[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 15, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3797-H3798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THIS HOUSE IS NOT IN ORDER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Zeldin) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ZELDIN. Madam Speaker, this Chamber is going in the wrong 
direction in the effort to combat the BDS movement, to combat anti-
Israel hate, to combat anti-Semitism.
  I went through kindergarten through 12th grade, college, law school, 
4 years of Active Duty. I never once experienced anti-Semitism. But now 
I hear countless stories all across our country and college campuses 
today. It is infiltrating American politics, college campuses, and the 
Halls of Congress.
  We need to do something about it, not just send a strong message, 
which is important, but actually pass something with teeth to do 
something about it.
  One of my colleagues from Michigan gave a talk last Friday, gave an 
interview. She was asked about her support for a one-state solution 
that would remove Jews from power in their own country, in Israel. Her 
response was that the Holocaust gives her a calming feeling because of 
the safe haven that the Palestinians provided to Jews.
  Now, that happens to be the opposite of factually accurate. But then, 
if you have any problem with those words, that makes you automatically 
an Islamophobe and a racist idiot, according to the person who had said 
that.
  Then the Speaker of the House is calling for us to come to the floor 
and apologize to Ms. Tlaib.
  Well, here I am. My apology is for everyone who is insulted across 
America

[[Page H3798]]

that we passed a watered-down, spineless resolution, after countless 
acts of anti-Semitism by another Member, that does not name names.
  I apologize to everyone across this country expecting this House to 
act. We failed them.
  The students at the University of California who had to read the 
posting: ``Gas them, burn them, and dismantle their power structure. 
Humanity cannot progress with the parasitic Jew.''
  The founder of BDS was blatantly anti-Semitic. Take his own words: 
``No Palestinian--rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian--will 
ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.''
  Or this other quote: ``We are witnessing the rapid demise of Zionism, 
and nothing can be done to save it, for Zionism is intent on killing 
itself. I, for one, support euthanasia.''
  Or we could take this quote: ``Many of the methods of collective and 
individual `punishment' meted out to Palestinian civilians at the hands 
of young, racist, often sadistic and ever impervious Israeli soldiers . 
. . are reminiscent of common Nazi practices against the Jews.'' This 
is the founder of the BDS movement.
  You want an apology, Madam Speaker? Well, how about the students at 
Berkeley who sit in the classroom and the maps that go up on the board? 
Where it is supposed to say Israel, it says Palestine. Or the students 
in Michigan whose professor refused to sign off on a letter of 
recommendation because the student wanted to study abroad in Israel.
  This past Thursday, we had an imam give the opening prayer here 
before this Chamber. This imam--a simple Google search, by the way, in 
the vetting would have come up with the background, and it is a long 
list--is not just a supporter of the BDS movement but has compared the 
Israelis to the Nazis, called the Israelis a terrorist regime, called 
for a third Palestinian intifada, and posted in support of the Muslim 
Brotherhood.
  I mentioned earlier one of my colleagues who had multiple anti-
Semitic postings. One started with: ``Israel has hypnotized the world, 
may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of 
Israel''; or saying that if you support Israel, then you must have been 
bought off by Jews; or when she said if you support the U.S-Israel 
relationship, then you must have pledged your allegiance to a foreign 
power.
  You want an apology, Madam Speaker? How about the students at Warren 
Wilson College who had a speaker tell them Jews are doing the same 
thing to the Palestinians as the Nazis did to the Jews?
  Students from coast to coast all across this entire country are 
expecting, demanding, this House to act.
  Now, you could go to the Twitter account of Ms. Tlaib. You will see 
over the course of the last few days postings from Tamika Mallory and 
fellow organizer Linda Sarsour.
  Tamika Mallory says that Louis Farrakhan is the ``greatest of all 
time,'' Louis Farrakhan, the same guy who said: ``So when they talk 
about Farrakhan, call me a hater, you do what they do, call me an anti-
Semite. Stop it, I'm anti-Termite''; or, ``Satanic Jews have infected 
the whole world with poison and deceit''; or what he said about Adolf 
Hitler of Nazi Germany, who was responsible for murdering 6 million 
Jewish people and millions of others, ``He was a very great man.''
  We have Members of this Chamber who have associated themselves with 
Farrakhan, not just Tamika Mallory.
  I mentioned Linda Sarsour. She said: ``Only Jews . . . are the ones 
that condone violence against Arabs and are cool with mosques being 
attacked.''
  We have an issue in this Chamber, and we need to do something about 
it, not mask it, not empower it, not elevate it. It must be identified 
and crushed.
  And no, Madam Speaker, I am not coming to this floor and apologizing 
to my colleagues who push it. I will apologize to everyone across this 
country offended by the lack of action by the Speaker.
  Madam Speaker, your House is not in order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their 
remarks to the Chair and not to a perceived viewing audience.

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