Image by Ian Hutchinson.
Silencing Dissent on U.S. Campuses to Gaza’s Streets
Desperate to silence dissent and critics of Israel, the Trump Administration made its appeal to satisfy the Israeli Lobby by deporting pro-Palestinian student-activist Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil, who spent several months in ICE Detention for his activism at Columbia University was ordered on September 12 to be deported back to Syria or Algeria, by Jamee Comans, an immigration judge in Louisiana. Trump, campaigning on an “American First” agenda, has notably put Israel as the focal point of his administration, giving unfettered access to his presidency. Israel is positioning itself to finally solve the Gaza question, making its push into Gaza City in its quest to vanquish the Palestinians from their indigenous homeland. As the situation in Gaza becomes increasingly dire, domestically, we are entrenched in a fight for the essence of our democracy as this administration erodes all fundamental human rights.
Palestinians Denied the Right to Belong Anywhere
Mahmoud Khalil has garnered the most headlines during the crack-down on pro-Palestinian dissenters, yet he is not the only one. Americans are often mystified when doubt is cast on America being anything other than a safe haven for immigrant castaways looking to descend on a life of fame and fortune. The veil has been lifted on such prevailing beliefs during the Trump administration’s ICE crackdowns on illegal immigration, reminiscent of “gestapo-like behavior.”
Following the trend of pro-Palestinians detained by immigration, Mohsen Mahdawi, another prominent Columbia Student-activist involved in campus protests, was released from custody on April 30, 2025 following a 2 week stint in ICE Detention after he was arrested during an appointment to apply for citizenship in Vermont. He subsequently languished in prison without being charged for a crime.
Colombian students fought valiantly against their genocidal collaborations endowment with the hopes of divesting from holdings in Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. Their heroic stance echoed the resistance shown during the Vietnam War in 1968 when students occupied Hamilton Hall.
Across the pond in Massachusetts stood Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk as she walked to dinner with her friends, she was approached by mysterious, plainclothes agents of facism (ICE). These masked men subsequently arrested her without valid evidence of a crime committed. From March 25 to May 9, 2025 she spent 45 days in South Louisiana ICE Processing Center. She described her living conditions as “overcrowded mouse-infested cell with 23 other women,” reported on May 9, 2025 by NPR . She was guilty of no crime other than writing an op-ed that was sympathetic to the Palestinian plight. Her arrest was clearly in retaliation.
The weaponization of ICE has been one tool this administration has used arbitrarily to silence critics of Israel. Across the country we have seen an uptick in violence against Arabs and Muslims.
According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), “8,658 complaints regarding anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents last year – representing a 7.4 percent rise year on year – was the highest number since the group began compiling data in 1996,” states Al Jazeera.
The months following Oct. 7 gave way to a new wave of Islamophobia in the U.S. similar to what transpired after 9/11. In her own words, Sara Masoud, a Palestinian-American assistant professor organized a demonstration in support of Gaza.
“As soon as I got on the megaphone and started chanting, these two large white men with Israeli flags draped around their backs, one with a baseball bat in his hand and a handgun strapped to his waist, come straight towards me and start yelling slurs and shouting at us to leave. They called us terrorists, idiots, told us to leave the country and more and more. They kept getting closer and closer to me and tried to pull my face mask off and yelled, ‘Who are you trying to hide from?’ The man looked like he was about to hit me with his baseball bat,” according to the Nation.
This event is not an isolated incident. As reported by the Nation, there has been a disproportionate amount of “anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hate attacks: over 1,200 in the first month since October 7, a 216 percent increase from the same period in 2022,” according to CAIRs.
Dehumanizing Rhetoric in Washington
Aligned with our political elite’s pro-Israel agenda, we often hear rhetoric that maligns Palestinians, relegating them to terrorists unworthy of the same human decency. A cartoonish like figure, Rep. Brian Mast is often seen on Capital Hill wearing an Israeli military uniform. Serving 12 years in the U.S. Army, Rep. Mast lost both of legs in an attack suffered on his deployment to Afghanistan. He eventually went on to serve in the Israeli military in a civilian capacity. Using such vile and hateful language, Mast has compared Palestinians to Nazis, saying “I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ during World War II. It is not a far stretch to say there are very few innocent Palestinian civilians,” according to Aljazeera.
One of the more contemptuous political figures, vehement xenophobes, and racists, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has often displayed his disdain for African Americans. As governor, he has repeatedly sought to diminish the lives of black people.
“[DeSantis] the same governor who used his power to eliminate a Black-access congressional district in North Florida. This is the same governor who removed the only Black woman state prosecutor from office, replacing her with an acolyte. This is the same governor who sought to censor Black history in classrooms and called slavery ‘beneficial’ for Black people,” according to the ACLU Florida.
Aligned with the same contempt for black people, DeSantis has uttered the same resentment for Palestinians. At an event during his presidential campaign in 2023, he offered his views on Palestinians in Gaza, “If you look at how they behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they are all antisemitic. None of them believe in Israel’s right to exist,” according to CNN.
Reclaiming Rights from the River to the Sea
The underlying question remains. Where can Palestinians go to truly belong? Since the advent of 1948, The Nakba, Palestinians have been subjugated to mass waves of migration from their ancestral homeland. Jordan, hosting the largest number of Palestinian refugees, has often treated this sector of the population differently from full fledged citizens. A population in despair, Palestinian refugees are “excluded from rights and services enjoyed by citizens and are amongst the most destitute communities in Jordan,” according to Amnesty.
Palestinians face an unsettled future. Intrinsic to the lives of every Palestinian and fundamental to the formation of a Palestinian State, is the dismantling of the Zionist State, replaced by one inclusive state, with equal rights for all, from the river to the sea.
The post The American Nakba appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
From CounterPunch.org via this RSS feed