Stefanik: Harvard ended ‘school year of disgrace’ by inviting ‘known antisemite’ as graduation speaker

About a month after Oct. 7, Maria Ressa published an editorial that compared Israel to Nazis.

By JNS

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the chair of the House Republican Conference who has emerged as one of the fiercest critics in Congress of Jew-hatred on campus and of university leaders who appear to turn a blind eye to antisemitism, lashed out at her alma mater, Harvard University, on Tuesday.

“In a sad, but fitting end to their school year of disgrace, Harvard doubled down on their heinous path when they invited a known antisemite as their 2024 commencement speaker, who then spewed antisemitic rhetoric at the commencement ceremony,” she stated.

“Despite this antisemite’s attempt to hide and falsely attack my office and media outlets who accurately reported on her writings, the translation in fact demonstrates her history of antisemitism as reported here,” the New York Republican added.

Stefanik referred to Maria Ressa, a Filipino-American journalist and a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who said in her commencement address that “because I accepted your invitation to be here today, I was attacked online and called antisemitic. By power and money. Because they want power and money.”

She later claimed that she meant by “power and money” to refer to big tech, politicians and corporations, not Jews.

Nothing like @Harvard's graduation, where keynote speaker Filipino journalist Maria Ressa complained about being called an antisemite while using a classic antisemitic trope. WATCH pic.twitter.com/vEiZwgi5Yg

— Canary Mission (@canarymission) May 26, 2024

About a month after Oct. 7, Ressa published an editorial that compared Israel to Nazis, The Washington Free Beacon reported.

antisemiteHarvardMaria RessaRep. Elise Stefanik