Gaza

‘This Felt Like a Kidnapping Because It Was’: Family of Mahmoud Khalil Releases Arrest Video

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Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

The family of Mahmoud Khalil released a video of his March 8, 2025 arrest by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents in New York City. 
(Photo: screen grab/Family of Mahmoud Khalil)

Khalil’s wife said that “officers in plain clothes—who refused to show us a warrant, speak with our attorney, or even tell us their names—forced my husband into an unmarked car and took him away from me.”

The family of Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States now at risk of deportation because he helped lead pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last spring, on Friday released a video of his recent arrest by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents in New York City, which has sparked legal battles and protests.

“You’re watching the most terrifying moment of my life,” Khalil’s wife, Noor, said in a statement about the two-minute video. “This felt like a kidnapping because it was: Officers in plain clothes—who refused to show us a warrant, speak with our attorney, or even tell us their names—forced my husband into an unmarked car and took him away from me.”

“Everyone should be alarmed and urgently calling for the freedom of Mahmoud and all other students under attack for their advocacy for Palestinian human rights.”

“They threatened to take me too, even though we were calm and fully cooperating. For the next 38 hours after this video, neither I or our lawyers knew where Mahmoud was being held. Now, he’s over 1,000 miles from home, still being wrongfully detained by U.S. immigration,” said Noor, whose husband is detained at a facility in Jena, Louisiana.

Noor, who is eight months pregnant, noted that “Mahmoud has repeatedly warned of growing threats from Columbia University and the U.S. government unjustly targeting students who want to see an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Now, the Trump administration and DHS are targeting him, and other students too.”

“Mahmoud is clearly the first of many to be illegally repressed for their speech in support of Palestinian rights,” she added. “Everyone should be alarmed and urgently calling for the freedom of Mahmoud and all other students under attack for their advocacy for Palestinian human rights.”

Khalil, who finished his graduate studies at Columbia in December, is an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent. He was living in the United States with a green card until his arrest on Saturday. In response to a filing by his legal team—which includes Amy Greer from Dratel & Lewis, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) project—a judge has temporarily blocked his deportation.

The ACLU and its New York arm have joined Khalil’s legal team, and his attorneys filed an amended petition and complaint on Thursday. NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman said that with the new “filing, we are making it crystal clear that no president can arrest, detain, or deport anyone for disagreeing with the government. The Trump administration has selectively targeted Mr. Khalil, a student, husband, and father-to-be who has not been accused of a single crime, to send a message of just how far they will go to crack down on dissent.”

“But we at the NYCLU and ACLU won’t stand for it—under the Constitution, the Trump administration has no basis to continue this cruel weaponization of Mr. Khalil’s life,” Lieberman added. “The court must release Mr. Khalil immediately and let him go home to his family in New York, where he belongs. Ideas are not illegal, and dissent is not grounds for deportation.”

Samah Sisay of CCR reiterated those messages as the arrest video circulated on Friday, saying that “Mr. Khalil was taken by plainclothes DHS agents in front of his pregnant wife without any legal justification. Mr. Khalil must be freed because the government cannot use these coercive tactics to unlawfully suppress his First Amendment protected speech in support of Palestinian rights.”

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

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Continue Reading‘This Felt Like a Kidnapping Because It Was’: Family of Mahmoud Khalil Releases Arrest Video

UN human rights experts accuse Israel of systematic ‘sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence’ during its war on Gaza

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/un-human-rights-experts-accuse-israel-systematic-sexual-reproductive-and-other-gender

Chris Sidoti, Member of the Commission, speaks during a press conference about the launch of the latest report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, March 13, 2025

UN-BACKED human rights experts accused Israel today of a “systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence” during its latest bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the Human Rights Council, a UN-backed body that commissioned the team of independent experts, as an “anti-Israel circus” that “has long been exposed as an anti-semitic, rotten, terrorist-supporting, and irrelevant body.”

His statement did not address the findings themselves.

The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory report – which seeks to document in minute detail allegations and evidence of crimes to bolster accountability for perpetrators – could be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court or in other jurisdictions to try to bring justice for victims and their relatives.

The commission’s research examines the widespread destruction of Gaza, use of heavy explosives in civilian areas and Israeli attacks on hospitals and health facilities.

It said all three led to “disproportionate violence against women and children.”

The commission documented a range of violations perpetrated against Palestinian women, men, girls and boys and accused Israeli security forces of rape and sexual violence against Palestinian detainees.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/un-human-rights-experts-accuse-israel-systematic-sexual-reproductive-and-other-gender

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
Continue ReadingUN human rights experts accuse Israel of systematic ‘sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence’ during its war on Gaza

We need a public inquiry on Britain’s role in war on Gaza

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Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/13/we-need-a-public-inquiry-on-britains-role-in-war-on-gaza

In the aftermath of the Iraq war, several attempts were made to establish an inquiry surrounding the conduct of British military operations. Published in 2016, the Chilcot inquiry found serious failings in the British government, which ignored the warnings of millions of ordinary people over its disastrous decision to go to war.

