Latest news with #Betar
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Is the Trump Administration Taking Deportation Orders From Extremists?
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestine activist detained by the Trump administration and threatened with deportation, thinks that government officials coordinated with anti-Palestinian groups and organizations to target him. Zeteo News reports that Khalil and his legal team from the Center of Constitutional Rights filed a Freedom of Information Act request with several government agencies to 'document and expose the reported collaboration between federal officials and private, anti-Palestinian organizations who have identified, doxxed, and reported him and others for purposes of securing the deportation of student activists advocating on behalf of Palestinian human rights.' In their request, Khalil's lawyers say that his arrest, as well as that of other pro-Palestine activists, shows patterns that indicate the government is working with outside groups who are working together to target such activists. These groups, which include the pro-Israel academic blacklist Canary Mission and far-right Betar USA, publicly take credit every time one of these arrests are announced. As early as January, Betar, a Revisionist Zionist organization that has been labeled 'extremist' by the Anti Defamation League was recommending foreign students and teachers to the Trump administration for deportation because they protested against Israel. Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at what he thought was a U.S. citizenship interview, was also on Betar's list. According to Zeteo, the FOIA request cites several examples of Betar and other organizations creating profiles for Khalil and attacking him on social media. Activists from these organizations, such as Betar head Ross Glick, reportedly met with Senator John Fetterman and the office of Senator Ted Cruz to discuss deportation efforts. Fetterman denied working with Betar, telling Zeteo that 'I do not support private organizations coming up with deportation lists, and in any event, I would never participate or assist in that.' The State Department, on the other hand, didn't deny working with such organizations. 'Given our commitment to and responsibility for national security, the Department uses all available tools to receive and review concerning information when considering visa revocations about possible ineligibilities,' a department spokesperson told Zeteo. If the Trump administration is taking deportation recommendations from extremist, anti–free speech organizations like Betar and Canary Mission, it is violating the First Amendment to the Constitution in its immigration policies. But Trump and his associates have already shown the public that they don't care about such freedoms for the people they oppose, let alone the law.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Mahmoud Khalil claims he was detained by Trump admin after right-wing group tipped off ICE and Ted Cruz
There is evidence to 'strongly suggest' that federal officials acted on tips and lobbying from right-wing and pro-Israel advocacy groups to detain Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil in March, according to a Freedom of Information Act request filed Thursday. 'For years, these anti-Palestinian doxxing groups have served as agents of repression, weaponizing inflammatory rhetoric and conflating criticism of Israel with hate speech in order to chill activism for Palestinian rights,' Ayla Kadah, an attorney the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is representing Khalil as he appeals his case, said in a statement. 'Now, evidence seems to point to the Trump administration colluding with them,' she added. The FOIA request seeks information from federal offices involved in immigration enforcement and investigation, like the FBI and the Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland Security. It accuses federal lawyers of relying on posts from online monitoring groups that claim to be tracking antisemitism, though some critics say the groups engage in unsafe doxxing campaigns. The Independent has contacted these agencies for comment. The FOIA request pays particular attention to the Zionist group Betar USA, and whether its calls to deport students influenced the effort to detain and deport Khalil. The advocacy group is known for publicly naming pro-Palestinian activists on social media and urging their deportation, and has claimed to have shared 'thousands' of targets with the Trump administration. (The administration has not publicly confirmed any contacts with the group.) Betar has also handed out mock pagers to pro-Palestine activists, a seeming reference to the likely Israeli exploding pager operation that killed both Hezbollah fighters and civilians. The FOIA request points to alleged ties between Betar and federal officials. Ross Glick, then the head of the group, has claimed he spoke with Senator Ted Cruz in the days before Khalil's March 8 arrest, as well as briefed Senator John Fetterman and aides for Senator James Lankford. 'I absolutely deny any involvement with this group whatsoever,' Senator Fetterman said in a statement to The Independent. 'I do not support private organizations coming up with deportation lists, and in any event, I would never participate or assist in that.' Betar shared a video of Glick briefly speaking with Fetterman at the Capitol in late 2024. The Independent has contacted the offices of Cruz and Lankford for comment. 'The correlation is clear, and not a coincidence: to date, not a single reported visa revocation and detention of an individual based on pro-Palestine activism occurred absent prior doxxing,' the FOIA request reads. The federal government does not accuse Khalil of breaking any laws; rather, Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a rarely used, controversial provision of federal law to declare Khalil's activities could harm U.S. foreign policy interests and then stripped his green card. The FOIA request, in part, seeks to probe what kind of information the State Department used from federal officials in reaching this decision. The Independent filed a similar FOIA request shortly after Khalil's arrest, with no response thus far from federal officials. Khalil, who is married to a U.S. citizen and held legal permanent resident status at the time of his arrest, is currently being kept at a detention facility in Louisiana. He is challenging his imprisonment in immigration and federal court. This week, a federal judge in New Jersey held that the administration's decision to revoke Khalil's green card was likely unconstitutional, though the court stopped short of ordering Khalil's release. "The Secretary's determination deserves, and gets the highest respect,' Judge Michael Farbiarz wrote. 'But arbitrary enforcement can also be a danger, when one person is given the job, if his determination veers too far away from the standard set down by Congress. Here, the Secretary's did."
