The Horse Race: Disgusted by Status Quo, GOP Presidential Candidates Ready to Use Government to Crack Down on Campus Antisemitism

with Brittany Bernstein

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Disgusted by Status Quo, GOP Presidential Candidates Ready to Use Government to Crack Down on Campus Antisemitism

Republican presidential candidates are grappling with how to stem the tide of campus antisemitism that reared its ugly head after Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1,400 Israelis in a surprise attack earlier this month.

The proposals put forward by the various candidates range in severity from rhetorical wrist slaps to the muscular use of government to strip funding from university groups that praise Hamas or even to deport foreign students who have publicly endorsed the terror group.

Senator Tim Scott (R., S.C.) said it was "devastating to see people in our own country marching and celebrating an absolute terrorist organization for the annihilation of our Jewish brothers and sisters."

"And I gotta tell you, if any of those students on college campuses are foreign nationals on a visa, they should be sent back to their country," Scott told The Sean Hannity Show last week. "Anyone who stands up and who says they want to kill Jews, they support terrorism. They should have that visa revoked."

Ron DeSantis is calling to deport foreign students who are "out there celebrating terrorism." The Florida governor vowed that, if elected, he would "cancel their visas and send them home."

Former president Donald Trump also said that, if elected again, he would revoke the student visas of "radical, anti-American and antisemitic foreigners."

In a statement to NR, Nikki Haley spokesman Ken Farnaso said the former South Carolina governor would also support revoking visas, along with other measures to combat antisemitism on campus.

"Make no mistake: Anti-Zionism is antisemitism and we need to root out this poison spreading across our campuses," Farnaso said. "As President, Nikki will cut federal funds to schools that don't crack down on antisemitism and anti-Zionism, investigate the funders of pro-Hamas student groups, deny and cancel visas for terrorist sympathizers, tackle DEI programs that have become hotbeds of antisemitism, among many other proposals."