History is repeating itself. Today, the death toll in Gaza has reportedly exceeded 61,000. Two Israeli officials are wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Britain has played a highly influential role in Israel’s military operations, including the sale of weapons, the supply of intelligence and the use of Royal Air Force bases in Cyprus.

Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of democracy. Therefore we are demanding an independent, public inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Israel’s military assault in Gaza. This inquiry should establish exactly what decisions have been taken, how they have been made and what consequences they have had. Any meaningful inquiry would require the full cooperation of ministers involved in decision-making processes since October 2023.

Many people believe that the government has taken decisions that have implicated officials in the gravest breaches of international law. These charges will not go away until there is an inquiry with the legal power to establish the truth.

Jeremy Corbyn Independent Alliance, Brendan O’Hara Middle East spokesperson, Scottish National party, Carla Denyer Co-leader, Green party, Brian Leishman Scottish Labour, Diane Abbott Labour, Zarah Sultana Independent, Richard Burgon Labour

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/13/we-need-a-public-inquiry-on-britains-role-in-war-on-gaza

UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
Continue ReadingWe need a public inquiry on Britain’s role in war on Gaza

“A person creates history, and history is built upon the stands one takes”: Dr. Abu Safiya says from prison

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Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Scenes from Israel’s siege on Kamal Adwan Hospital. On the left, the last photo of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya as he walks towards Israeli tanks. On the right, IOF forced health workers and patients to strip and evacuate the hospital. Photo: Screenshots

Despite being interrogated for 13 consecutive days, and subjected to brutal torture and abuse, a Palestinian lawyer confirmed that Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has kept his morale high.

After over two months of imprisonment in Israeli jails, new information has been revealed about Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza. According to Palestinian lawyer Ghaid Qassem, who visited Dr. Abu Safiya last week, he has gone through long periods of sustained interrogation and torture and several prison transfers.

Dr. Abu Safiya was arrested amid a brutal siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital by Israeli forces, which culminated on December 27, when the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) set Kamal Adwan Hospital on fire. The IOF also ordered 350 people, including 75 patients and their escorts, along with 185 medical staff to evacuate the hospital.

Read more: The siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital: When Israel made a hospital, its staff, and patients, military targets

In the months prior, Dr. Abu Safiya had been using his own social media page and giving interviews on local and western media in order to provide constant updates about Israel’s siege of the hospital and pleading for international institutions to take action to stop Israel’s attacks. He had become a visible spokesperson for the people of Gaza during the genocide and in particular, the healthcare workers who have faced disproportionate levels of violence as they struggled to keep the healthcare system online amid Israel’s blockade and targeted attacks.

While media reports had circulated indicating that Dr. Abu Safiya was set to be freed in the final stage of the first phase of the Hamas-Israel prisoners-for-captives swap deal at the end of February, Israel continues to imprison the hospital director, in defiance of the massive international campaign demanding his release.

Abu Safiya’s abuse and solitary confinement in Israeli detention

Prior to meeting Qassem on Thursday, March 6, Abu Safiya was only allowed to see a lawyer once throughout over two months of detention. During his imprisonment, he spent a couple of weeks in solitary confinement inside Israel’s infamous Sde Teiman detention camp, which he described as a “slaughterhouse”.

While at Sde Teiman, Dr. Hussam reported being “forcibly stripped, having his hands shackled, and being made to sit on sharp gravel for approximately five hours by Israeli forces.”

Moreover, he was subjected “to severe physical abuse, including beatings with batons and electric shock sticks, as well as repeated blows to the chest.”

The Palestinian doctor was later transferred to Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank, where he was placed in solitary confinement for 25 days, then he was moved to section 24 with other detainees from Gaza.

Qassem clarified that section 24, alongside section 23, is designated for prisoners from Gaza to keep them isolated from other Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank and the territories that were occupied by Israel in 1948.

Horrific accounts from the “slaughterhouse”

Based on Abu Safiya’s accounts, as well as other prisoners she met, Qassem described the conditions inside Sde Teiman, stating: “if we talk about this prison, it is a slaughterhouse in every sense of the word. The torture, violations, and starvation are unprecedented.”

The lawyer provided further details of atrocities practiced against Palestinian prisoners in the notorious detention facility, which included shackling prisoners for 10 months straight, denying amputees medical care, binding elderly detainees and blindfolding them.

In addition, prisoners narrated how they endure freezing temperatures in open-air cages, where they are constantly exposed to wind and rain, forced to sit on the ground, prevented from speaking, praying, or even reading the Quran.

