US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks during the House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Sept. 30, 2021. Photo: Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) released a video over the weekend, calling for all American universities to adopt the official International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
In the video, Torres praised New York University (NYU) over their decision to “modernize” their hate speech policies by adding protections for students that identify as Zionist. Torres argued that these changes are necessary “in response to the increasingly complex and ever-evolving reality of campus antisemitism.” He called on university administrators nationwide emulate NYU and bolster protections for Jewish students.
“NYU’s decision to adopt a fuller understanding of antisemitism sets an example that others in academia should follow for the safety of their Jewish students,” Torres said.
Torres continued, calling antisemitism “an ancient virus that mutates over time.” He urged universities to be “nimble” in responding to the new iterations of antisemitism arising on their campuses. He asserted that antisemitism can manifest itself in hatred of Jews both “as a religion” and “as a nation.”
“Anti-Zionism and antisemitism are indeed intersectional, and cannot be so easily compartmentalized in the real world as they can be in academic spaces,” Torres said.
Torres argued that modern antisemites replace use “Zionist” as a replacement word for “Jew.” He added that discrimination against “Zionists” is indeed antisemitism in both “intent and effect.”
“Rejecting moral clarity about right and wrong does not weaken the academic enterprise; it strengthens it,” Torres added.
Torres has repeatedly lambasted universities for fostering a hostile environment for Jewish students in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel. He has called anti-Israel campus activists and academics “pseudo-intellectuals” and condemned them for peddling antisemitism in the name of social justice.
Universities across the country have been roiled by antisemitism controversies in the months following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. Columbia University student Khymani James, for example, publicly stated that Zionists “don’t deserve to live.” The Ivy League university has not confirmed if James has been permanently expelled from the campus. A mob of pro-Palestinian protesters held a demonstration in front of the City University of New York Hillel on Tuesday, shouting at Jewish students to get “out of the Middle East” and “go back to Brooklyn.”
Torres, a self-described progressive, has established himself as a stalwart ally of the Jewish state, especially in the months following the Hamas slaughter of roughly 1,200 people across southern Israel on Oct. 7. Torres has repeatedly defended Israel from unsubstantiated claims of committing “genocide” in Gaza. He has also consistently supported the continued shipment of American arms to help the Jewish state defend itself from Hamas terrorists. Torres has levied sharp criticism toward university administrators for allowing Jewish students to be threatened on campus without consequence.
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