MILWAUKEE—Shabbos Kestenbaum, a recent Harvard University graduate and former Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) voter, said anti-Semitism drove him out of the Democratic Party during his Wednesday evening speech at the Republican National Convention.
"My fellow Americans, the anti-Semitic bigotry unfortunately extends far beyond the universities. Although I once voted for Bernie Sanders, I now recognize that the far left has not only abandoned the Jewish people, but the American people," Kestenbaum told the crowd.
"The Democratic Party, the party I registered to vote for the day I turned 18, has become ideologically poisoned. And it is this poison, it is this corruption that is infecting far too many young American students," said Kestenbaum. "Let’s be clear, the far-left anti-Semitic extremism has no virtue, and the radicalism on our campuses and on our streets has no moral legitimacy."
Kestenbaum, alongside several other students, filed a lawsuit against Harvard in January, accusing the university of leaving anti-Semitism on its campus unchecked in the months after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack. He also criticized his alma mater for immersing students in an anti-American culture.
"I came to Harvard to study religion, the foundation of Western civilization. What I found was not theology, but a contempt for it," Kestenbaum said Wednesday. "My problem with Harvard is not its liberalism, but its illiberalism."
"I found myself immersed in a culture that is anti-Western, that is anti-American, and that is anti-Semitic," he added.
Despite being a lifelong Democrat, Kestenbaum said he is proud to support former president Donald Trump’s reelection bid.
"Let’s elect a president who will instill patriotism in our school[s] once again. Let’s elect a president who will confront terrorism and its supporters once again. Let’s elect a president who recognizes that although Harvard and the Ivy Leagues have long abandoned the United States of America, the Jewish people never will," Kestenbaum told the crowd.
"Jewish values are American values, and American values are Jewish values," he said.