House Republicans back Netanyahu in comparing anti-Israel college protests to 1930s Germany
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew parallels between pro-Palestinian protests taking hold of U.S. universities and the rise to power of the Nazis in Germany.
Speaking in English in a video message on his X account, Netanyahu said “antisemitic mobs” have taken over U.S. colleges and that if they aren’t quickly condemned, the world could see a repeat of what happened in Germany in the 1930s.
“What’s happening in America’s college campuses is horrific,” Netanyahu said. “Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities. They call for the annihilation of Israel. They attack Jewish students. They attack Jewish faculty. This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s.”
“We’ve seen in history that antisemitic attacks were always preceded by vilification and slander,” he continued. “What is important now is for all of us, all of us who are interested and cherish our values and our civilization, to stand up together and to say enough is enough. We have to stop antisemitism because antisemitism is the canary in the coal mine. It always precedes larger conflagations that engulf the entire world.”
The remarks were reposted by the X account of the House Republicans and praised by several individual Republican lawmakers.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) said Netanyahu “is exactly right.”
“Mr. Prime Minister, @HouseGOP stands with you & Israel. Crush Hamas, save the hostages, & save your country,” he added.
“I agree with Prime Minister @netanyahu: Enough is enough,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) said. “There is NO place for antisemitism on our college campuses. The @HouseGOP stands with Israel and all Jewish students.”
The Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Husam Zomlot, decried Netanyahu’s remarks as “panicking,” saying the protests represented a turning point:
“Harvard students have now joined the Gaza encampment movement. And a panicking Netanyahu just released a video comparing student protests on US campuses to Nazi Germany. Netanyahu knows the tide is turning, and time is against him and his racist government. History is being made!”
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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) traveled to Columbia University on Wednesday with a delegation of House Republicans, where the most notable protest is taking place. He spoke with Jewish students and assured them that he was doing everything in his power to protect them.
While Netanyahu didn’t clarify if his remarks were referring to the preponderance of Nazi influence within Germany’s universities in the 1930s or antisemitic trends generally, the group drew much of its early support from universities. Historian Richard Evans noted in his The Coming of the Third Reich that “well before the end of the 1920s, the universities had become political hotbeds of the extreme right.”
