Latest news with #AmericanJews'
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump signs executive order to cancel student visas of ‘Hamas sympathizers' who protested Israel's war in Gaza
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order promising 'immediate action' from federal law enforcement against noncitizen college students and others in the United States who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations during Israel's war in Gaza. The president has pledged to 'deport' all 'resident aliens' who joined protests, Trump said in a White House fact sheet. 'Come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,' he vowed. Trump also pledged to 'quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,' he claimed. The Department of Justice will 'aggressively' prosecute what it characterizes as 'terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews' after 'the explosion of antisemitism' on college campuses in the wake of Israel's campaign, according to the White House. 'It shall be the policy of the United States to combat anti-Semitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence,' the executive order states. As The Independent has reported, both antisemitism and Islamophobic threats and violence surged after Hamas invaded Israel in 2023, kicking off the war in Gaza and widespread protests on U.S. campuses. Under the order, government agencies have 60 days to produce a report 'identifying all civil and criminal authorities or actions' to 'curb or combat' antisemitism, with an inventory of complaints 'against or involving' antisemitism in colleges and universities. The U.S. Attorney General is 'encouraged to employ appropriate civil rights enforcement authorities' to combat antisemitism, the order states. The order also empowers colleges and universities to 'monitor for and report activities' by 'alien students and staff' for 'investigations and, if warranted, actions to remove such aliens.' Civil rights advocates warned that Trump's antisemitism policy is likely unconstitutional and unfairly paints largely peaceful student protesters as antisemitic terrorist sympathizers. 'The Trump administration's attempt to smear the many Jewish, Muslim, Palestinian and other college students who protested the Israeli government's genocide in overwhelmingly peaceful ways represents a dishonest, overbroad and unenforceable attack on both free speech and the humanity of Palestinians, all for the sake of a foreign government,' the Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote in a statement. 'So is the administration's apparent threat to deport any foreign student who merely participated in anti-genocide protests.' 'The First Amendment protects everyone in the United States, including foreign citizens studying at American universities,' Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, told The Times of Israel. 'Deporting non-citizens on the basis of their political speech would be unconstitutional.' Trump accused the previous administration, which opened more than 100 investigations into alleged antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus, of failing to stop anti-Jewish hate at universities. Trump's order does not define antisemitism, though the State Department currently relies on the non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA): 'Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.' A Biden administration official told Jewish Insider in 2023 that the White House maintained the first Trump administration's policy of factoring antisemitism into federal discrimination investigations on campus, which included and consideration of the IHRA definition. Ahead of Trump taking office, universities including Harvard, one of the most-watched centers of student protest activity against the Gaza war, settled antisemitism complaints, in what was seen as a move to head off scrutiny from the Trump administration. The new administration could exert considerable influence over campus action through federal funding, investigations of schools, and using Trump's considerable bully pulpit to add to the already heated atmosphere on campus around the Israel-Hamas war. Estimates suggest more than 3,000 students were arrested across the U.S. protesting the Israel-Hamas war, which human rights groups have called genocide. Trump has urged that Palestinians be 'cleaned out' of Gaza, which he callously characterized as a 'demolition site.' His real-estate developer son-in-law Jared Kushner remarked last March that Gaza's 'waterfront property' could 'be very valuable,' and also suggested civilians be moved out as the strip is 'cleaned up.' As The Independent has reported, campus protesters were met with a heavily armed police response, doxxing from outside groups, and violence from masked vigilantes. Trump has made fighting what he deems antisemitism a major part of his new administration, nominating New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik to be his UN ambassador. Stefanik aggressively questioned university presidents about antisemitism during a hearing in the House in 2023. On the campaign trail, Trump threatened to pull funding and accreditation from schools that allow what he called 'antisemitic propaganda,' and to deport foreign student protesters. He also claimed that Jews who maintained their traditional support for Democrats need to have their 'head examined.' Trump, in addition to fighting antisemitism, has been accused of antisemitism and fascist rhetoric himself. The Republican allegedly said during his first term that he wished he had 'the kind of generals that Hitler had,' and that the genocidal fascist who killed millions of Jews did 'some good things,' though Trump has denied making these comments. General Mark Milley, who served as Trump's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last year that Trump is 'fascist to the core.' In remarks from Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said he wants Egypt and Jordan to 'take' the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza who have been displaced by Israel's bombardments, and 'clean out' the area — alarming human rights groups who have warned that the president's remarks amount to an endorsement of ethnic cleansing. 'You're talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,' Trump said. 'You know over the centuries it's had many, many conflicts. And I don't know, something has to happen. … It's literally a demolition site, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there, so I'd rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.' Congress considered a bill last year that would require the Department of Education to consider the IHRA antisemitism definition when it carries out investigations on campus under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Civil rights advocates have warned against such policies, arguing they would chill legitimate criticism. 'Instead of addressing antisemitism on campus, this misguided legislation would punish protected political speech,' Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the ACLU, said in a statement at the time.