L'Orient-Le Jour
07-05-2025
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
The Ultra-Zionist group Betar is resurfacing in the US
One of the most vocal allies of the Trump administration in efforts to erase the word 'genocide' from U.S. university campuses is making a comeback. Betar, the historic movement of Israel's revisionist far right, had remained largely out of the headlines for decades. But amid the Gaza war, the group is reemerging, ramping up provocative actions aimed at intimidating pro-Palestinian protesters and silencing voices calling for an end to U.S. military aid to organization, which identifies as both Jewish and Zionist, frequently shares videos on social media showing its members burning Palestinian flags or provoking confrontations with demonstrators — at times escalating into physical March 8, after Mahmoud Khalil, an activist and Columbia University graduate, was arrested at his home by U.S. Immigration and Customs...
Boston Globe
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘Pro-Israel' label does not do radical list-makers justice
Advertisement As a progressive Zionist, I believe in Israel's right to exist. However, I find the policies of its current government abhorrent and believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing government are destroying Israel. Betar promotes a narrow vision of Zionism that alienates many Jews and Israelis who believe in democracy, coexistence, and pluralism. At a time when antisemitism has become commonplace, it is crucial that newspapers be careful about how organizations like this are portrayed. Thea Breite Newton
Boston Globe
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
The Globe investigated a Zionist group that claims credit for Trump's efforts to deport students. Here are 5 takeaways.
Send questions or suggestions to the Starting Point team at . If you'd like the newsletter sent to your inbox, . TODAY'S STARTING POINT You've probably heard that the Trump administration has revoked the visas of hundreds of international students studying in the US, What you may not have heard is that the administration seems to have had help. Advertisement A handful of pro-Israel groups are publicly taking credit for some of the government's recent arrests. One such group is Betar, a century-old Zionist organization whose mantra is 'Jews Fight Back.' In recent months, Betar's US branch has compiled a list of allegedly pro-Palestinian students it believes the administration should deport. My colleagues on the Globe's Spotlight team have just 1. From 'gadflies' to influencers Betar isn't new to this. Last fall, it criticized prosecutors in Newton for charging a supporter of Israel who shot a pro-Palestinian man at a rally there, urging businesses to boycott the city. Yet Betar's influence was limited. The Newton boycott fizzled, and local officials considered the group 'very fringe.' President Trump's inauguration, however, seems to have given it new reach. An attorney for Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts PhD student detained last month, said that Betar and groups like it were once seen as 'gadflies.' Now, he and other lawyers for targeted students believe the administration is 'more than willing to act on the information' Betar provides. Advertisement 2. Betar has targeted New England students That information came in the form of a list of dozens of allegedly pro-Palestinian students that Betar says it gave to the Trump administration. According to the group, the students' offenses include pro-Hamas advocacy, as well as jaywalking and a noise complaint. So far, the administration has targeted at least seven of the people Betar listed, including Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia student immigration officials arrested in Vermont this week. 3. But its list has major errors While Betar wouldn't give the Globe a copy of its list, my colleagues found a version briefly posted on the group's website. It featured the names, photos, and descriptions of 77 people. Some of Betar's entries, however, appear to be completely wrong. In one case, the group listed the name and photo of a woman wearing a hijab, identifying her as a Nigerian Harvard student who spoke at a pro-Hamas rally. Contacted by the Globe, the woman said she's never visited the US, attended Harvard, or been to a pro-Hamas rally, calling Betar's claims 'completely false.' Betar made similar mistakes in describing at least two other students it listed, my colleagues found. 'Go to hell,' a Betar spokesperson said in response to their questions. 