The President immediately signed an executive order aimed at deporting non-citizen college students who have participated in anti-genocide protests. He also set up a Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, which is quite obviously a Task Force to Combat Anti-Zionism.
That task force recently announced that it would be paying a visit to 10 universities to determine “whether remedial action is warranted.” Every campus selected has seen large protests in solidarity with Gaza.
The task force also revealed that it would consider cutting $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia and the federal government in response to student Palestine activism. In a statement Secretary of Education Linda McMahon claimed that “unlawful encampments and demonstrations have completely paralyzed day-to-day campus operations, depriving Jewish students of learning opportunities to which they are entitled.”
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came,” wrote President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post shortly after that announcement. “American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Amazing stuff from an administration that claims to have “brought back free speech.”
Amid this climate comes another Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on antisemitism, which took place on Wednesday.
These affairs are always loaded with a lot of preposterous claims, but let’s take a moment to single out some particularly farcical testimony from The Federalist’s Asra Nomani. According to Nomani, various Palestine solidarity groups are being funded by China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, and Russia.
According to Nomani, “These are organizations that are belying their own mission in order to use, as a trojan horse, this opposition to Israel to perpetuate this.”
Pro-Israel activist Adela Cojab praised the Trump administration for purposely conflating antisemitism with Anti-Zionism and student activists. “It seems that the new administration, because they’re putting teeth finally behind the Civil Rights Act that we’ve been begging to be enforced, administrations are finally making a difference,” she told the Senators.
Per usual, the Democrats didn’t really push back against any of these narratives. They focused on the fact that Trump is working to dismantle the Department of Education.
“If we are going to underfund the Office of Civil Rights, we can have these hearings every week, in fact we can have twice a week,” asked Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). “And the obvious question is: Who’s going to litigate the claims that are made of antisemitism on campus or anywhere else? If you truly want to stop antisemitism, you at least have to leave open the possibility that there be some way to litigate your case.”
“What’s there to investigate?,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) in response to testimony from the Nexus Leadership Project’s Kevin Rachlin. “We see it. We saw it. Did you watch television? Did you see what happened in Columbia? I mean, it was clear to me that the administration of Columbia and most members of the faculty believe passionately in diversity, equity, inclusion and the right to hurt Jews. That’s what I saw.”
On a related note Mondoweiss just launched Power & Pushback, a new newsletter dedicated to the voices of the U.S. Palestine movement and the efforts to suppress it. If there’s something interesting (or concerning) happening on your campus or in your community, please reach out to me: michael@mondoweiss.net.
Trump and Hamas
Trump’s first State of the Union was as wild and confounding as most assumed, but there were some very interesting things missing from it.
Despite the ongoing ceasefire negotiations, public discussions about the future of Gaza, and another astronomical weapon package, he only made a passing mention of Israel. Even that reference wasn’t connected to anything currently happening in the region. The country was merely name-checked during a farcical section arguing for a domestic “Golden Dome Missile defense shield.”
The omission was enough to anger pro-Israel Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who tweeted that it was “very disappointing” that Trump failed “express support for Israel and barely mentioned the hostages.”
Just weeks ago there was massive backlash over Trump’s proposed plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza and convert the area into condos. You’d think he might mention these plans in his speech, but no.
“With a leader as erratic and impulsive as Trump, it’s difficult to know what to make of this,” wrote Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani on Twitter. “On the one hand, it could mean he has signed off on Israel’s intention to derail the Israel-Hamas January agreement and resume its genocidal military campaign.”
“It could also mean that Middle East envoy Witkoff’s upcoming trip to the Middle East is designed to salvage the agreement, after the recent attempt to abrogate it and replace it with a different one failed,” he continued. “The role of Arab governments will be crucial moving forward. If they continue playing the role of inert spectators, Washington will understand that there is no price to pay for removing the leash from its Israeli proxy. If they impress upon Trump that matters have now reached the stage of directly affecting their national security and change is required, this could make a difference.”
A day later Axios‘ Barak Ravid reported that the Trump administration was holding secret talks with Hamas.
“The talks — held by U.S. presidential envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler — are unprecedented,” noted Ravid. “The U.S. had never before engaged directly with Hamas, which it designated a terrorist organization in 1997.”
Shortly after this news dropped, Trump made a post on Truth Social directly threatening Hamas with annihilation.
“‘Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye – You can choose,” he wrote. “Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you. Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted! I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say. I have just met with your former Hostages whose lives you have destroyed.”
“This is your last warning! For the leadership, now is the time to leave Gaza, while you still have a chance,” he continued. “Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!”
What to make of the seeming contradiction here? Back to Rabbani’s Twitter: “Taking into consideration that Washington’s Caligula is erratic and impulsive in equal measure, no definitive conclusions can or should be drawn.”
Hamas brushed off Trump’s threat and reiterated that it would only release more hostages in exchange for a ceasefire. Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua pointed out that negotiations for this phase were supposed to begin weeks ago, but have been held up by the Israeli government.
The group hasn’t wavered from this position since Trump took office, despite the president’s bombastic rhetoric.
By Michael Arria
Source : Mondoweiss