The Independent
29-01-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump signs executive order to cancel student visas of ‘Hamas sympathizers' who protested Israel's war in Gaza
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order promising 'immediate action' from federal law enforcement against noncitizen college students and others in the United States who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations during Israel's war in Gaza. The president has pledged to 'deport' all 'resident aliens' who joined protests, Trump said in a White House fact sheet. 'Come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,' he vowed. Trump also pledged to 'quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,' he claimed. The Department of Justice will 'aggressively' prosecute what it characterizes as 'terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews' after 'the explosion of antisemitism' on college campuses in the wake of Israel's campaign, according to the White House. 'It shall be the policy of the United States to combat anti-Semitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence,' the executive order states. As The Independent has reported, both antisemitism and Islamophobic threats and violence surged after Hamas invaded Israel in 2023, kicking off the war in Gaza and widespread protests on U.S. campuses. Under the order, government agencies have 60 days to produce a report 'identifying all civil and criminal authorities or actions' to 'curb or combat' antisemitism, with an inventory of complaints 'against or involving' antisemitism in colleges and universities. The U.S. Attorney General is 'encouraged to employ appropriate civil rights enforcement authorities' to combat antisemitism, the order states. The order also empowers colleges and universities to 'monitor for and report activities' by 'alien students and staff' for 'investigations and, if warranted, actions to remove such aliens.' Civil rights advocates warned that Trump's antisemitism policy is likely unconstitutional and unfairly paints largely peaceful student protesters as antisemitic terrorist sympathizers. 'The Trump administration's attempt to smear the many Jewish, Muslim, Palestinian and other college students who protested the Israeli government's genocide in overwhelmingly peaceful ways represents a dishonest, overbroad and unenforceable attack on both free speech and the humanity of Palestinians, all for the sake of a foreign government,' the Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote in a statement. 'So is the administration's apparent threat to deport any foreign student who merely participated in anti-genocide protests.' 'The First Amendment protects everyone in the United States, including foreign citizens studying at American universities,' Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, told The Times of Israel. 'Deporting non-citizens on the basis of their political speech would be unconstitutional.' Trump accused the previous administration, which opened more than 100 investigations into alleged antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus, of failing to stop anti-Jewish hate at universities. Trump's order does not define antisemitism, though the State Department currently relies on the non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA): 'Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.' A Biden administration official told Jewish Insider in 2023 that the White House maintained the first Trump administration's policy of factoring antisemitism into federal discrimination investigations on campus, which included and consideration of the IHRA definition. Ahead of Trump taking office, universities including Harvard, one of the most-watched centers of student protest activity against the Gaza war, settled antisemitism complaints, in what was seen as a move to head off scrutiny from the Trump administration. The new administration could exert considerable influence over campus action through federal funding, investigations of schools, and using Trump's considerable bully pulpit to add to the already heated atmosphere on campus around the Israel-Hamas war. Estimates suggest more than 3,000 students were arrested across the U.S. protesting the Israel-Hamas war, which human rights groups have called an attempt at ethnic cleansing. Trump has urged that Palestinians be 'cleaned out' of Gaza, which he callously characterized as a 'demolition site.' His real-estate developer son-in-law Jared Kushner remarked last March that Gaza's 'waterfront property' could 'be very valuable,' and also suggested civilians be moved out as the strip is 'cleaned up.' As The Independent has reported, campus protesters were met with a heavily armed police response, doxxing from outside groups, and violence from masked vigilantes. Trump has made fighting what he deems antisemitism a major part of his new administration, nominating New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik to be his UN ambassador. Stefanik aggressively questioned university presidents about antisemitism during a hearing in the House in 2023. On the campaign trail, Trump threatened to pull funding and accreditation from schools that allow what he called 'antisemitic propaganda,' and to deport foreign student protesters. He also claimed that Jews who maintained their traditional support for Democrats need to have their 'head examined.' Trump, in addition to fighting antisemitism, has been accused of antisemitism and fascist rhetoric himself. The Republican allegedly said during his first term that he wished he had 'the kind of generals that Hitler had,' and that the genocidal fascist who killed millions of Jews did ' some good things,' though Trump has denied making these comments. General Mark Milley, who served as Trump's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last year that Trump is 'fascist to the core.' In remarks from Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said he wants Egypt and Jordan to 'take' the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza who have been displaced by Israel's bombardments, and 'clean out' the area — alarming human rights groups who have warned that the president's remarks amount to an endorsement of ethnic cleansing. 'You're talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,' Trump said. 'You know over the centuries it's had many, many conflicts. And I don't know, something has to happen. … It's literally a demolition site, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there, so I'd rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.' Congress considered a bill last year that would require the Department of Education to consider the IHRA antisemitism definition when it carries out investigations on campus under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Civil rights advocates have warned against such policies, arguing they would chill legitimate criticism. 'Instead of addressing antisemitism on campus, this misguided legislation would punish protected political speech,' Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the ACLU, said in a statement at the time.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Signs Order To Deport Foreign Students Who Support Palestinian Freedom
