiments.” The Guardian published a little more than a minute of the video.
Antisemitism is, to be clear, horrendous bigotry. Republicans, however, have been eager to conflate antisemitism with criticism of Israel’s far-right, Trump-friendly government. And they’ve been more eager to extract political benefits from that framing.
Republicans, however, have been eager to conflate antisemitism with criticism of Israel’s far-right, Trump-friendly government.
For example, The Guardian reported that the video shows Scalise, who is not Jewish, saying that Jewish students who participate in pro-Palestinian protests “just feel guilty that they’re alive. I don’t know how you’re brought up to where you feel, ‘I’m a Jewish student, and I’m on the side with terrorists who want to kill me.’”
He applauded AIPAC for having “tentacles throughout the Republican and Democrat circles in 435 districts,” before adding: “You can see how people are voting — just put the pressure on those who are voting the wrong way.”
And along with potentially stripping accreditation from schools that are “violating the civil rights” of their students, Scalise vowed that a Trump administration could also manipulate federal agencies to deprive schools of money:
We’re looking at federal money, the federal grants that go through the science committee, student loans. You have a lot of jurisdiction as president, with all of these different agencies that are involving billions of dollars, some cases a billion alone going to one school.
Rep. Pat Fallon, a Texas Republican who The Guardian reported was also in attendance, is quoted as thanking AIPAC for “firing Jamaal Bowman, and even more so, Miss Cori Bush. Great work.” (The two House Democrats, from New York and Missouri, respectively, lost their primary races earlier this year.) The Guardian reported that that Scalise, Fallon and AIPAC did not immediately respond to its requests for comment. Conservatives are crusading against ideological independence on college campuses, as Rachel Maddow explained in her opening segment last week. Trump has vowed to weaponize the accreditation system if elected. His running mate, JD Vance, has proclaimed that universities and professors are “the enemy.” And this report by The Guardian seemingly shows how House Republicans are willing to use criticism of Israel to power this crusade at the federal level.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. Recommended
