Senator Josh Hawley asked the Justice Department to investigate whether a group of university students who supported Hamas in the wake of its deadly terror attacks on Israel received funding from the jihadist group.
Hawley (R-Mo.), 43, alleged in a letter Monday to Attorney General Merrick Garland that “it is very possible that many of these student organizations” received or transferred funds as part of a terrorist network.
“In the wake of the brutal terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel, we have seen an alarming increase in support for violence against Jews,” Hawley wrote.
“Public reports indicate that several left-wing student groups have lined up to effectively fuel Hamas’ genocidal war against the Israeli people,” he added, noting recent announcements 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.) asked the Justice Department to investigate whether an antisemitic university student group received funding from Hamas.AP The senator asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate whether the student group received or transferred funds as part of a terrorist network. AFP via Getty Images
At UVA, the university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine celebrated the Oct. 7 killings. over 1,300 people in southern Israel, including at least 30 Americans.
Hawley also cited a letter from 34 student organizations at Harvard that claimed Israel was “fully responsible” for Hamas’s violence against Jews, as well as the attack on a Jewish student at Columbia by pro-Palestinian students.
“This student organization appears to be lobbying in support of the killing of innocent people, including children and infants,” Hawley wrote. “They are threatening American Jews in our city. And they did it in an apparently coordinated way.”
Hawley cited the attack on a Jewish student at Columbia University by an avowedly pro-Palestinian student, among other incidents on US university campuses in the wake of the attack.REUTERS
“There is a long and sordid history of so-called independent ‘human rights’ groups operating within American borders, which have longstanding ties to foreign terrorist organizations,” the senator added, noting that more than a decade ago, the DOJ cut funding to the Holy Land Foundation for Aid and Development and jailed its founder for transferring money to Hamas, the officially designated terrorist group.
Hawley said it was within Garland’s power to obtain the financial information because any contact would “threaten national security.”
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and six other Harvard alumni who serve in Congress on Friday sent a letter to Harvard president Claudine Gay calling for her resignation for not denouncing the “dangerous antisemitism” the group supports.
“This student organization appears to be lobbying in support of the killing of innocent people, including children and babies,” Hawley said.Getty Images
“The Iranian-backed terrorist organization killed more than 1,000 people in the first day of their attack, the largest single-day loss of life for the Jewish community 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 gives reasons for slaughtering innocent women, children, and babies has chosen the side of evil and violence,” they said. “Harvard University must publicly condemn this statement and make it clear that it opposes violence against Israelis.”
Gay condemned the “barbaric atrocities committed by Hamas” but did not mention a statement from the university’s Palestine Solidarity Committee, which blamed Israel’s “apartheid regime” for the horrific act of violence.
The Missouri Republican told Garland that it was within the DOJ’s authority to request financial information because any contact would “threaten national security.” Reuters
“Our university rejects harassment or intimidation of individuals based on their beliefs,” Gay said. “The commitment covers views that most of us find unpleasant, even outrageous. We do not punish or punish people for expressing such views.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Israel Campus Coalition has also called on US universities to end funding for all chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, according to Fox News, which first reported Hawley’s letter.
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