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that would cancel visas and deport international students who have expressed support for Palestinians — the administration's latest effort to both target immigrants and crack down on free speech, particularly on college campuses. The fact sheet for the president's order describes the move as a means to address antisemitism, directing the Justice Department to prosecute 'terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews' and to use the necessary federal resources to fight what it called an 'explosion of antisemitism' since Hamas' deadly attack on Israel in October 2023. 'To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,' states the order, first obtained by Reuters. The president said that he would also cancel the visas of students he considers 'Hamas sympathizers,' describing college campuses as 'infested with radicalism.' High schools and colleges across the country erupted into protests last year over Israel's obliteration of Gaza, which has killed at least 47,000 Palestinians in what the international community and human rights groups have since labeled a genocide. Protesters also demanded that their universities divest from Israeli companies to show their commitment to peace. Trump's order 'promotes the false premise that Jews and Israel are one entity. This idea reinforces the antisemitic 'dual-loyalty' tropes,' said Jamie Beran, CEO of progressive Jewish group Bend the Arc. 'Jews feel many ways about Israel and Palestine, and the protests on college campuses have included and continue to include many Jewish participants.' Most protests appeared peaceful and unifying across ethnicities and religions — in fact, statistics from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project in May found that 97% of U.S. campus protests over the violence in Gaza had been peaceful. But despite that, law enforcement officials on many campuses were seen attacking and arresting students and professors in a manner not seen since the Vietnam War-era campus demonstrations. 'Like the college students who once protested segregation, the Vietnam War and apartheid South Africa, the diverse collection of college students who protested against Israel's genocidal war on Gaza deserve our country's thanks,' the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement. Trump condemned the campus protests while he was on the campaign trail, while the Republican National Convention's platform last year pledged to deport those who protested against Israel's military offensive. 'We are disgusted that Trump and his antisemitic, neo-Nazi, Christian nationalist allies are planning to deport students and other immigrants for protesting the Israeli military's brutal assault on Gaza,' said Eva Borgwardt, spokesperson for the Jewish American group IfNotNow. Trump's executive order is pulled directly from the 'Project Esther' report created by the Heritage Foundation, the same group that put together the massive Project 2025 playbook. The former is also a blueprint for the Trump administration, focused on using the authority of the federal government to dismantle first the Palestine solidarity movement, and subsequently other progressive social movements. Trump's order requires federal department heads to make recommendations to the White House within 60 days on all criminal and civil authorities that can be used to suppress any protests. The order 'has the potential to rip apart our communities, destroy my fellow classmates' lives, and set a precedent that allows for authoritarian attacks on any group that opposes the MAGA agenda. As a Jewish student I refuse to allow my identity to be fuel for fascist crackdown on my fellow students,' said Benjamin Kersten, who joined the student encampment last year at the University of California in Los Angeles. Because of the order's broad reach, the directive won't just impact those with student visas — millions of green card holders may face visa revocation and deportation because they support Palestinian freedom and self-determination. Instead of actually addressing antisemitism, Trump's order 'is an excuse to exploit real Jewish fear and trauma to enact authoritarian policies – policies that functionally make all Americans, including Jews, unsafe,' Beran said. 'It's the latest cynical attempt by Republicans to use antisemitism and Jews as a tool to divide and attack their perceived enemies to further their dangerous authoritarian agenda.' Despite the order appearing to only target immigrants and foreign students, experts of constitutional law warn that the directive moves the U.S. into dangerous territory when it comes to free speech of any kind and that the administration will surely be subject to legal scrutiny for that reason. The First Amendment applies to everyone in the U.S., including those studying at American universities on a student visa, according to Carrie DeCell, attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Knight published two ICEmemos in 2023 confirming that efforts to deport foreign nationals who criticize Israel's offensive in Gaza would undergo the highest level of legal review. 'Government lawyers have already considered at length whether proposals to remove people from the country based on their political speech are constitutional, and their answer is almost certainly no,' DeCell said. 'They're right. Deporting non-citizens on the basis of their political speech would be unconstitutional.' Encouraged by pro-Israel groups like the Anti-Defamation League and AIPAC, the Trump administration is operating under what Borgwardt called the lie that Jewish safety can be achieved through mass deportations and free speech crackdowns. 'The opposite is true: empowering the far right endangers Jews,' she said. 'The only true safety is shared safety. We will be safe when our neighbors are safe; our neighbors will be safe when we are safe. There is no other way.'
