In an interview on CNN, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about the threat of antisemitism and responded to President Trump's crackdown on Harvard over the issue.
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00:00go at their peril. I want to turn to a book that you have recently written and is out. It is
00:06entitled Anti-Semitism in America, a Warning. You talk about anti-Semitism on the right,
00:12but you also address anti-Semitism within your own party. Here's part of what you wrote, quote,
00:18I worry also about the larger American left, which may look the other way and be too complacent or
00:24forgiving about those who exhibit anti-Semitism in their ranks. You say that's one of the
00:29biggest reasons you wrote this book. Well, I wrote the book to warn about anti-Semitism overall in
00:38America, on the left and on the right. We owe it. Conor Cruz O'Brien, the great Irish poet, said
00:44anti-Semitism is a light sleeper. And when there are times of trouble, as there are now, anti-Semitism
00:50raises its head. On the right, it's despicable and awful. I've experienced it myself when on the
00:57January 6th takeover. I was within 30 feet of these hooligans, and one of them said,
01:02there's the big Jew, let's get them. But we've also seen it on the left, not in the Democratic
01:06Party, but on the left. And we have seen things that we never used to see before. For instance,
01:13someone getting on a subway and saying, all the effing Zionists get off the subway. Jewish delis,
01:21which have nothing to do with Israel, having stones thrown through their windows. The head
01:27of the Brooklyn Museum, who's Jewish, but the Brooklyn Museum has nothing to do with Israel,
01:32a few blocks away from here where we're sitting, had red paint all over her. And I believe we have
01:37to alert America to anti-Semitism and teach them. That's why I wrote the book. The best antidote is
01:44for people to know the truth. Here's a terrifying fact that 25, 20 percent of people under 30 don't
01:51believe the Holocaust was a myth, and another 50 percent have never heard of it. We need an
01:56education. And my goal is to have this book read in the high schools and colleges across America,
02:02because I think it would just shatter the myths that are out there, which have always been below
02:07the surface and are popping up on the both the left and the right much too much.
02:11I want to read something else you wrote in your book. You wrote, at Harvard, my alma mater,
02:16more than 30 organizations signed a statement calling the Israeli regime entirely responsible
02:21for the attack. And the months since October 7th have brought too many examples, far too many,
02:27of overt anti-Semitism. American Jews being harassed, attacked, and villainized simply for being Jewish.
02:35President Trump, as you well know, says he's cracking down on Harvard and other universities
02:40because of their response, or lack thereof, to those anti-Semitic incidents that you're describing.
02:49How do you think he's doing with that?
02:51Right. Well, first, Harvard did not do enough to curb anti-Semitism. I've been vocal about that.
02:58But let me just say this. What Trump is doing goes way beyond anti-Semitism. He is going after these
03:05universities, like he's going after judges, like he's going after law firms, like he's going after
03:12the media, because he just doesn't, he's not, he doesn't believe in democracy. He thinks he's king,
03:21as he said. And he did this at Harvard. So seven, a bunch of us, Jewish senators, just sent a letter
03:27to the administration, saying, detail the specific incidents of anti-Semitism and why cutting money
03:35off to cancer research or to Alzheimer's research has anything to do with anti-Semitism. It doesn't.
03:43He is using anti-Semitism, and it's appropriate to go after specific incidents of anti-Semitism,
03:48as a pretext to hurt these great universities. It's going to hurt every American. It's going to hurt
03:54the kids at the universities who've had nothing to do with protesting, but it's also going to hurt
03:58the kind of medical research and other kinds of great research that is done at Harvard and other
04:03universities. So we sent him a very strong letter just the other day asking eight very strong questions
04:11about why this isn't just a pretext.