Mixed response for Elise Stefanik at ADL summit

US Rep. Elise Stefanik, the incoming US ambassador to the United Nations, draws applause but also a round of boos at the annual Anti-Defamation League summit in New York City.

Stefanik’s statement that the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel “would never have happened” under US President Donald Trump sparks widespread boos in the audience of hundreds.

Stefanik receives applause for many other parts of her speech, though, including for discussing her questioning of university presidents last year that led to the resignations of several Ivy League leaders.

During that questioning, Stefanik asked university presidents whether calling for the genocide of Jews was a violation of their campus policies. The university leaders said it depended on the context, causing a major uproar.

Stefanik, at the ADL summit, says the query was an off-the-cuff question she scribbled down minutes before she asked it, and not part of her prepared remarks. She says she did not anticipate the “earthquake” caused by the responses.

“It was truly the question and horrific answer heard around the world,” she says.

Her calls to further crack down on campus antisemitism, deport foreign students who engage in antisemitism and support of terror, and pressure the United Nations also draw applause.

“The antisemites at the United Nations better buckle up because I’m coming. The university presidents were just a warm-up,” she says.