A U.S. Senate hearing on anti-Semitism and hate crimes is being widely condemned for its own hate speech. Jewish, Muslim, and civil liberty leaders are outraged at the bigotry and hostility directed at an expert witness as she testified at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Sept. 17, according to the Washington Post. The line of questioning directed at her from Sen. John Kennedy was simply uninformed and thuggish, along with being a pretty good example of a hate crime.
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, and co-chair of the hate crimes task force of the Leadership Conference of Civil and Human Rights, is an expert on intolerance, and hate crimes in America. Kennedy started in: “You support Hamas, don’t you?” Berry answered that she was against all violence, including from Hamas or other foreign terrorist organizations, but that the assumption that an Arab-American would support these groups is the type of rhetoric that can lead to hate crimes. Her reply drew applause from the audience.
Kennedy, after hearing her state that she did not support Hamas but that she did support UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, kept insisting that she does support Hamas. He pressed again: “You support Hamas, don’t you? You support UNRWA and Hamas, don’t you?” The clueless Senator concluded his line of questioning, telling her to “hide your head in a bag.” The audience gasped.
Later, after Kennedy’s performance had ended, Berry was allowed to say: “It’s regrettable that I, as I sit here, have experienced the very issue that we’re attempting to deal with today.” She added that the experience was “very much an indication of the danger to our democratic institutions.”
Sheila Katz, chief executive officer of the National Council of Jewish Women, posted: “Heartbreaking scene at a Senate hearing on anti-Semitism, anti-Arab & anti-Muslim hate: the only Muslim witness faced biased questions about supporting Hamas & Hezbollah despite her clear condemnations. This hearing should combat hate, not perpetuate it. The Senate must do better.”
CODEPINK’s Medea Benjamin accused Kennedy of spewing hatred and bullying Berry, demanding the “Senate must censure Senator Kennedy for this blatant display of Islamophobia!”
