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United States Ambassador-Designate to the United Nations Elise Stefanik spoke at the Anti-Defamation League’s “Never Is Now” Summit, the world’s largest summit on combating antisemitism.
From capitals to campuses, we have watched too many with the power to act, do nothing to stop the spread of antisemitic hate. Enough is enough.
Under President @realdonaldtrump’s leadership and as the next US Ambassador to the United Nations, we refuse to do nothing. #NeverIsNow pic.twitter.com/RtB2UQidWj
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) March 3, 2025
Read U.S. Ambassador-Designate to the United Nations Elise Stefanik’s full remarks as prepared below:
“Thank you to ADL for your leadership on combating antisemitism. And a special thanks to Jonathan Greenblatt for the invitation and your work with Congress on this critical issue.
Never again is now.
That is the reason we are all here today – to ensure that these words are actually acted upon.
On October 7th, and in the 513 days since, we have seen antisemitic atrocities that we never thought would happen in our lifetimes both at home and abroad.
The worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and the open celebration of those heinous acts of terrorism in our streets and on our college campuses.
Enough is enough.
From capitals to campuses, we have watched too many with the power to act, do nothing.
But there is hope.
In the famous words of Holocaust Survivor and Jewish Advocate Simon Wiesenthal , who dedicated his life to ensuring the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten, he said, “For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.”
Under President Trump, America refuses to do nothing.
I , as a leader in the United States Congress and the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations, refuse to do nothing.
You see, Israel and the Jewish people hold a special place in my heart which has fueled my dedication and deep held commitment to ensuring the evils of antisemitism are extinguished.
As a young girl from Upstate New York, I grew up with many Jewish friends. I attended many bar and bat mitzvahs. I have joined many families over the years for Shabbat dinners.
As a Harvard student, I went with college friends to events at Harvard Hillel and have celebrated britot for friend’s sons and signed the ketubah at a friend’s wedding.
Throughout my life, the importance of the state of Israel was clear.
A shining beacon of freedom and civilization in the Middle East and intrinsically entwined with the success of America.
And I have had the privilege to visit Israel many times throughout my life, both before and during my time in Congress, and each time I am moved by Israel and her spirit.
And today, it is more important than ever that the United States of America shows moral leadership and stands with Israel and the Jewish people.
Under President Trump, there will be no daylight when it comes to the United States’ support for Israel. There is a reason Prime Minister Netanyahu calls him the “best friend that Israel has ever had”.
The horrors of October 7th changed everything.
It made crystal clear. That this fight is not just Israel’s fight but the West’s fight, a fight against the evil of Hamas, a war between good and evil, civilization and barbarity.
We will not and must not rest until every single hostage is returned home and Hamas terrorists are eradicated from the face of the earth.
And what happened in our own country after this horrific day?
In the aftermath of the bloodiest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust– and the days since– we saw our “most elite universities” utterly fail their Jewish students.
The world saw– in what is now the most viewed congressional testimony in history with over a billion views– the moral rot of America’s higher education.
Let me take you into that committee room.
After seeing the skyrocketing rise in antisemitism including at my own college alma mater, I encouraged the Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx that we needed to have a hearing with university presidents of MIT, Penn, and Harvard.
I’m a Harvard alumna– the first member of my immediate family to have the opportunity to graduate from college— Harvard has never been perfect, but when I attended I could never have imagine what the campus would turn into or tolerate.
We held the hearing with the university presidents to demand answers and accountability.
But instead we were met with weak and morally bankrupt university leaders who evaded our questions and refused to answer direct questions with direct answers.
And it was only in the final moments that my now famous questioning happened.
The media and majority of attendees had largely left when I decided to ask an incredibly simple question.
And it was not a political question, it was a moral one.
It was actually not one of my prepared questions but one that I had written down in pencil five minutes before because I thought it would force them to answer correctly.
And that question was this:
Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s code of conduct?
And one after the other after the other said “it depends on the context.”
And the world heard.
At the time, I had no idea the earthquake that that questioning would set off in American higher education. It was truly the question heard around the world.
And the reality is that everyday Americans like my wonderful constituents know without hesitation that the answer to that question is an easy one. It is YES and it certainly does not depend on the context.
In a matter of months and additional hearings, university presidents from Harvard, Penn, Columbia and others were forced to resign.
Five down and so many to go.
But now here we are. Just look at the actions of Barnard College’s so-called leadership last week.
