OPINION:
In 1790, as our nation was establishing the bedrock of our shared values and moral clarity, President George Washington penned a letter to the Jewish congregation. He reassured them that our new country would give bigotry no sanction, no assistance, to persecution. He said the children of Abraham would not live in fear.
Today, we see a failure to fulfill that promise. It has been eclipsed by a subhuman evil and the embrace of antisemitism — antisemitism that has been permitted to fester on the radical left wing of American politics.
On the campuses of our universities, you will find the adoption of pro-genocide and pro-Hamas mantras, the spreading of antisemitic propaganda, the prescription of “one solution” policies, and demonstrations praising Hamas’ unfathomable acts of terror.
You will also find Jewish students pleading for a sense of safety as they seek refuge in a barricaded library. The deafening silence from these universities enables voices that call for murder and mayhem, and they leave Jewish students with bated breath over fear for their lives.
At Cornell last week, we saw how conciliation leads to evil in the purest form, with coordinated online threats vowing to stab, shoot, rape and kill Jewish men and women on campus.
Yet this strain of evil is not contained to our universities. It extends all the way to the halls of Congress. It is found in the 15 radical Democrats that voted against condemning the Hamas attacks. It is found in Rep. Ilhan Omar’s anachronistic, antisemitic trope that the Jewish people have hypnotized the world. It is found in Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s pro-Hamas propaganda.
As several members of “the Squad” endorsed a worldwide economic war of aggression against Israel with the antisemitic boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, the left remained silent.
As Israel supporters are assaulted on our streets by radicals, liberals remain silent. As antisemitic crime spikes to a 400% increase nationwide, liberals remain silent.
If this were any other minority group, the far left would be apoplectic, and the media would be insatiable.
Progressives claim to be advocates of the safety and the rights of minorities, the oppressed and the marginalized. But when it comes to Jewish Americans who are hurting, they’re silent.
Make no mistake: There is no barrier stopping President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries from denouncing these disrupters and seeing their retribution. But they seem more offended by microaggressions than by mass murder.
The only thing in their way is their power. They would rather embrace antisemitism within their ranks than upset their liberal base. They would rather defend terrorism than betray “woke” ideology.
Proverbs says, he who justifies the wicked or condemns the righteous are an abomination to the Lord. There’s a point where cowardice becomes complicity. That point has since been passed.
Call antisemitism what it is: It’s wrong, plain and simple. It’s un-American, and it’s unacceptable. Our nation deserves better, and our Jewish community deserves better. America, stand up and do what’s right. Don’t let our friends in the community have to defend themselves.
We have to cut out the rot of antisemitism from our society — we need cultural chemotherapy to fight this cancer. We need a new president and an administration that does not wane in their support for Israel.
A president that won’t send pallets of cash and unrequited love to a bloodstained Iran.
A president who sends a clear message to anti-Israel agitators.
To those students who advocate murder and terrorism, you will be expelled from campus. To those students on a foreign visa who call for genocide, you will be deported. To any university that lets itself become a megaphone for evil, you will lose every dime of federal money.
Anybody who marches through the streets applauding the killing of Americans and Israelis, you will be considered unemployable. And any member of Congress who gives an ounce of aid, comfort or support to terrorist killers through their words, actions or affiliations, you will be deposed for the violation of your oath of office.
To those who question who will stand in the gap for the Jewish people? I will stand in the gap for the Jewish people. I will stand alone. I will stand with a hundred. I will not let Israel stand by itself.
I have faith that good will triumph and evil will fail. Hamas and its allies will feel the wrath of God, and they may meet it with some American military hardware.
In Genesis, God creates light, and he calls it good, and he divides the light from the darkness. That is our mission. That is our charge. That is the blessing we can be to the world. We can separate the darkness from the light. We can call evil by its name and overcome it.
• Tim Scott has served as the junior U.S. senator from South Carolina since 2013 and is running for the Republican presidential nomination.
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