Twenty-one Democratic U.S. Representatives on Monday signed a letter to Columbia University Trustees, calling for them to take substantive actions to quell the anti-Israel protests and antisemitism on campus or submit their resignations.
One signature was conspicuously absent from the letter: Columbia University graduate and Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin.
Slotkin received a master’s degree in international relations from CU in 2003. She is currently in the second year of her first Congressional term and is running this year to replace Michigan’s U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat who is retiring at the end of her term this year.
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Before holding public office, Slotkin, who is Jewish, worked as a Middle East analyst with the CIA and the Secretary of Defense, making her abstention from signing the Congressional letter even more curious.
But with a tight race developing between Slotkin and several challenger for Stabenow’s Senate seat, Slotkin may be wary of further alienating the 101,000 “uncommitted” Michigan primary voters who oppose President Joe Biden and other Democrat’s support of Israel in the current Middle East conflict. Southeast Michigan is home to the largest population of Middle Eastern immigrants in the U.S.
“Elissa Slotkin is so desperate to appease her Israel-hating base that she is refusing to condemn protestors who are literally aligning themselves with a terrorist organization,” National Republican Senate Committee spokeswoman Maggie Abboud said in a statement castigating Slotkin for not signing the letter.
The Midwesterner contacted Slotkin’s office by phone and email for comments on Monday morning, but received no response to the question why she did not sign on to the letter.
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The letter reads: “We, the undersigned, write to express our disappointed that, despite promises to do so, Columbia University has not yet disbanded the unauthorized and impermissible encampment of anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish activists on campus. As a result of this disruption on campus, supported by some faculty members, many students have been prevented from safely attending class, the main library, and from leaving their dorm rooms in an apparent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.”
After the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Slotkin released several statements in which she was unequivocally in support of Israel. By October 27, however, her tone changed significantly, saying that the U.S. role as Israel’s ally was to have “tough conversations” with them about their response to the attack.
Amid new developments in the Middle East, we must remember that being a good partner means having tough conversations – I’ve been pushing the @DeptofDefense to provide Israel with lessons we’ve learned & urge them to think strategically about their upcoming operations in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/MQ6BaeM3AS
— Rep. Elissa Slotkin (@RepSlotkin) October 27, 2023
By November 3, she was advocating for Israel to rein-in its response against Hamas.
Israel has a right to respond to the perpetrators of Hamas' terror attack. But being a good ally also means sharing the hard lessons from our own experiences from 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan — particularly for those of us so saw those wars up close. pic.twitter.com/ej1rGLo6ez
— Rep. Elissa Slotkin (@RepSlotkin) November 3, 2023
Slotkin also voted against censuring fellow Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Detroiter of Palestinian descent, who infamously repeated the phrase “from the river to the sea” that is interpreted as a call to annihilate Israel and its Jewish inhabitants.
Tonight, I voted against censuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib. My full statement: pic.twitter.com/52LFat01Sb
— Rep. Elissa Slotkin (@RepSlotkin) November 8, 2023
Also on Monday, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik issued a statement, saying the Ivy League school will “not divest” from Israel and asked encamped protestors on campus to “voluntarily disperse.”
Please visit the link to read the complete statement from President Shafik: https://t.co/aOqZVezkfe pic.twitter.com/G82lD4I9JS
— Columbia University (@Columbia) April 29, 2024
According to the letter, “For the past week, this encampment has been the breeding ground for antisemitic attacks on Jewish students, including hate speech, harassment, intimidation, and even threats of violence. Last weekend, a student held up a sign pointing to pro-Israel students that said “Al-Qa[ss]am’s next targets,’ referring to the military arm of Hamas, the foreign terrorist organization responsible for the atrocities of October 7, and for holding hostage innocent civilians – including Americans – in brutal captivity for nearly seven months. One of the protest leaders has previously declared, ‘Zionists – they are Nazis. They’re Nazis. They’re fascists. They’re supporters of genocide. Why would we want people who are supporters of genocide to live?’ and students routinely changed ‘from the river to the sea,’ which is a cry to eliminate Israel and all Jews within its borders.”
The letter concludes: “Those who violate the law cannot dictate the terms of the University’s ability to comply with that law. It is past time for the University to act decisively , disband the encampment, and ensure the safety and security of all of its students.
“The time for negotiation is over; the time for action is now. It is ultimately the responsibility of the Board of Trustees to act. If any Trustees are unwilling to do this, they should resign so that they can be replaced by individuals who will uphold the University’s legal obligations under Title VI.”