And F*** Columbia.
Clearly it has been awhile since I posted. Some things have happened personally, but not as meaningful as what occurred on November 5, 2024. On that particular, fateful day, the American people, or more specifically 77 million Americans, decided to vote for the Republican nominee for President. The one that said the 2020 election was stolen. The one that instigated January 6th. The one that has done so much to destroy America that he should have never been able to run for local dog catcher let alone be elected as President of the United States. (Apologies to local dog catchers. You are light years ahead of the piece of trash that currently resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.)
And, yet, here we are.
After the election, I stopped watching TV news. I stopped listening to NPR, which I previously did daily during my commute. I stopped opening Twitter, only checking every so often to keep up on baseball/Guardians news. I disconnected myself as much as I could from political news.
I was better for it. I was MUCH better for it. My mental health was better for it.
Then Inauguration Day and the subsequent days occurred. I could no longer look away. I personally could no longer keep my head in the sand. I felt it my duty to stay informed on every atrocity coming out of Washington, D.C., no matter the size or quantity.
(I truly appreciate the people who are still abstaining from the news because it is too much. It is simply too heartbreaking. On most days, the amount of horrible headlines would/should overwhelm most people. I get that. I understand. If that works for you, and keeps your mental health in tact, power on. You probably are better off.
My wife and my mother are people who can only take small doses of news. But me, I choose to be informed by it all. 24×7. Each and every new, horrible thing that is happening. I know about it. Digesting it. Doomscrolling from one item to the next to the next. Trying to process it all by myself on my little, horrible news island.)
I was addicted to Twitter and had previously only dipped my toe in the new social media world known as Bluesky. However, once Musk and his ilk took over the White House, I dove head first. I manually began moving the list of people I followed on Twitter to Bluesky. (Unfortunately, Guardians/Cavs Twitter has not yet fully migrated so I still do periodically read Twitter for that.) As the news gets even more dire, the number and diversity of Bluesky accounts I follow continues to grow.
As a lot of you reading this probably already know, I am Jewish. I am very proud to be Jewish. However, I don’t broadcast it. I didn’t prior to October 7th/this current political climate and I still don’t now. I am simply a private person. But I am Jewish, a reform Jew, and couldn’t imagine being any other religion.
As October 7th and the subsequent Israeli response unfolded, I found myself having different views than a lot of traditional Jews. I saw the suffering by the Palestinians in Gaza and became enraged by the Israeli government’s response. As it seems that the people of Israel also dislike Netanyahu, we are aligned in that regard.
(My local reform temple has done a very good job engaging with the congregation regarding their feelings about Israel, including a recent Friday night Shabbat service specifically designed around a frank conversation about Israel.)
When the college Palestinian protests began last year, even with me being Jewish, I understood the basis for them and appreciated their voices. I became enraged when violence erupted at the encampments due to over policing and outside disrupters. Even though those with ulterior motives purposefully call the protests pro-Hamas, most were truly pro-Palestinian. They were people speaking out about the atrocities occurring in Gaza, including a good amount of Jewish students.
When the man in the White House, and his ilk, including Musk, decide to be the arbiter of free speech and defender of the Jewish people, especially on college campuses and in regards to the Palestinian protests, I sit up and take notice. And that is what happened this week and what has led me to write.
My Name is Mahmoud Khalil and I Am a Political Prisoner
In These Times
Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate student of Columbia and a Palestinian activist who helped lead protests at Columbia, was arrested by ICE on Saturday, March 8. A lawful US citizen via a green card. His wife one month away from giving birth. Abducted. Arrested. Detained. Shipped to Louisiana with plans to be deported. The crime? Simply speaking his mind against the Israeli atrocities occurring in Gaza. All in the name of anti-semitism and supposedly defending the honor of the Jewish people.
(Now, this regime is trying to deport another academic, Badar Khan Suri, a fellow at Georgetown, just as they have done with Khalil.)
As a proud Jew, who happens to be progressive, the last person I want defending my religion’s honor is the current occupant of the White House and all of his sycophants, including Little Marco. And the last thing I want is them arresting an innocent pro-Palestinian protestor, Mahmoud Khalil, in the name of combating antisemitism. They truly have no interest in anything Jewish, they just want to be able to weaponize (real) antisemitism to undermine democracy and the rule of law. They truly have no interest in actually helping the Jewish people, they simply want to use us, the Jewish people, to advance their fascist ideals and goals of mass deportation.
