ASSU senator Gabe Knight claims it’s not antisemitic to say Jews control media and banks
Students are calling for him to end his re-election bid
According to a public Facebook status by Matthew Wigler ’19, ASSU senator Gabe Knight argued that it is not anti-Semitic to question whether Jewish people control the media and banks.
In the post on Facebook, Wigler, who was presenting a bill which he co-sponsored calling out the problem of anti-semitism at Stanford, Knight said: “[The resolution] says Jews controlling the media, economy, government and other societal institutions and it sites is a fixture of antisemitism that we theoretically shouldn’t challenge.
“I think that that’s kind of irresponsibly foraying into another politically contentious conversation, like questioning these potential power dynamics i think is not antisemitism. I think it’s a very valid discussion. ”
According to The Stanford Daily, Knight later apologized for his statement when Senator Molly Horwitz, along with several Jewish community leaders present, called him out for anti-Semitism.
“I will apologize for when I supposed that [the clause] wasn’t anti-Semitic,” said Knight, “It wasn’t right for me to say that Jewish people can’t be offended by that. What I meant to say is that it’s still making a political statement, which is my problem with the clause — it’s an important conversation we should be having.”
Senator Knight could not be immediately reached for comment.