Rachel Goldberg joins ‘FOX & Friends Weekend’ on her upcoming meeting with U.S. senators in Israel and what she knows from eyewitness accounts about her son. FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday morning calling for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate potential financial ties between anti-Israel student groups on college campuses and the Islamic militant group Hamas. In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel, there has been a concerning rise in support for violence against the Jewish people, as highlighted by Hawley.
Public reports indicate that several far-left student groups, including Harvard, University of California, Los Angeles, Columbia University, and the University of Virginia, have aligned themselves with Hamas and expressed support for its genocidal war against Israel. Hawley specifically mentioned Harvard, where 34 student groups wrote a letter blaming the “Israeli regime” for the ongoing violence in Israel. These student organizations argue that the events did not occur “in a vacuum” and reject Israel’s portrayal as a victim.
The situation escalated when an Israeli student at Columbia University was attacked by an alleged pro-Palestinian student, leading to the closure of the campus to the public. Hawley emphasized that such incidents are not isolated and appear to be coordinated efforts to intimidate and threaten Jewish Americans. Student groups at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Virginia also expressed their rejection of Israel’s framing as a victim and called for a free Palestine.
Hawley’s letter to the attorney general calls for an investigation into the funding of these student groups by third-party organizations and their potential ties, both financial and ideological, to Hamas. While acknowledging the First Amendment’s protection of the right to protest, Hawley emphasizes that it does not protect the provision of material support to terrorist organizations or financial transactions that pose a threat to national security.
This call for investigation comes in the aftermath of Hamas’ recent deadly attacks on Israel and a letter from the Israel on Campus Coalition, a group of national Jewish organizations, demanding universities to withdraw their support and funding for the activist group Students for Justice in Palestine. Digital reached out to the attorney general’s office and Students for Justice in Palestine for comment, but no response has been received at the time of publication.
It is important to note that this article presents the perspective of Sen. Josh Hawley and focuses on his concerns regarding anti-Israel student groups on college campuses. The claims made in the article have not been independently verified.
