House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has visited Columbia University and blasted the pro-Hamas protesters who have set up camp on the prestigious school’s campus.
Johnson delivered a speech during his visit to Columbia‘s campus on Wednesday.
However, he appeared unrattled by throngs of anti-Israel protesters who attempted to shout down his address.
“We did our job today. We spoke out,” Johnson told Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
Johnson also thanked “Saturday Night Live” alumnus Jon Lovitz.
Lovitza talked to host Jesse Watters immediately before Johnson’s appearance.
The speaker thanked Lovitz for speaking out against Jewish hate and the leftist unrest gripping college campuses.
“I wish more people would” let their voice be heard, Johnson said.
“We have to call this madness out for what it is: It was chaos on that campus.”
The House speaker told Fox News he was convinced that many Columbia protesters in the crowd weren’t cognizant of the issues in their apparent cause.
He said many of the protesters don’t understand the extent of Hamas’s October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians.
Johnson noted that some even deny major terror attacks transpired in the United States in 2001.
“We were looking out to a sea of students’ faces with rage.
“So many of them don’t even know what the heck they’re talking about.
“They don’t know what Hamas has done.
“They deny the facts of Oct. 7.
“Some of them denied 9/11.”
Johnson was joined Wednesday by a slew of Republican lawmakers.
Those joining Johnson included House Education Committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-MC) and New York Reps. Nicole Malliotakis and Michael Lawler.
Lawler represents Rockland County — a district that is home to nearly 100,000 Jewish Americans.
“Enjoy your free speech,” the speaker responded to the hecklers on campus.
On Fox News, Johnson condemned those protesters who identified with Hamas and those chanting “death to America” on U.S. soil, as many in Iran do.
Host Jesse Watters noted that then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke on Columbia’s campus in 2007 at the invitation of then-president Lee Bollinger.
“Not a single person shouted them down, yelled, ‘You suck,’ but you get treated worse than he did,” Watters said.
Johnson warned that order must be brought to campus or the unrest could escalate.
“This is not the expression of free speech. It’s not the free exchange of ideas in the public square,” he said.
“This is threatening and intimidating Jewish students because of who they are, because of what they believe.”
“We met with a big group of Jewish students before we went to the campus, and they’re hiding in fear.
“They don’t go to class.
“They’re afraid they’re going to be assaulted.
“It’s not fair to them.”
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One of the students who met with Johnson, Robbie Fox, praised the speaker’s solidarity with Jewish students being faced with increasing conflict.
“Speaker Johnson really tried to reaffirm the values that we have and that we share and that, you know, the Jewish students on campus that… Congress is with us,” Fox said.
“Unfortunately, I think Jewish students would say we still haven’t been feeling any change despite that pressure from elected officials on the university to combat antisemitism,” he added.