We have freedom of association in America and you are not entitled to a job. But NBC Nightly News spent part of their Thursday evening newscast whining that college students who sided with Hamas terrorists, chanted for Jewish genocide, and tore down posters dedicated to those kidnapped by Hamas were facing backlash from potential employers who didn't want to hire them. They even suggested this was a violation of their free speech.
“Also tonight, the Israel-Hamas War has brought intense reactions from many Americans. On college campuses, some students who voiced opinions on the conflict are facing a major backlash,” anchor Lester Holt lamented, whitewashing what the students were supporting.
The video portion of the segment was delivered by NBC correspondent Jake Ward who began with an edited soundbite of student protesters clearly chanting "Palestine will be free." Ward began to speak over them as they started the chant over with "From the river to the sea."
The phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” has long been known to be a direct call for Jewish genocide in the Holy Land and to ethnically cleanse the region of Jews. Ward speaking over them was an attempt to obfuscate what they were demanding.
Ward’s opening premise was that the rallies were “part of a long tradition of free speech on campus. But some law students are now finding their words can affect their future.” He openly whined that multiple law firms had rescinded job offers to far-left law students who voiced support for Hamas’s acts of genocide, and that “a tenured professor has written an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal entitled: Do Not Hire My Anti-Semitic Students.”
In a conversation with Ward, the op-ed’s writer, UC Berkley Professor Steven Davidoff Solomon argued that “Free speech does not mean there is no consequences for free speech.” “This is a professional setting. These are people who are to be trained to be lawyers. They should not be going out as lawyers if they're advocating the murder and justifying the murder of innocent people,” he added.
Despite the fact that Hamas had carried out a pogrom on October 7, and their charter called for the elimination of the Jewish State of Israel, Ward huffed that “Solomon says he considers any justification of the Hamas attacks to be anti-Semitic hate speech.”
Apparently unable to get any of the genocide-supporting students to speak to him on camera, Ward was left with just reading their statements to him justifying their support for such actions. “One Berkley student group mentioned in the op-ed characterized the October 7th attacks as ‘resistance to apartheid.’ In a statement to NBC News, the group calls the article ‘a smear that wrongly conflates activism with anti-Semitism,’” he said.
He also spoke to one unidentified male student who decried Solomon’s op-ed. “I think regardless which side you support, I don't know that professors should be encouraging it to dissuade you from potential employment,” he complained.
Ward also leaned on Bard College’s Kenneth Stern, who suggested reacting negatively to the students who reacted negatively to Israel was somehow tantamount to banning their ability to speak altogether. “When you start drawing lines of saying what speech is permitted and what speech isn't, that's a horrible thing in society in general,” he falsely suggested.
Ward concluded the segment by incorrectly suggesting that the students chanting for genocide were simply taking a “public stance on a controversial topic.” He called it a “debate” over if an employer could “cripple a career before it even begins.”
Well, well, well, isn’t the consequences of their own actions?
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
October 19, 2023
6:45:59 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: Also tonight, the Israel-Hamas War has brought intense reactions from many Americans. On college campuses, some students who voiced opinions on the conflict are facing a major backlash. Jake Ward reports from Berkeley, California.
[Cuts to video]
PROTESTORS: Palestine will be free!
PROTESTORS (Jake Ward speaking over them): From the river to the sea--
JAKE WARD: Opposing rallies at Columbia. A die-in at Harvard. The latest protests are part of a long tradition of free speech on campus. But some law students are now finding their words can affect their future. Law firm Winston & Strawn announced they rescinded a job offer to a top NYU law student this month after blaming Israel for the violence on October 7. And law firm Davis Polk pulled three more offered to Harvard students for signing a similar statement.
Now, a tenured professor has written an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal entitled: Do Not Hire My Anti-Semitic Students.
STEVEN DAVIDOFF SOLOMON: Free speech does not mean there is no consequences for free speech.
WARD: Stephen Solomon says he considers any justification of the Hamas attacks to be anti-Semitic hate speech.
SOLOMON: This is a professional setting. These are people who are to be trained to be lawyers. They should not be going out as lawyers if they're advocating the murder and justifying the murder of innocent people.
WARD: One Berkley student group mentioned in the op-ed characterized the October 7th attacks as “resistance to apartheid.” In a statement to NBC News, the group calls the article “a smear that wrongly conflates activism with anti-Semitism.”
Some students unaffiliated with the groups say they are concerned about the op-eds precedent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE STUDENT: I think regardless which side you support, I don't know that professors should be encouraging it to dissuade you from potential employment.
WARD: Kenneth Stern runs Bard College's Center for the Study of Hate.
KENNETH STERN: When you start drawing lines of saying what speech is permitted and what speech isn't, that's a horrible thing in society in general.
WARD: Tonight, a debate over free speech and whether a student’s public stance on a controversial topic should cripple a career before it even begins.
Jake Ward, NBC News, Berkeley, California.