'Who are you to judge us?' 4. Betar's influence is unclear The administration isn't trumpeting any associations with Betar so far, telling the Globe that State Department staff make decisions about visas. Ross Glick, a former Betar employee who spoke to the Globe, wouldn't say who in the administration received Betar's list. Advertisement But the group does seem to be well connected. A public relations executive named Ronn Torossian, who founded Betar US last spring, has organized fund-raisers for Mayor Eric Adams of New York and done work for the foundation of Eric Trump, the president's middle son. Glick also claims to have made inroads with lawmakers. He has said he met with Senator John Fetterman, a pro-Israel Pennsylvania Democrat, and with aides to two Senate Republicans, Ted Cruz and James Lankford. In statements to the Globe, Fetterman denied 'any involvement' with Betar, while Lankford's aides said they have no evidence that anyone from the group met with the senator or his staff. Cruz's office didn't respond to requests for comment. 5. The group says there's more to come So far, Betar seems unbothered by those disavowals. Its website says it hopes to establish 25 chapters in the US this year, and it has raised tens of thousands of dollars on GoFundMe. Betar isn't alone in highlighting the Trump administration's supposed ideological foes. Canary Mission, another pro-Israel group, Betar isn't done, either. This week, the group predicted that immigration officials would soon target students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As Glick, the former Betar employee, told the Globe, 'We want to help our government.' Read more: ICE has also 🧩 1 Across: | ☀️ 57° POINTS OF INTEREST The Bruins gave their fans at TD Garden a stick salute after they ended the regular season with a loss to the Devils on Tuesday. Barry Chin/Globe Staff Boston Assurance: Staff for Josh Kraft's mayoral campaign Scam alert: Police warned of fraudulent emails that falsely claim Bostonians Bruins blues: After the team missed the playoffs for the first time in nine years, CEO Charlie Jacobs Legacy project: The Fieldhouse+, a $70 million athletic center near Columbia Point in Dorchester, honors a Boston Marathon bombing victim. The former guy: Joe Biden Massachusetts and New England No more room: Governor Maura Healey's administration has capped enrollment in a Massachusetts program that helps elders Systemic issue: Teacher turnover is highest at Massachusetts schools Cutting corners: Five members of New Hampshire's Commission on Government Efficiency, which its Republican governor named after Elon Musk's DOGE, Trump administration Rescue mission: Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, flew to El Salvador to try to free a man the administration wrongly deported from his state. Officials there blocked Van Hollen from seeing or speaking with the man. ( Immigration case: A judge found probable cause to hold the administration in contempt for sending deportation flights to El Salvador despite his order not to. ( Sowing confusion: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s pledge to determine what causes autism by September Setting expectations: Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, said he anticipates higher inflation and lower growth because of Trump's tariffs. Stocks fell. ( Tariff lawsuit: California is contesting Trump's power to levy tariffs without Congress's approval. ( Second brancth: Trump declared an emergency to try to expand logging in US forests. New England environmentalists say it's an effort The Nation and the World Advertisement In the dark: Puerto Rico experienced an islandwide blackout, its second in less than four months. ( Protests continue: Police used stun guns to subdue demonstrators at a town hall for Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right House Republican. ( Transgender rights: Trans women are not legally women under a UK anti-discrimination law, the country's top court ruled. ( BESIDE THE POINT By Teresa Hanafin 🫎 Animal alert: A majestic herd of migrating moose in Sweden is captivating millions watching 👟 Running hot: With the Boston Marathon taking center stage Monday, here are some of the ⛹🏻♀️ Women's sports are lit: USA Today launched a website called 📺 TV review: Star Wars spinoff 'Andor' offers an 🩴🩴 Two big flops: Yup, Fyre Fest 2 has been postponed. Are we surprised? ( 🚗 Downsize and save: Kia has introduced an affordable electric sedan ($35k) in hopes that drivers will forego their obsession with SUVs. ( 🤿 Underwater: Libertarians have long looked at ocean living as the next frontier. Some wealthy men — techno-utopians — are testing the waters. ( Thanks for reading Starting Point. This newsletter was edited by ❓ Have a question for the team? Email us at ✍🏼 If someone sent you this newsletter, you can Advertisement 📬 Delivered Monday through Friday. Ian Prasad Philbrick can be reached at
