Washington - Saba:
Every day, the United States provides further evidence that it is a country of contradictions.
While it historically claims to be a champion of freedom of expression, the arrest of Palestinian student activist Mohammed Khalil proves that the United States is nothing more than a bubble of these values.
The arrest by US authorities of a leader of the pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University paints a stark picture of the alleged state of academic freedom in the United States.
As part of a policy of intimidation, US police arrested Palestinian student Mahmoud Khalil, revoked his green card for study, and decided to deport him, alleging that he was one of the most prominent activists protesting at Columbia University against the Zionist massacres in Gaza.
According to his family, US Department of Homeland Security officers raided the apartment building where Mahmoud Khalil and his wife lived, arresting him as he entered.
Mahmoud's attorney, Amy Greer, explained that the arrest was carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who informed her that an order had been issued to revoke his student visa, even though he holds a green card granting him permanent residency.
She added that authorities informed her of their intention to revoke his legal residency as well. Khalil was transferred to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
No explanation
The authorities have not provided his wife with any official explanation for the reasons for his arrest. This comes after President Donald Trump issued an executive order deporting students and activists leading protests against the war on Gaza. This decision raised significant concerns in political, legal, and academic circles about the systematic targeting of students based on their political positions.
In this context, New York City witnessed mass demonstrations involving thousands of protesters from various backgrounds, defying President Trump's threats to demand a halt to the deportation of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil and his release.
Protesters raised slogans denouncing what they described as "unconstitutional prosecutions," demanding justice and an end to arbitrary policies targeting human rights defenders.
The protests witnessed clashes between demonstrators and police forces, with video clips documenting assaults and arrests of participants in the march, which was held in protest against his detention for his activism in the student movement in support of Palestine.
Solidarity campaign
The demonstrations coincided with the launch of a broad solidarity campaign that collected more than one million signatures, including academics from major educational institutions, lawyers, and human rights activists, calling on US authorities to halt what they called "harassment" of the Palestinian activist.
The signatories of the petition asserted that Mahmoud Khalil is being politically targeted because of his anti-Zionist stance and support for the Palestinian cause.
The demonstrators condemned the White House's position, which they described as completely biased toward Zionist pressure. They asserted that the White House's "Shalom," a reference to the lobby within the US administration that supports the "Israeli enemy," seeks to silence voices defending Palestinian rights through arbitrary and illegal measures.
For her part, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories said on Tuesday that "defending student Mahmoud Khalil is a universal civic duty, and persecuting opponents of apartheid is apartheid."
For her part, Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, described the move as "an unconstitutional attempt by the government to force colleges and universities to censor student speech and activism."
violation of freedom
An earlier report by The Intercept criticized the repressive and discriminatory policies used against student protests against the Israeli war on Gaza, noting that a number of students had previously been arrested on criminal charges related to their protest against US support for the Israeli occupation in its war on Gaza. They were detained in inhumane conditions and subjected to ill-treatment.
Meanwhile, with the announcement of Khalil's arrest, US lawmakers and civil society organizations deemed the arrest a "violation of freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution."
In a statement, Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib described Khalil's arrest as an "attack on free speech," calling for his immediate release, and asserting that his arrest constitutes a "violation" of the Constitution's freedom of expression provisions.
For her part, Democratic Representative Alexandria warned: Ocasio-Cortez , in a statement, warned that this arrest could set a dangerous precedent, which the New York Times described as a serious threat to free expression.
The newspaper confirmed in an article that the arrest warrant came as part of a campaign US President Donald Trump intends to launch against university students who participated in university protests in support of Gaza.
She explained that Khalil was not charged with any crime, and that one of the grounds for his arrest was a dossier compiled by Canary Mission, a right-wing group that monitors anti-Zionist activists on American campuses, detailing his positions calling for a boycott of Israel and divestment from it.
The newspaper reported that American Civil Liberties Union attorney Brian House described the incident as one of the biggest threats to the First Amendment in decades.
The newspaper article emphasized that the Trump administration's deliberate disregard for the Constitution poses a danger not only to international students and professors, but to American society as a whole.
antisemitism
In response, British author and journalist Owen Jones criticized, in his latest article, the unprecedented crackdown on freedom of expression in the United States by the Trump administration, using the slogan "combating anti-Semitism" as a pretext to silence any criticism of Israeli policies.
In Owen Jones's opinion, Trump, who claims to have restored freedom of expression to America, is in fact leading the largest ever silencing operation, targeting students and academics who oppose the Zionist war on Gaza and demand an end to American support for the occupation.
According to Jones, the real target of this policy is none other than the student movement supporting the Palestinian cause, with Trump describing the demonstrators as "agitators who should be imprisoned or deported," threatening that "American students will be expelled or arrested according to the crime."
In his article, Jones added that these policies prove that the Trump administration does not protect freedom of expression, but rather completely destroys it, especially when it comes to Palestine. When it comes to this issue, all American slogans about democracy and human rights disappear. Here, the writer refers to Vice President J.D. Vance, who stated just days ago that "free speech must be defended, even if we don't agree with what is being said," but his administration is now leading the largest crackdown on free expression in modern history.
In concluding his article, Jones warned that "the repression we are witnessing today will not stop at targeting those in solidarity with Palestine, but may extend to anyone who opposes the Trump administration. The precedents being set today could be repeated in the future against any dissenting voice."
The suffering of Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil clearly confirms the true nature of America's opposition to the Palestinian cause. The evidence here is that Washington stands fiercely behind every battle to suppress Palestinian rights and every attempt to liquidate the central cause of the Arab and Islamic nation.
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