Rep. Elise Stefanik’s claim that Trump would have prevented Oct. 7 booed at ADL conference
Stefanik was otherwise well received with a message about Trump’s ardent support for Israel and commitments against antisemitism
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Anti-Defamation League
U.S. Ambassador-Designate to the United Nations Elise Stefanik speaks at ADL Never Is Now at Javits Center on March 3, 2025 in New York City.
In an otherwise well-received address, Rep. Elise Stefanik faced booing at the Anti-Defamation League’s Never is Now conference opening plenary on Monday morning when she claimed that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks would not have happened if President Donald Trump had been reelected in 2020.
“I believe that it’s quite obvious to the world that if President Trump had remained in office, Oct. 7 would never have happened,” she said.
In response to the claim, many members of the audience of several hundred at the Javits Center in New York City erupted in booing and shouts that obscured the next few lines of her speech.
Stefanik had been met with applause throughout the speech after touting Trump’s efforts to combat antisemitism and support for Israel, including moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and spearheading the Abraham Accords, which — among other things — allowed Israel to coordinate with surrounding nations during Iran’s attacks on Israel last year.
Stefanik was met with resounding applause on numerous occasions both before and after the Oct. 7 claim — as she rebuked the United Nations, UNRWA and American universities for “moral rot” and called for foreign students participating in antisemitic acts to be “stripped of their visas and immediately deported.”
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt introduced Stefanik, describing close communication he had with her following Oct. 7 and endorsing her still pending nomination for ambassador to the U.N.
“She is fearless, she is ferocious, she is a fighter and she is a friend to our community,” Greenblatt said. “She is exactly what we need to bring some common sense to a U.N. system that seems to specialize in nonsense.”
After Stefanik called for the return of the hostages and the eradication of Hamas, she added one final flourish, which was met with another round of applause, and by some, a standing ovation: “The antisemites at the United Nations better buckle up because I’m coming,” the New York representative said. “The university presidents were just a warm-up and, believe me, anyone who knows me knows that I’m just getting started.”