Teresa Leger Fernandez: “I would like to enter into the record, actually, my objection to this absurd attack on Democrats for pointing out that…”

“I would like to enter into the record, actually, my objection to this absurd attack on Democrats for pointing out that this bill has in the title ``anti-Semitism,'' but there are problems with it. We need to address anti-Semitism and look at the root causes. Instead, what are we doing? We are debating codifying a definition that numerous Jewish organizations, including Jewish Action, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and the New Israel Fund, among others, oppose. The reason these organizations oppose it is because we cannot equate criticism of Israeli policies with anti-Semitism. They are two very different things. We need to remember that we are constitutionally bound to protect free speech, even, and more importantly, when it is speech with which we do not agree. Yesterday, for example, in the Rules Committee hearing for this bill, Representative Fry called Prime Minister Netanyahu's work in Gaza remarkable. He praised it. I personally don't think it is remarkable that over 35,000 people, most of them children and women, are dead. I don't think it is remarkable that over 130 hostages are still not home. Netanyahu is being protested in his own country for these and many other things. I don't think it is remarkable that 27 kids have already died of malnutrition and that famine is imminent for 1.1 million Gazans. Saying none of this is anti-Semitic.…”