Political and Jewish leaders address anti-Semitism on Lowcountry campuses

DANIEL ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) – U.S. Senator Tim Scott and U.S. Representative Nancy Mace participated in a Lowcountry roundtable Monday evening aimed at addressing the problem of anti-Semitic speech on college campuses.

The two Republicans were joined by Duke Buckner, who is running for Congress; Jewish Rabbis Yossi Refson and Sholom Mimran; Jewish student representative Shabbat Kestenbaum and several college students from South Carolina.

State Representative Mark Smith moderated the panel at the Daniel Pointe Retirement Community, where students from the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina shared their experiences with anti-Semitism on campus

College of Charleston student Andrew Baxley said that since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, he has made public statements condemning the attack and was subsequently removed as secretary of a student group called Amnesty International , which focuses on…advocating for human rights.

Baxley said two of those posts included an article that read, “Anti-Semitic? Leave our country,” as well as a comment on an Instagram post by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley thanking her for calling Hamas a terrorist organization.

“If you are anti-Semitic, if you are against Jewish people, if you hate Jewish people, then you have no place here, you have no right to be here, especially on our college campuses,” Baxley said.

He also said that he was president of the College of Charleston College Democratic Group and that he immediately resigned from that position.

“After October 7th happened, I realized this. The far left is not fighting for you. The extreme left is not fighting for your rights. No. They are hateful and will spread that hate, and I have witnessed that through my dismissal from my position,” Baxley said.

Caroline Finch, a student at the University of South Carolina, said they are also facing issues on their campus.

“We have several Jewish professors under investigation for genocide allegations simply because they wore yellow pins or Israel pins in class,” Finch said.

Finch is president of a student group called Gamecocks for Israel. She said they were confronted by pro-Palestinian aggressors at their vigil on October 7 last year.

“We had two pro-Palestinian aggressors show up screaming at the idiots in the Anne Frank House, and at our rally on October 7, two aggressors showed up, tore down the Israeli flag, stepped on it and did exactly the same thing.” American flag right after,” Finch said.

Finch said the fight must end and that this hate does not belong on her college campus.

Mace said she couldn’t think of a better time to have this conversation, with Oct. 7 just days away. She said she was supposed to be in Israel on October 7, but the flights were canceled due to the current dangerous situation.

“We are waging a proxy war with the Iranian proxies, be it the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon, these things are happening and Israel is a tremendous ally of ours and I fully support them in their work.” What we do is to help them in the Middle East,” Mace said.

She said that hundreds of people in the community had registered for this event and therefore they had to limit the number of people they could accommodate due to the space in the room.

Scott said during the panel discussion that it is not a right to come to America on a college visa and spew hatred and genocide, and that it is a privilege to be on our nation’s college campuses.

“Anti-Semitism is disgusting,” he said. “Every single American should not just stand shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish community, we should stand in front of our Jewish community.”

World leaders discussed the importance of ensuring Jewish students can learn safely on their campuses during the panel discussion.

Rabbi Yossi Refson spoke about how hostilities had arisen on university campuses.

“To create an environment in which faithful students do not feel comfortable, and it is time for this country, built on faith, built on faith in God, to say, ‘No, no and no again'” said Refson.

Mace said college campuses should be a place where people can share their opinions, but that disagreeing with what a group says now leads to violence.

“While we want people to be able to express their opinions and beliefs, there is a limit, right?” said Mace. “Evoking genocide against Jews, burning things down, attacking physical buildings and people, stopping people from going to class.”

As for solutions to some of these problems, Mace and Smith said that when money flows to these universities, the universities have a responsibility to stop anti-Semitism on their campuses.

“Now the second level would be how do we ensure that the funding mechanism is always about the wallet, and if we’re subsidizing colleges and universities where this is happening, then let’s put an end to it,” Mace said.

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