DHS Officer's Pro-Hamas Posts Spark Fireworks at Hearing

The pro-Hamas social media posts made by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officer were the subject of a congressional blowout that erupted during this year's "Threats to the Homeland" hearing.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sparred during the annual Senate committee hearing on Tuesday after Hawley questioned Mayorkas about the public comments made by Nejwa Ali, a Palestinian DHS employee, that criticized Israel amid fighting in the Middle East.

The U.S. has seen rising tensions at home in response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that began after Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza. As of Tuesday, over 1,400 people had been killed in Israel and 8,525 people had been killed in Gaza, according to the Associated Press.

In the wake of the attacks, Ali made several posts referring to Israel as an "apartheid occupation" and calling for Palestinian freedom at the expense of an Israeli "downfall." One message read: "Israel and every Israel has to remember one thing: respect our existence or expect resistance. Simple. No apologies. #freepalestine." Ali, who has been employed at DHS since 2019, is currently on administrative leave from the department. Hawley sent a letter to Mayorkas earlier this month calling for Ali's termination.

During the hearing, Hawley pulled up some of the posts made by Ali, asking Mayorkas, "Is this typical of people who work at DHS?"

Mayorkas was fired up by the senator's line of question, prompting him to angrily tell Hawley, "Your question to suggest that [the post] is emblematic of the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security is despicable."

Hawley, who has been one of the most vocal critics of Ali's posts, shot back asking whether or not Ali had been fired, stressing the rise in antisemitic threats that have been made to Jewish students at college campuses across the nation.

Mayorkas informed the Missouri Republican that the officer had been put on leave but said he could not "speak to an ongoing personnel matter."

"This isn't sufficient to fire her?" Hawley shouted. "But she's still on your payroll as we sit here today." He continued to ask for information about the cases that Ali may have adjudicated as a DHS employee, which Mayorkas did not respond to.

"You come here unwilling to answer and suggest that it is wrong of me to ask you the question," Hawley told Mayorkas. "Quite frankly, Mr. Secretary, I think that your performance is despicable and I think the fact that you are not willing to provide answers to this committee is atrocious."

Mayorkas then asked Chairman Gary Peters if he could have a minute to respond to Hawley, who he blasted for taking an "adversarial approach" to him.

"Perhaps he doesn't know my own background," Mayorkas said. "Perhaps he does not know that I am the child of a Holocaust survivor. Perhaps he does not know that my mother lost almost all her family at the hands of the Nazis."

"And so I find his adversarial tone to be entirely misplaced," the secretary continued. "I find it to be disrespectful of me and my heritage and I do not expect an apology, but I did want to say what I just articulated."

During his confirmation hearing in 2021, Mayorkas testified to Congress that he lost nine family members, including his mother's paternal grandparents, in the Holocaust and that his mother fled her home because of the genocide.

"I am profoundly aware of the threat and existence of antisemitism in our country and the world," he said at the time.

In the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack, antisemitic incidents in the U.S. rose by nearly 400 percent, according to the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism. Those figures reflect the exacerbation of a growing trend that's been observed in the U.S. Last year, the ADL recorded the highest number of incidents involving antisemitic harassment, vandalism and assault.

The Biden administration unveiled a new plan on Monday to counter the rise in dangerous threats on college campuses. According to the WhiteHouse, the DHS and Justice Department "have disseminated public safety information to and hosted multiple calls with campus law enforcement, as well as state, local, tribal and territorial officials to address the threat environment and share information about available resources."

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