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.
Agents from the Department of Homeland Security detained Khalil, a Palestinian activist and recent Columbia University graduate, at his apartment building Saturday night, claiming that his student visa had been revoked. When Khalil's wife produced his green card, showing that he was a lawful permanent resident, the agents said that was revoked, too. They also threatened to arrest his wife, a U.S. citizen who is reportedly eight months pregnant.
According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement online system, Khalil is currently being held at a detention facility in Jena, La. The reason for his detainment is unknown, because the DHS agents did not provide one. This violation of civil liberties clearly stems from Khalil's pro-Palestine activism, and on Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the connection explicit, disparaging Khalil as a "Hamas supporter." Last week, Rubio started a new "Catch and Revoke" effort, with "AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders' social media accounts," to cancel the visas of anyone deemed to be supporting Hamas.
Khalil, who graduated from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs this past December, has been involved with pro-Palestine movements at the school, and held the role of lead negotiator in the students' Gaza solidarity encampments on campus last year. His detainment is part of President Donald Trump's plan to use antisemitism as blanket justification to track and punish Palestinians. Trump's administration announced on Friday the cancellation of $400 million in federal grants and contracts for Columbia, accusing the school of "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students." In Khalil's case, the reason shared by the White House was even vaguer and delivered in more tortured language: He "led activities aligned to Hamas." With this, as well as Speaker Mike Johnson comparing Khalil to "an aspiring young terrorist" on Tuesday, the supposed threat to campus safety became a matter of national concern.
Essentially, the U.S. government boasted about kidnapping a Palestinian because he was critical of Israel. "This is the first arrest of many to come," Trump wrote in a statement on Monday. It's flatly disgusting and horrific to snatch up anyone in this fashion, and yet few figures of authority can bear to say it. In his statement, New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries chose to accept the premise that Khalil merited punishment at all. Columbia's administration, an entity too craven to stand up for its own student body on any other day, hasn't done so in this case either. Interim President Katrina Armstrong released an entirely hollow statement Monday afternoon that did not mention Khalil by name. According to a report from Prem Thakker of Zeteo, Khalil had sent an email to Armstrong requesting protection the day before he was detained, requesting protection from the harassment and threats he was receiving:
“Since yesterday, I have been subjected to a vicious, coordinated, and dehumanizing doxxing campaign led by Columbia affiliates Shai Davidai and David Lederer who, among others, have labeled me a security threat and called for my deportation,” he began.
“Their attacks have incited a wave of hate, including calls for my deportation and death threats. I have outlined the wider context below, yet Columbia has not provided any meaningful support or resources in response to this escalating threat,” he added.
“I haven’t been able to sleep, fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urgently need legal support, and I urge you to intervene and provide the necessary protections to prevent further harm.”
Khalil's attorney filed a petition that caused a federal judge to temporarily block any deportation, but regardless of the outcome here, this won't be the end of it. Zionists like Columbia assistant professor Shai Davidai, an alumni WhatsApp group, and the agitators at Betar, which clamored for credit for Khalil's detainment, can now direct the federal government's scrutiny toward anyone speaking out against Israel's occupation and genocide of Palestinians, confident that the majority of Democrats won't stand in the way. "Supporting Hamas," as it has been for years, is the blanket statement to permit extrajudicial methods. Once again, hypothetical peril is being used as the basis for snatching a graduate student without justification, on the all-purpose charge of "activities." Along with the billions of dollars in military aid, Israel has taken many unlawful tactics from the U.S. in an effort to maintain apartheid. Now it seems the master has become the student.
While it may not feel like it, the Zionist movement is in a period of desperation. Polling shows that American support for Israel is at its lowest mark in 25 years. As it turns out, massacring thousands of Palestinian children and their families does not appeal to the broader public. Desperation invites danger, however. The image of the supposed only democracy in the Middle East has crumbled, and the costs to repair it will be paid by Americans in their own country. No longer able to persuade, Zionists and their allies will be content to punish.