On the same day that the world was mourning the murders of the Bibas babies by Hamas terrorists, pro-Hamas terrorist sympathizers took over Barnard college campus building, spewing antisemitic and anti-Israel hate, assaulting a staff member and sending him to the hospital.
Meanwhile Barnard’s leadership held off on calling in the law enforcement stationed outside instead offering up a meeting with the college president to negotiate.
This is not leadership.
As Jewish students at Barnard and colleges and universities around the nation fear for their lives, college leaders continue to pander to their demands.
To the Jewish students listening. Do not relent or give in. America and the force of the Trump Administration are behind you and we will not stop fighting.
President Trump has made clear the importance of this issue.
In his first month in office he signed a historic executive order to combat antisemitism on our campuses and streets using every tool the government has. Any foreign student participating in these antisemitic acts must be stripped of their visas and immediately deported.
President Trump’s Administration has already initiated civil rights investigations of hotbeds of campus antisemitism including at Columbia and Northwestern.
I know incoming Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and their teams including Leo Terrell, will hold these universities accountable for their failures. The ADL’s work helping expose the rot on campus has been invaluable to these efforts.
I am honored to join President Trump in this fight, earning his nomination to serve in his Cabinet as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations.
The United Nations in indeed a deep den of antisemitism, infected with the same rampant anti-Israel and anti-American hate and moral rot that has polluted America’s higher education system.
Especially since the barbaric Hamas attacks of October 7th, the UN has continuously betrayed Israel, betraying America in the process, acting as an apologist for Iran and their terrorist proxies.
Under President Trump, as United States Ambassador to the United Nations, the days of propping up organizations that run counter to our interests are long gone.
We will no longer fund terrorism, antisemitism, and anti-Israel hate.
It is an indisputable fact that President Trump has the strongest record of any American president when it comes to standing with Israel. From moving the U.S. Embassy to its rightful place; Israel’s eternal capital of Jerusalem.
To negotiating the historic Abraham Accords, the greatest stride toward peace normalization in more than a quarter century.
To aligning U.S. Central Command with Israel, a change that fostered daily communications with the IDF, joint exercises, and crucial coordination with British and Arab partners that helped defend against the unprecedented Iranian attacks last year.
It is quite obvious to the world that if President Trump had remained in office, October 7th would never have happened.
And he has brought back his pro-Israel policies to the White House.
In just a month, the world has watched as President Trump reasserts America First peace through strength foreign policy and is taking note.
Only 12 hours after his re-election, Hamas terrorists called for an ‘immediate end’ to the war — a direct result of President Trump’s restoration of strong American strength to the world stage.
Innocent hostages taken by Hamas terrorists have been returned home as President Trump promised “all hell” if they are not brought back.
He restored maximum pressure on Iran and imposed sanctions on the illegitimate International Criminal Court.
And at the United Nations, we took the decisive action to defund UNRWA– the pro-Hamas terrorist front group who committed atrocities on October 7th.
And I can promise you, that as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, we are not only going to just defund UNRWA, we will totally dismantle it.
As we approach the 50th anniversary of Ambassador Moynihan’s historic opposition to the United Nations’ disgraceful “Zionism is Racism” resolution, the time has come to bring about needed change.
We must redirect the course of history away from the antisemitism and anti-Israel bias Ambassador Moynihan described as “a great evil [that has been] loosed upon the world”.
Let me be clear.
Everyday Americans understand the need to support Israel’s fight and that the same pro-Hamas terrorist sympathizers who chant ‘Death to Israel’ also chant ‘Death to America.’
These terrorists want to topple Israel, topple the U.S., and we must never yield.
Never again is right now.
Under President Trump, America will always stand up for the Jewish people both at home and abroad. Israel has our unequivocal support. We will not rest until every single hostage is brought home and Hamas terrorists are eradicated.
Together we must remind the world about the moral imperative of standing with the Jewish people, Israel and together we will combat the evils of antisemitism.
We will win this fight for the Jewish people, we will win this fight to save America and our moral values, we will win this fight for our most precious ally Israel, and we will win this fight for all of Western civilization and humanity.
And my message for Turtle Bay is this… hear me clearly here and now: the antisemites at the United Nations better buckle up, because I’m coming.
The university presidents were just a warm up. And believe me, anyone who knows me knows that I’m just getting started.
God Bless You, God Bless Israel, and God Bless the United States of America.”
