Nancy Mace and Tim Scott to discuss anti-Semitism in colleges | News

DANIEL ISLAND — U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott will meet to discuss growing anti-Semitism at the nation’s universities at a forum a week before the year-long anniversary of the attack on Hamas militants against Israel on October 7. 2023, provoking a massive military response that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians and fighters.

Protests broke out on campuses across the country in the year following the start of the war. In the Palmetto State, several University of South Carolina students were arrested on campus earlier this year for altering pro-Palestinian slogans, before being released without charge.

The effects are also felt off campus. There has been a 193% increase in anti-Semitic incidents in South Carolina between 2021 and 2022, according to the Antidefamation League. And anti-Semitic propaganda in South Carolina residents’ neighborhoods has increased noticeably over the past year.

Mace and Scott will join Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Harvard alumnus who has become an advocate for Jewish students speaking out against anti-Semitism on college campuses, on stage at a Sept. 30 panel at Daniel Island. State Rep. Mark Smith, a Republican representing Berkeley County, will moderate the discussion.

Students from across South Carolina are expected to give testimonies that will highlight the issues Jewish students face. Lawmakers will also discuss potential solutions to ensure Jewish students feel safe while continuing their education, according to the event description.

“This conversation is long overdue,” Mace said in a statement. “We must confront the alarming rise in anti-Semitism and create environments in which all students feel safe, respected and valued, regardless of their religion. »

Interested parties can RSPV to receive the unreleased address.

The event comes just three weeks after dozens of state leaders in education and politics participated in a Sept. 9 conference on growing concerns about anti-Semitism on college campuses.

Representatives from each of the Palmetto State’s major institutions of higher learning met with Israeli government officials and figures such as Governor Henry McMaster, Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, Attorney General Alan Wilson and Anita Zucker, a billionaire philanthropist from Charleston whose daughter is a Holocaust survivor.

Wilson visited Israel shortly after the attacks. He said at the conference that the current political moment and the rhetoric of campus protests seen elsewhere reminded him of the environment that ultimately opened the door to the Nazi-led massacre of more than 6 million Jews during World War II. worldwide.

South Carolina’s leaders have long aligned themselves with the people of Israel. State Treasurer Curtis Loftis purchased $30 million in bonds held by Israel to support the war effort shortly after the October 7 attacks. And McMaster signed a bill in May enshrining the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism into South Carolina law.

As the first anniversary of the war approaches, Chabad of Charleston plans to host its own event. The Center for Jewish Life will cross the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge to remember the victims of the October 7, 2023 attacks and raise awareness of the plight of the hostages still held captive in Gaza.

The group is asking participants to meet at Mount Pleasant’s Waterfront Park, at the base of the bridge, at 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 6, to participate.