“The notion of dual loyalty is a linchpin of the anti-Semitic stereotype…”
Deborah Lipstadt, author of “Antisemitism: Here and Now” (2019)
If you remember during this past presidential campaign, the Republican nominee for president, asserted that “any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion“. In 2019, he asserted something similar, saying, “If you vote for a Democrat, you’re being disloyal to Jewish people and you’re being very disloyal to Israel.” If you think this is a man that is truly looking out for the Jewish people, ALL Jewish people, then I don’t know what to tell you.
As news continues to come out, I am continually learning about what is happening to Khalil, and now, many others. I am continually learning about what it means to be Jewish in this current climate with this current government. I am continually learning and educating myself regarding what horrible actions people will pass off in the name of helping Jewish people, even when they are only using the Jewish people to justify their indefensible actions.
If this isn’t a time to speak up, even if you don’t agree with Mr. Khalil’s protests/opinions, or aren’t Jewish, please know that when you are affected, and need to speak up for yourself, it may be too late…and then what? Who will speak for you? It won’t be the President or this administration.
There are a lot of wonderful voices speaking out and saying/writing very prescient and timely things. Below, I have highlighted some of those voices. These voices have captured the moment and my feelings perfectly.
A group of Columbia faculty members expressed concern Monday that Khalil’s detention was intended to suppress free speech by students and staff who are not U.S. citizens.
AP (March 10, 2025)
“The attack on Mahmoud Khalil is intended to make them quake in their boots, and to make all of us quake in our boots,” said Michael Thaddeus, a Columbia math professor. “Our message to Washington is that we are not silenced, we are not afraid, and we stand together, determined to defeat this ongoing assault on our fundamental rights.”
Read Article: Trump warns that arrest of Palestinian activist at Columbia will be ‘first of many’
Jake Offenhartz and Phillip Marcelo
Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, who is running in the New York City mayoral race, also called for Khalil’s immediate release, noting his arrest was a “blatant assault on the First Amendment and a sign of advancing authoritarianism under Trump.” Mamdani attempted to confront border czar Tom Homan over Khalil’s arrest at the state capitol on Wednesday, shouting, “How many New Yorkers will you detain without charge?”
New York Magazine (March 13, 2025)
Read Article: What We Know About the Arrest of Mahmoud Khalil
Nia Prater
Martin: He’s a legal permanent resident. I have to keep insisting on that. He is a legal permanent resident.
So what is the standard? Is any criticism of the Israeli government a deportable offense?Edgar: Like I said, I think that at this point when he entered into the country on a student visa, at any point we can go through and evaluate what his status is.
NPR (March 13, 2025)
Read Article & Listen: DHS official defends Mahmoud Khalil arrest, but offers few details on why it happened
Michel Martin
Campus safety is a priority for a lot of people who haven’t actually stepped foot on a campus in decades, or possibly ever. Is a campus actually safer after police are permitted to toss around protestors and arrest students? Of course not. But by finding the right face and name to agitate enough racists, it can be presented as a severe issue. Any breach of rights can be justified in service of that goal. In that way, what has happened to Mahmoud Khalil is an expansion of a long-existing logic.
Defector (March 11, 2025)
Read Article: Mahmoud Khalil Is The Target Of A Desperate Agenda
Samer Kalaf
According to a Trump post on Truth Social, the stated reason Khalil was abducted was that he was a “pro-Hamas” student who engaged in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.” None of that is remotely true. The government cannot prove that Khalil engaged in any terrorist activities, nor that he provided aid or comfort to terrorists. Even if you are one of those people who thinks that protesting for the rights of Palestinians to exist is tantamount to antisemitic terrorism, your personal feelings have nothing to do with the law. You are not required to agree with Khalil in order to understand how the First Amendment works, or is supposed to work. Khalil engaged in peaceful protest, and protest is not a crime in this country, at least it wasn’t until this country installed a deranged bigot in power.
The Nation (March 12, 2025)
Read Article: We Are Asking the Wrong Questions About Mahmoud Khalil’s Arrest
Elie Mystal
Khalil’s abduction is “further proof that we are on the brink of a full takeover by an authoritarian regime,” said Jane Hirschmann, whose grandfather and uncle were kidnapped by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Huffington Post (March 13, 2025)
“As Jews of conscience, we know our history and we know where this leads. This is what fascists do as they cement control,” she continued. “This moment requires all people of conscience to take bold action to resist state violence and repression. Free Mahmoud now.”
