Palestine

‘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

‘This Is the Fascist Playbook’: Arrest of Mahmoud Khalil Shows Depths of Trump Threat

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

Mahmoud Khalil was pictured speaking to the press during a briefing organized by pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University on June 1, 2024. (Photo: Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“Arresting and threatening to deport students because of their participation in political protest is the kind of action one ordinarily associates with the world’s most repressive regimes.”

Civil rights organizations, legal experts, and lawmakers were among the chorus voicing alarm Sunday and into Monday over the dire implications of the Trump administration’s brazen arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian rights organizer who helped lead Columbia University student protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza.

“The Trump administration’s outrageous detention of Mahmoud is designed to instill terror in students speaking out for Palestinian freedom and immigrant communities,” said Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which has helped organize nationwide demonstrations against Israel’s catastrophic war on the Palestinian enclave.

“This is the fascist playbook,” the group added. “We all must fiercely reject it, and universities must start protecting its students.”

Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident with a green card, was arrested on Saturday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who stormed his university-owned apartment in Manhattan. Khalil’s attorney told The Associated Press that the ICE agents also threatened to arrest his pregnant wife, an American citizen.

As of Monday morning, Khalil—an Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin—was being held in an ICE facility in Louisiana, and the Trump administration is moving to revoke his green card.

While the State Department CAN revoke *visas* with very little legal process involved, stripping someone of a green card is done by DHS (not the State Department) and requires filing formal charges alleging a violation of immigration law and a removal hearing in front of an immigration judge.

— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) 2025-03-09T23:05:27.133Z

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, said Sunday that Khalil’s arrest was carried out “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting antisemitism.”

But JVP and other advocacy groups warned that the administration’s purported crackdown on antisemitism is a pretext for a dangerous assault on civil liberties, including those of Palestinian rights advocates.

“We are not fooled by the Trump administration’s claims that this blatantly unconstitutional and authoritarian attack is somehow in the name of Jewish safety,” said JVP. “Deporting anti-war students who are trying to end genocide and silencing political speech endangers all of us. We will not be divided.”

“The unlawful detention of Mr. Khalil reeks of McCarthyism. It’s clear that the Trump administration is selectively punishing Mr. Khalil for expressing views that aren’t MAGA-approved.”

Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement that “arresting and threatening to deport students because of their participation in political protest is the kind of action one ordinarily associates with the world’s most repressive regimes.”

“It’s genuinely shocking that this appears to be what’s going on right here,” Jaffer added. “Universities must recognize that these actions pose an existential threat to academic life itself. They must make clear, through action, that they will not sit on the sidelines as the Trump administration terrorizes students and faculty alike and runs roughshod over individual rights and the rule of law.”

Khalil’s arrest came days after Trump threatened to imprison students engaged in what he described as “illegal protests.” AP reported that “Khalil’s arrest is the first publicly known deportation effort under Trump’s promised crackdown on students who joined protests against the war in Gaza that swept college campuses last spring.”

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement Sunday that “the Trump administration’s detention of Mahmoud Khalil—a green card holder studying in this country legally—is targeted, retaliatory, and an extreme attack on his First Amendment rights.”

“The unlawful detention of Mr. Khalil reeks of McCarthyism. It’s clear that the Trump administration is selectively punishing Mr. Khalil for expressing views that aren’t MAGA-approved—which is a frightening escalation of Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestine speech, and an aggressive abuse of immigration law,” Lieberman added. “Ripping a student from their home, challenging their immigration status, and detaining them solely based on political viewpoint will chill student speech and advocacy across campus. Political speech should never be a basis of punishment, or lead to deportation.”

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

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Continue Reading‘This Is the Fascist Playbook’: Arrest of Mahmoud Khalil Shows Depths of Trump Threat

Fears of starvation in Gaza as Israel continues to blockade humanitarian aid

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/fears-of-starvation-in-gaza-as-israel-continues-to-blockade-humanitarian-aid

Members of the Abed family warm up by a fire at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in the Mawasi region, Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, February 24, 2025

FEARS grew today that Palestine’s population may once again be on the verge of starvation following a week-long Israeli blockade.

Israel imposed the siege to try to force Hamas to accept a different ceasefire deal to the one agreed in January.

It blocked the entry of aid shipments to Gaza on Sunday, hours after the ceasefire deal’s first phase had expired, sparking fears of hunger and more hardships during the holy month of Ramadan, which began over the weekend.

Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanou said Israel is pursuing “a policy of starvation and collective punishment” in Gaza by keeping land crossings closed and preventing the entry of crucial aid.

The siege is a “flagrant violation of international and humanitarian laws and a war crime that the world must stop and hold its perpetrators accountable,” he said.

“We renew our call to the international community, all human rights and humanitarian institutions and all free people of the world to force the zionist occupation to open the crossings, bring in relief and medical aid – and end the suffering of our people.”

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/fears-of-starvation-in-gaza-as-israel-continues-to-blockade-humanitarian-aid

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Continue ReadingFears of starvation in Gaza as Israel continues to blockade humanitarian aid

Why is an ‘ethical’ investor funding arms companies?

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/why-is-an-ethical-investor-funding-arms-companies

Is Norway’s money being invested responsibly? (Photo: Andrzej Rostek / Alamy)

Scandinavian countries are often held up as models for a better society. None more so than Norway, flush with North Sea oil wealth, which it can invest responsibly.

The money is put aside in a sovereign wealth fund, owned by the Norwegian government and managed by the country’s central bank, Norges Bank. It is the largest such fund in the world, worth £1.4 trillion.

Called the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), or just the Oil Fund, it is supposed to adhere to ethical guidelines by excluding certain companies from its portfolio.

That’s if they are involved in serious violations of human rights – especially in conflicts – gross corruption, the production of nuclear weapons and more.

However, in outright contradiction to these guidelines, the GPFG invests billions of pounds in many of the world’s largest arms companies. In fact, it owns stakes in exactly half of the world’s top 100 arms companies, accumulating at almost £14 billion. 

This includes arms companies here in the UK that supply Israel – despite Norway recognising the state of Palestine as recently as May 2024 and excluding companies from the GPFG involved in activities violating international law.

So why is Norwegian money finding its way into Britain’s arms industry, which supplies Israel? 

Arming Israel

Among these investments is QinetiQ in which the GPFG holds over £46 million in shares. 

The British defence tech firm has collaborated with the Israeli military to develop the Watchkeeper drone system, a joint project with Israel’s Elbit Systems, a company dropped from the fund in 2009 for supplying surveillance systems for the separation barrier in the West Bank. 

…

Article continues at https://www.declassifieduk.org/why-is-an-ethical-investor-funding-arms-companies

Continue ReadingWhy is an ‘ethical’ investor funding arms companies?