Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) called upon the FBI to investigate what they said are terrorist threats by the student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
“The time to act is now,” the lawmakers wrote. “Rarely has the FBI had such public and obvious evidence of potentially imminent violence.”
According to the lawmakers, “it’s rare for potential perpetrators of violence, particularly school-based violence, to widely and publicly broadcast their intent in such a way as it becomes national news.”
“But that’s exactly what the Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups, did on Oct. 8, 2024,” they stated. “These violent threats demand immediate attention and a thorough investigation to prevent any acts of terrorism.”
Among the statements from the student group that lawmakers cited were references to “celebrating the Oct. 7 attacks” and referring to the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, as a “moral, military and political victory.”
“Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists,” Khymani James, a member of the student group, said in April. The group issued an apology in his name, which the student said he didn’t write. The group rescinded that apology.
“In light of the considerable violence occurring for which this group is already responsible, and Columbia University’s inability and unwillingness to police its own campus necessitating it to request the NYPD intervene, federal intervention is now necessary,” the lawmakers wrote.
Both lawmakers have long histories combating Jew-hatred. Stefanik has been one of the most vocal critics in Congress of campus antisemitism.
