A federal district court judge in New York stayed the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, earlier this week, pending a hearing on the merits of his motion to prevent the U.S. government from revoking his green card and kicking him out of the country. Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate, is a Hamas-supporting agitator who organized riots at his alma mater advocating for the destruction of Israel, the extermination of Jews and an end to “U.S. imperialism.”
Not surprisingly, the case has attracted national attention. What is shocking is the outpouring of support Khalil has received from some officials at the highest levels of academia and in the Democratic Party.
Fourteen Democratic members of Congress, including Reps. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), signed a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem protesting Khalil’s expulsion from the country, stating in part:
“Khalil has not been charged or convicted of any crime. As the Trump administration proudly admits, he was targeted solely for his activism and organizing as a student leader and negotiator for the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Columbia University’s campus … ”
David Hogg, vice chair of the Democrat National Committee, released a video insisting that the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Khalil is a threat to American democracy. Apparently, for him and some others in Congress, advocating for genocide against the Jews and the overthrow of the U.S. government is as American as apple pie.
Among some of Khalil’s rhetorical pearls of wisdom are:
- “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”
- Yahya Sinwar was “a brave man.”
- “The act of Palestinian resistance on Oct. 7, known as the Al-Aqsa Flood, breached Israeli security and made significant military advances. [This is] a day that will go down in history.”
- “[W]orking against U.S. imperialism at home, alongside the people of Harlem, and with an ear for their demands, we believe that we can facilitate its fall. Therefore, we cannot separate the struggle in support of a free Palestine with the struggle against U.S. imperialism.”
Hogg sees the move to deport Klalil as an effort by President Donald Trump to “shut down young people and to stop us from speaking out … [and to] shut down freedom of speech and freedom of expression … .”
I am curious whether he asked the Jewish students and righteous gentiles at Columbia, who have been prevented from attending classes and from speaking publicly in support of Israel and who have been physically threatened if they agree.
The principal problem with Hogg’s argument, beyond its moral bankruptcy, is that he has no understanding of the First Amendment.
Khalil and his fellow travelers are free to preach all the Jew-hating bile they want, but they must stay within the constraints of constitutionally recognized, reasonable restrictions on the time, place and manner that Columbia places on all political speech.
However, in the alternative universe currently known as Columbia University, there is no enforcement of its own rules when it comes to the pro-Hamas and antisemitic protests. The administration and faculty argue that if they prevent these protests, they will be stifling free speech.
What Khalil has been organizing is not free speech. It is violence and intimidation. It is not free speech to single out Jewish students and their supporters by threatening them and preventing them from exercising their right to an education in a safe and secure environment; it is criminal activity.
In contrast, when Jewish students victimized by these illegal protests look to the Columbia administration for support, they are stonewalled and ignored.
Through its inaction, the university is choosing the speech it likes while allowing the suppression of speech and people it opposes.
At its core, Columbia’s conduct is rooted in the inherently racist and antisemitic social justice ideology that has permeated and poisoned virtually every corner of this once proud Ivy League institution.
Social justice divides the world into two groups: oppressors and oppressed. White people are “oppressors” and people of color are “oppressed.” Moreover, it is virtuous for the oppressed to “liberate” themselves “by any means necessary.”
In this paradigm, Jews and Israelis are the white oppressors, and Palestinians are the oppressed people of color. Because one cannot be both an oppressor and oppressed, the Jewish students at Columbia are not worthy of protection, while Khalil and his minions are engaging in acts of “liberation” and fighting back “by any means necessary.”
In a nutshell, violence is protected free speech and protected free speech is violence.
To its credit, the Trump administration announced it is canceling $400 million of grants and contracts with Columbia because of its failure to fight antisemitism and protect Jewish students. In response, the school said: “We take Columbia’s legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is and are committed to combating antisemitism and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty and staff.”
Nobody believes that. Instead, it is all about the money. To Columbia, that $400 million is a drop in the bucket as it receives $5 billion a year in federal grants. If those subsidies stopped, however, Columbia would effectively cease to exist as an elite university.
The Trump administration’s strategy of deporting non-citizens who are engaged in or advocating for illegal acts of violence against Jews and turning off the financial spigot to institutions of higher learning that coddle or support such illegal activity is beginning to have an effect.
American Jews have the same rights and privileges as any other Americans. The Trump administration is making that point. If, in the process, that crushes the inherently racist and antisemitic social justice movement, all the better. If it results in bankrupting Columbia, so be it.