The Guardian
28-01-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Fears for ‘security of Jews worldwide' in wake of Elon Musk AfD speech
Elon Musk's remarks to a German far-right party that Germans should not focus on their country's Nazi past should prompt 'deep concern' about 'the security of American Jews' and 'of Jews worldwide', a leading US Jewish advocate has told the Guardian. 'Speaking as a deeply concerned American Jew,' said Halie Soifer, chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), 'I am deeply concerned about the security of American Jews, of Jews worldwide, given our president's clear alignment with dangerous rightwing extremists.' Musk, the owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X and the world's richest person, donated hundreds of millions of dollars to Donald Trump's campaign and is now a close adviser with an office in the White House complex. In a video address to the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party on Friday, Musk said it was 'good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything'; said 'children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents'; and said there was 'too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that'. He also gave two fascist-style salutes last week, during a speech at Trump's inauguration. Soifer's response comes after world leaders marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, in Poland. Given her leadership of the JDCA, and a résumé that includes stints advising Kamala Harris and Democratic senators and working on Barack Obama's first presidential campaign, Soifer said she knew she 'may be viewed as partisan'. But she said: 'This administration is clearly attempting to remake the world order in its image. And Elon addressing the AfD, encouraging the AfD, clearly aligning with the AfD is also a form of election interference, in addition to being incredibly dangerous, given the extreme views of many of its members. 'It is not the norm for a senior adviser to the US president to align with a [foreign] political party in advance of elections' next month. Amid outcry over his salutes and his comments to the AfD, Musk has denied far-right sympathies while gleefully trolling his critics. On Sunday, he pinned to his X account a Latin motto – 'Nemo me impune lacessit', or 'No one provokes me with impunity' – which Musk attributed to Sulla, a Roman dictator, but which is actually the national motto of Scotland. Soifer said: 'The salute, the message to the AfD, the fact that he is willing to joke about the criticism he is getting, it all demonstrates that [those around Trump] are unwilling to recognize how dangerous their words and actions are. 'They don't deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to this alignment. It has been a steady stream of signaling to rightwing extremists that they have an ally now in the White House.' On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people convicted over the Capitol attack of 6 January 2021. He has signed executive orders instituting hardline immigration policies including plans for mass deportations. Sign up to Trump on Trial Stay up to date on all of Donald Trump's trials. Guardian staff will send news and updates directly to your inbox. after newsletter promotion Soifer said it was imperative opponents of Trump and Musk continue to condemn extremist behavior and language, because 'words and signaling have dangerous consequences and Trump and his allies, including Elon Musk, are giving a green light to extremists. 'It's important that that American voters, especially those who may have supported Donald Trump, open their eyes and see what's right in front of them. He said he would be a dictator on day one, and for once he is making good on his promise.' On Monday evening, Soifer noted that Trump had then not issued a statement marking Holocaust Remembrance Day, a step he took each year in his first term, though in 2017 he caused controversy when his statement did not mention Jewish people. 'Donald Trump is taking Elon's advice to 'move beyond' the Holocaust,' Soifer said in a post on social media. 'It's (the end of) Holocaust Remembrance Day and Trump hasn't said a word about it. But he did pardon the 'Camp Auschwitz' insurrectionist just in time for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.' That was a reference to Robert Keith Packer, now 59, who was sentenced to 75 days in prison for his part in the Capitol attack, during which he was photographed wearing a hoodie with 'Camp Auschwitz' printed on the front. Trump sent a delegation to Auschwitz on Monday, led by Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, and Howard Lutnick, Trump's nominee for secretary of commerce. The White House eventually issued a 'presidential action', marking Holocaust Remembrance Day as a 'National Day of Remembrance' but released after 10pm ET.