In terms of psychological torture, Qassem was informed that the “Israeli intelligence often tells prisoners in Sde Teiman that their entire families have been killed, whether true or not”. “Such tactics leave deep psychological scars,” she said.

Israel placed Abu Safiya under “unlawful combatant” status

On February 12, the head of the IOF’s Southern Command, Yaron Finkelman, issued an order to detain Abu Safiya under the “unlawful combatant law” instead of conducting a standard legal trial,” according to the Palestinian Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights.

Qassem explained that Israeli authorities resorted to classifying Abu Safiya as an “unlawful combatant” as they could not build a case against him after failing to find any evidence against him following 45 days of interrogation.

With this classification, they stripped Abu Safiya of his basic legal rights, including representation or a formal indictment, and justified the repeated extension of his detention without charge.

Prolonged consecutive interrogation sessions and brutal torture

The testimonies of the Palestinian lawyer revealed that Abu Safiya was subjected to prolonged interrogation sessions throughout 13 consecutive days, and that each interrogation session lasted about 8 to 10 hours. Abu Safiya also experienced torture and beating, in addition to verbal and psychological abuse.

Qassem referred to the forced media appearance of Abu Safiya in an interview aired by Israel’s Channel 13, late February as evidence of the psychological abuse Abu Safiya endured.

The attorney pointed out that Abu Safiya was not aware that the interview was recorded. “He was caught off guard by the filming. He was not informed, and after the interview, he was isolated, humiliated, beaten, and tortured,” she said.

For many, the Israeli occupation authorities aimed to demoralize Abu Safiya and his supporters over the globe by filming him exhausted and shackled. Nevertheless, Qassem confirmed the steadfastness that Abu Safiya demonstrated.

Unshaken by the gross inhumane treatment and torture he suffered, the resilient iconic Palestinian doctor told Qassem: “a person creates a history, and history is built upon the stands one takes. Such history is to be recorded and taught to others.”

Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
Continue Reading“A person creates history, and history is built upon the stands one takes”: Dr. Abu Safiya says from prison

Jewish Americans and Allies Occupy Trump Tower Demanding Release of Mahmoud Khalil

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Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Common Dreams is publishing many quality articles.

Demostrators from the human rights organization Jewish Voice for Peace hold a civil disobedience action inside Trump Tower in New York on March 13, 2025.
 (Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

“We know what happens when an autocratic regime starts taking away our rights and scapegoating and we will not be silent.”

This is a developing story… Please check back for possible updates…

Nearly a year and a half after the advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace began leading nationwide demonstrations against Israel’s U.S.-backed assault on Gaza, hundreds of organizers and supporters of the group risked arrest Thursday as they assembled in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City, demanding the release of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil.

“Three hundred Jews and friends in Trump Tower, because we know what happens when an autocratic regime starts taking away our rights and scapegoating and we will not be silent,” said Sonya Meyerson-Knox, communications director for Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). “Come for one—face us all.”

The latter phrase was emblazoned on banners that were displayed by campaigners, who chanted, “Never again for anyone, never again is now!” and, “Free Mahmoud, free them all!”

New York City police officers began arresting participants in the sit-in early in the afternoon.

Jane Hirschmann, a Jewish New York resident whose grandfather and uncle were abducted by the Nazis in Germany as Adolf Hitler rose to power, said Khalil’s detention “is further proof that we are on the brink of a full takeover by an authoritarian regime.”

“As Jews of conscience, we know our history and we know where this leads,” said Hirschmann. “This is what fascists do as they cement control. This moment requires all people of conscience to take bold action to resist state violence and repression. Free Mahmoud now.”

Actors Morgan Spector, Debra Winger, and Arliss Howard were in attendance at the sit-in, along with writer and artist Molly Crabapple and New York City Council member Alexa Aviles.

Khalil was abducted by plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last Saturday night as he was returning home to his Columbia-owned apartment with his wife, who is eight months pregnant. He was a graduate student at the university until this past December, and took a central organizing role in student-led protests and negotiations against Columbia’s investment in companies that profit from Israel’s apartheid policy in Gaza, including the bombardment it began in October 2023 in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack.

Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and a citizen of Algeria, was detained under the State Department’s “catch and revoke” program, with the Trump administration revoking his green card and threatening to deport him. Administration officials have admitted that they are not accusing Khalil of breaking any laws by participating in Palestinian solidarity protests, but they said he is viewed as “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States of America.”

After a hearing Wednesday, a federal judge is considering whether Khalil should be sent back to New York, where he was detained, from the Louisiana ICE facility where he is being held. The same judge blocked Khalil’s deportation this week.

Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Common Dreams is publishing many quality articles.

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Continue ReadingJewish Americans and Allies Occupy Trump Tower Demanding Release of Mahmoud Khalil