The Patriot Post® · Mike Johnson Rebukes Columbia's Anti-Semites

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s name is mud. Left-wingers hate him because he’s a “Christian nationalist,” which is their new favorite pejorative for conservatives they want to paint as Nazis. And now a lot of right-wingers hate him because he failed to command his scant House majority herd of Republican cats to somehow outflank Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer to secure our southern border before sending more money to Ukraine.

As Elrond lamented in “The Fellowship of the Ring” movie, “Our list of allies grows thin.”

Nevertheless, Johnson and a cohort of Republicans traveled to Columbia University in New York to take on the vile anti-Semitic hordes of George Soros-funded “protesters” who’ve taken over the campus with their matching tents, blocked certain areas to access even for journalists, and effectively forced Jewish students into hiding. This is true at numerous other college campuses, too.

For the record, there’s a big difference between opposing Israel’s military action or U.S. funding for Israel and calling for the persecution and death of Jews and the eradication of Israel.

With that in mind, Speaker Johnson, who steered a bipartisan $26 billion aid package for Israel through the House this past weekend, gave a speech at Barack Obama’s alma mater, and what he had to say should be unifying.

We are standing here right now on the steps of the Low Library. In this very building right behind us, Columbia University once awarded Winston Churchill an honorary degree, and it was Churchill who said, “It is manifestly right that Jews should have a national home where they may be reunited.” We believe in that principle, and today, I’m here to proclaim to all those who gnash their teeth and demand to wipe the state of Israel off the map and attack our innocent Jewish students this simple truth: Neither Israel nor these Jewish students on this campus will ever stand alone.

Today, Hamas issued an endorsement statement of the protesters on this campus. They called them the future leaders of America. It is detestable. All of this has to be said because the cherished traditions of this university are being overtaken right now by radical and extreme ideologies. They place a target on the backs of Jewish students in the United States, and here on this campus, a growing number of students have chanted in support of terrorists. They have chased down Jewish students. They have mocked them and reviled them. They have shouted racial epithets. They have screamed at those who bear the Star of David.

They have told Jewish students who wear the Star of David to leave the country, and shamefully, some professors and faculty have joined the mobs. Things have gotten so out of control that the school has canceled in-person classes, and now they’ve come up with this hybrid model where they will discriminate against Jewish students. They’re not allowed to come to class anymore for fear of their lives. And it’s detestable.

Indeed, the anti-Semitic hatred on the Left is reminiscent of 1930s Germany and reveals who the real Nazis in America are.

Johnson went on to provide plenty of other details about these students’ awful and criminal behavior, saying, “Those who are perpetrating this violence should be arrested.” And, I might add, expelled from these schools. He ultimately called for the resignation of Columbia President Minouche Shafik “if she cannot immediately bring order to this chaos.” She has so far already failed to enforce one order for the encamped protesters to disband.

Naturally, Johnson was greeted by students chanting Hamas’s genocidal slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” as well as yelling “Get off our campus! and "Mike, you suck!”

On social media, Johnson was greeted by people ridiculously comparing him to Nancy Pelosi and demanding his resignation.

Then there’s The Washington Post, which headlined his speech this way: “Rare visit by House speaker to campus escalates tension at Columbia” (emphasis added). I don’t remember that kind of reaction when Joe Biden gave that angry and hateful speech in front of the Nazi-esque backdrop in 2022.

It’s true that the Right has its fringe elements of anti-Semitism, such as the tiki-torch mob who showed up at that infamous 2019 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. But the anti-Semites of the Left are members of Congress and control American universities and other powerful institutions. Joe Biden effectively said they’re very fine people.

Think what you will about Johnson’s strategy and tactics on government spending and priorities, but there’s no question he’s on the right side of the divide on these “protests.”