Read Article: Jewish Americans Are Sick Of Trump Exploiting Them
Sanjana Karanth
Trump’s claim that this atrocity “combats antisemitism” is insulting. We will not take lectures on antisemitism from segregationists and neo-nazis. We will not allow a white supremacist president and his party to claim the mantle of Jewish safety as they shred the Constitution and spin outlandish legal theories to justify the suppression of dissent and the brutalization of those who oppose war and apartheid.
Literary Hub (March 18, 2025)
Read Article: A Columbia University Professor Speaks Out Against the Kidnapping of Mahmoud Khalil
Joseph Howley
I visited the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam yesterday and thought about the growing persecution in the US. Disappearing protestors, dissolving the civil rights of trans people, scapegoating minorities. As Jews, we must stand up to it, not cheer it on.
Progress Report (March 12, 2025)
…
What Trump is actually saying is that he plans to crack down on speech that he and his political patrons don’t like, and he’s willing to use the full power of the state to do it. The president is promising that there will be more critics of his government’s policies who will be surveilled, more inconvenient activists who will have their homes broken into and legal rights violated, more permanent residents who will be taken and disappeared. Trump is celebrating his weaponization of the police to suppress opposition, to target people who object to this country’s role in foreign wars, to take advantage of vague statutes to claim absolute power.
Bluesky
Read Article: The American Gestapo won’t spare anybody
Jordan Zakarin
Khalil has not been accused, by anyone, of violating the law. Instead, his apprehension is a dangerous example of deportation as a retaliation for first amendment-protected speech. Simply put, Khalil was punished for protesting against US complicity in what is widely recognized as a genocide in Gaza. The Trump administration has exploited anti-Palestinian racism as a means to test its mass deportation goals: whitening the nation by eliminating immigrants and insisting that those who are here not challenge those in authority. Khalil’s arrest and detention reveals the fragility of our first amendment protections, of who does and does not have a voice in our nation.
The Guardian (March 12, 2025)
Read Article: Mahmoud Khalil is being used as a pawn in Trump’s mass deportation plan
Heba Gowayed
The Trump administration is no different. Its claim to be fighting campus antisemitism rings as hollow as Ortega’s reported claim to be fighting terrorism in Nicaragua’s leading Jesuit-run university. The administration has weaponized the fight against antisemitism as a means to another end: punishing and weakening universities.
…
As schoolchildren, many of us read the German pastor Martin Niemoller’s poem “First They Came.” Written just after the Holocaust, Niemoller’s poem highlights the moral and practical cost of allowing fear (or indifference) to prevent us from speaking out when others are targeted.We must learn from the past. We cannot remain silent in the face of authoritarian attacks on our peers, even if they have not yet come for us.
The Harvard Crimson (March 14, 2025)
Read Article: First They Came for Columbia
Ryan D. Enos and Steven Levitsky
The Anti Defamation League’s endorsement of this administration and its treatment of a nonviolent protester constitutes one of many betrayals of our cultural and religious history. This faction of Jewish leadership once again allies itself with an Evangelical right that masks its own hatred of and prejudice towards Jews in the guise of defending our right to existence in Israel.
Salon (March 15, 2025)
Read Article: How the right hijacked Jewish resistance to squash dissent
Katherine P. Blumstein
Editor’s Note: I have been working on this post off and on for almost two weeks. In that time, the amount of news that continues to break, and content/opinion that is being written in response, is just unreal, hence the “Related Horribleness” section below. The news includes Senator Schumer, and nine other Democratic Senators, bending a knee, giving in to the demands of the Republicans and the White House. Senator Schumer also seems to be defending this administrations actions against Mahmoud Khalil (1. 2). Schumer must resign as speaker.
Oh, and supposedly the most horrible President ever thinks he can unilaterally deport anyone.
Related Horribleness:
- Nearly 100 protesters arrested after sit-in at Trump Tower in NYC to demand release of Mahmoud Khalil
- FIRE and coalition partners file brief rebuking the U.S. government for attempting to deport Mahmoud Khalil for his protected speech
- Letter from Columbia student Ranjani Srinivasan after fleeing the United States to Canada
- Green card holder from New Hampshire ‘interrogated’ at Logan Airport, detained
- How a Columbia Student Fled to Canada After ICE Came Looking for Her
- I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped
- California couple deported after living in U.S. for 35 years
