CNN’s Bash: Antisemitism in U.S. ‘Hearkening Back to the 1930s in Europe’

CNN host Dana Bash said Wednesday on her show “Inside Politics” that the pro-Palestinian protesters harassing Jewish students on college campuses shows rising antisemitism in the United States, which she said was “hearkening back to the 1930s in Europe.”

Bash said, “We start with destruction, violence and hate on college campuses across the country. This was the scene just a short while ago at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Police clashing with protesters. Twelve people were arrested. Hours earlier, protests rocked the University of Arizona, where campus police used chemical irritant munitions to remove protesters. Around the same time, at UCLA, pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups were attacking each other, hurling all kinds of objects, a wood pallet, fireworks, parking cones, even a scooter. And before that, the NYPD was able to clear Columbia University after protesters barricaded themselves inside a campus building. Three hundred people were arrested at Columbia and City College of New York. But it is unclear how many were actually students. New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned this morning that professional outside agitators are getting involved.”

She continued, “Many of these protests started peacefully with legitimate questions about the war, but in many cases, they lost the plot. They’re calling for a ceasefire. Well, there was a ceasefire on October 6, the day before Hamas terrorists brutally murdered more than a thousand people inside Israel and took hundreds more as hostages. This hour, I’ll speak to an American-Israeli family whose son is still held captive by Hamas since that horrifying day that brought us to this moment. You don’t hear the pro-Palestinian protesters talking about that. We will now protesting the way the Israeli government, the Israeli prime minister, is prosecuting the retaliatory war against Hamas is one thing. Making Jewish students feel unsafe at their own schools is unacceptable, and it is happening way too much right now.”

After playing a clip of a Jewish student being blocked from entering UCLA, Bash said, “What you just saw is 2024, in Los Angeles, hearkening back to the 1930s in Europe. And I do not say that lightly. The fear among Jews in this country is palpable right now.”

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