The Senate has rejected a pair of resolutions from Senator Bernie Sanders aimed at blocking weapon sales to Israel.
“This is about Palestine and this is not about Palestine,” said New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice director Amy Torres at a recent rally in support of Mahmoud Khalil. “This is about this administration. . . going after every single one of us.”
“Rather than silence dissent, the government’s actions have only emboldened voices demanding that basic rights be respected here, in Palestine, and beyond,” says CUNY CLEAR attorney Mudassar Toppa.
Columbia students are banding together as ICE and the NYPD target Palestine activism. “[Columbia] is willing to give the Trump administration whatever it wants,” one student tells Mondoweiss. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep pushing too.”
Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has visited the country 100 times and calls himself an “unapologetic, unreformed Zionist.”
Donald Trump has ushered in his second term with a full-fledged assault on DEI programs and advocates for Palestinian rights. Both attacks should be understood within the long history of White backlash to movements for social and racial justice.
Trump’s motivations are often unclear, but the recent U.S. bombing campaign on Yemen was clearly meant to stop Ansar Allah’s attacks on Red Sea shipping — and to send a message to Iran.
Columbia University issued suspensions, expulsions, and temporary degree revocations to students connected to the April 2024 occupation of Hamilton Hall, as ICE agents reportedly arrested a second Palestinian Columbia student on Friday.
Mahmoud Khalil’s case represents a horrifying precedent, but it is not developing in a vacuum. The Trump administration’s unprecedented assault on Khalil is one of many efforts to stifle dissent and stave off justice for Palestine.
Helyeh Doutaghi was placed on leave by Yale Law School after being falsely accused of “terrorism” over her support for Palestine. She says her case reflects the new era of Zionist McCarthyism and that this repression reveals an empire in decline.