Hochul: Threats Against Jewish Cornell Students Made by ‘Terrorists’

On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN Newsnight,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) stated that those who made violent threats against Jewish students at Cornell University are “terrorists, because that’s exactly what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to terrorize a group of students,” and that there has been a particular increase in antisemitic incidents in the state.

Hochul said, “We have been working very closely with the FBI, who were brought in yesterday, working with our own New York State Intelligence Center, where we’re analyzing all these social media posts and trying to identify the culprit here. We’ll find this person. And I did call this individual or individuals terrorists, because that’s exactly what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to terrorize a group of students, who I visited today, and they want nothing more than just the chance to be left alone, hang out with their friends, go to classes, like every other college student. And yet, today, as a result of this, they’re afraid. And that’s just wrong, especially in a place like New York.”

She also stated that “we have seen an increase in antisemitism, in particular, but we have no tolerance for any hate crimes, any hate speech, whether it’s against Muslims or [the] LGBTQ community or racist or sexist, anti-Asian crimes, we are standing up strongly against that. But now this — the increase in antisemitism and those cases [has] gone up dramatically.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett