Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick on Tuesday shared video of a dramatic moment in which one of his campaign volunteers was grabbed by a pro-Palestinian protester on the University of Pittsburgh campus.
McCormick shared a clip from Pittsburgh’s WTAE-TV that showed campaign volunteer Reuben Rochkind, a Pitt student, being held by the neck by a masked protester.
Rochkind was standing in front of the attacker, holding an American flag, at the time of the incident.
“One of my great volunteers was attacked by Hamas supporters on the Pitt campus,” McCormick wrote in X. “He is a Jewish student wearing a McCormick hat and proudly waving the American flag.”
The Republican challenger added, “This anti-Semitism is disgusting,” as he criticized his Democratic rival in a key battleground race.
Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McMormick shared this video on Tuesday University of Pittsburgh.
Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick said, “This anti-Semitism is disgusting,” while criticizing his opponent, incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, for not doing enough to defend his Jewish constituents.
“Bob Casey needs to stand up and defend his Jewish constituents,” McCormick said.
On Sunday, anti-Israel protesters created an encampment on the grounds of Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning, the large Gothic structure at the center of campus.
Rochkind told the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle who heard about the camp from other Jewish students in a group chat and went to check it out, bringing with him an American flag and sporting a McCormick cap for the Senate.
As he stood with his back to the fence separating the camp from the Cathedral grounds, a masked protester grabbed him by his backpack and then his neck.
“It took me by surprise,” the student told the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. “I definitely didn’t expect that to happen.”
He told the Chronicle that he went to the camp hoping to strike up a conversation with protesters and thought the American flag was a good prop.
“I think America has a lot of good values, like freedom of speech and freedom to protest,” Rochkind continued.
Pennsylvania Republican Senate hopeful Dave McCormick shared the video showing Jewish Pitt student and campaign volunteer Reuben Rochkind wearing a McCormick hat and holding an American flag before he was attacked on Sunday.
Rochkind was grabbed first by his backpack and then by his neck as he stood outside the encampment that sprang up Sunday on the grounds of the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus.
But the student indicated that his experience soured him.
“The protesters are out there and, in my opinion, they are anti-Western and anti-American,” volunteer McCormick added.
Rochkind told the Chronicle that the assault did not prevent him from returning to the camp on Monday to speak with protesters, although only one teacher would contact him, he said.
He said the camp “is a hostile environment” for the school’s Jewish students.
“It’s right in the middle of campus and it’s hard to avoid,” Rochkind said. “It makes sense to keep moving and not participate if you want to avoid any kind of problem.”
A Pitt spokesperson did not immediately comment on this specific incident, but Pitt communications director Jared Stonesifer told the Chronicle that the university is working with Pittsburgh Police, Allegheny County Police, State Police Pennsylvania and nearby Carnegie Mellon and Carlow universities to monitor the situation.
On Monday morning, an individual, Donald Johnson, 33, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and obstruction.
It is not affiliated with Pitt. It was unclear if Johnson was the individual who assaulted Rochkind.
Incumbent Senator Bob Casey’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
After losing a close 2022 Republican Senate primary to Dr. Mehmet Oz, who later lost to Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, McCormick launched his second Senate bid in September.
He earned the endorsement of former President Donald Trump in mid-April, ahead of the Pennsylvania primary.
McCormick’s wife, Dina Powell, was an appointee of the Trump administration.
Immediately after his victory in the Republican primary, McCormick spoke to DailyMail.com and called the protests “shameful.”
“I think these children have changed in terms of clarity about what is right and what is wrong and the difference between right and wrong,” he told DailyMail.com. “I think they’re confused and I think it’s a failure and you see clearly the failure of leaders at our universities and across our country to show moral clarity and leadership in the face of these circumstances.”
“Frankly, in my opinion, this is where Bob Casey has been weak in the sense that you can’t have it both ways,” he said.
He called it a leadership failure and a moral decline and said it is “indicative of a spiritual decline in the country” that “must be reversed.”
In May, Casey spoke about similar pro-Palestinian protests that had taken over the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia.
“Protest is a form of expression that we constitutionally protect and it is a great American tradition to protest,” the Democrat said. according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. “But at some point, when a protest begins to impact others’ ability to get to class or, in this case, an impending graduation, it begins to infringe on the rights of others.”
“But at some point this has to stop, you can’t just take over a campus indefinitely,” Casey added.
The most recent survey, conducted by Florida Atlantic Universityshowed Casey leading McCormick by 7 percent among likely voters.