Texas Lawmakers Call for Jewish Students’ Safety on College Campuses Amid Antisemitism

TEXAS — Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, told CBS News Texas that the Justice Department and the Department of Education should help ensure Jewish students’ safety on college campuses around the country, including Columbia University in New York City.

Both Cruz and Allred are running for the United States Senate in the fall, which is Texas’ flagship election.

Jewish students at Columbia and other campuses have reported being targeted and threatened by pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrations. At Columbia University, a rabbi advised roughly 300 students to stay at home until it was safe to return.

Some people screamed “death to Jews” as well as “death to Israel” and “death to the United States.”

CBS News Texas political correspondent Jack Fink met with Senator Cruz Wednesday evening, hours after hundreds of people were arrested on UT’s main campus in Austin for refusing to disperse when asked by police.

Travis County dropped all charges against the demonstrators.

Cruz urged the US Justice Department and the US Department of Education to take action. “Yes, yes, yes!” What is going on at our campuses is disgusting. This venomous antisemitism is completely unacceptable. We’re seeing it at Columbia, New York University, Yale, and, unfortunately, the University of Texas. We’re seeing extremist pro-Hamas protestors screaming in support of the Hamas terrorists who murdered 1200 people on October 7th and raped women and young girls.”

“This is good versus evil. It was quite distressing this weekend when the Orthodox Rabbi at Columbia sent out an email to all Jewish students on campus, telling them to go home and remain home since Columbia will not ensure their safety. That’s wrong. Cruz stated that if somebody threatens another student’s safety, they should be arrested, punished, expelled, and deported if they are not from America.

We met with Congressman Allred on Tuesday, a day before the protests at UT in Austin.

Allred feels that federal authorities should step in. “I believe so, I honestly do. I believe that there must be a local, state, and federal reaction at all levels to ensure that no one in the United States feels threatened for their physical safety or that they, as a community, are being targeted in a harmful fashion.

Allred said students have the right to protest, but what he witnessed at Columbia University was intolerable. “While people have the right to protest, chanting things that are genuinely antisemitic or threatening crosses a line that no longer constitutes a demonstration. It is now an aggressive action that infringes on the rights of another. That’s what I’ve seen on these college campuses, and to me, it’s gotten out of control,” Allred added.

“We have to get it back under control.”

Jack Fink also spoke with Cruz and Allred on their differing positions on the $95 billion foreign aid package for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. Their thoughts, as well as those of state lawmakers who disagree with UT’s response to the protests in Austin, will be featured on Sunday’s episode of Eye On Politics.

Independent Presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr. says he believes he will win in November, and explains why Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown and former Sheriff Lupe Valdez believe they are the stronger candidates in next month’s runoff election.

Eye On Politics airs and streams live on CBS News Texas at 7:30 a.m. on Sundays.