Bowman: ‘So-Called Pro-Israel Students’ Told Me Antisemitism at Columbia ‘Overblown’

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) said that, according to “so-called pro-Israel students” at Columbia that he met with when he visited campus last week, the antisemitism they have faced on campus “has been minimal, it has been overblown by the media. We have been uncomfortable, but we don’t feel unsafe. This is what I was told by them.” He also stated that Columbia is “a place for critical thinking, critical dialogue, critical discussion that makes us uncomfortable, but moves us forward.”

Bowman stated, “I also met with so-called pro-Israel students when I was there just to hear about the antisemitism that they have experienced, and they told me, it has been minimal, it has been overblown by the media. We have been uncomfortable, but we don’t feel unsafe. This is what I was told by them. And my goal, as a former educator, as a father of three, is to remind us all that Columbia is an institution of higher learning. It’s a place for critical thinking, critical dialogue, critical discussion that makes us uncomfortable, but moves us forward. Our kids are not being allowed to do it because we are over-militarizing our college campuses. And, to me, that’s completely unacceptable.”

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