(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A Congressional hearing on hate crimes and rhetoric Tuesday sparked partisan arguments about which should be given priority.
On Capitol Hill, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) chaired a judiciary committee hearing on the rising number of hate crimes in this country since the October 7 massacre of Jews by Hamas in Gaza.
“We have seen an increase in attacks on Jewish Americans, Palestinian Americans, Arab Americans and Muslim Americans,” Durbin said.
And in the audience was the mother of Wadee Alfayoumi, the six-year-old Palestinian boy who was stabbed to death in Plainfield. She also was stabbed in that attack.
But ranking Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) complained that the hearing should have focused solely on rising antisemitism on college campuses.
“What happened to the, to the six-year-old is just horrible. The man will get whatever comes his way. And to me, it's not enough. I'm trying to focus on a systematic problem. America has a systematic problem on college campuses,” Graham said.
Democrat Durbin says all hate and violence is unacceptable.
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