The Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), which purports to represent Jewish points of view within the Democratic party, claims President Donald Trump made Jews “less safe” by deporting an anti-Israel Palestinian.
As Breitbart News reported, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Mahmoud Khalil earlier this month, after the anti-Israel activist led radical protests, including illegal encampments, at Columbia University.
Many of these protests became explicitly antisemitic. Columbia’s failure to stop them ultimately led to the departure of university president Minouche Shafik last year — though such protests have resumed this year, regardless.
Khalil is currently awaiting deportation.
Halie Soifer, the CEO of the JDCA, claimed in an e-mail blast on Sunday that Khalil’s deportation actually makes American Jews less safe (original emphasis):
While we can vehemently disagree with one’s speech, that doesn’t mean it isn’t protected speech under the Constitution. In the case of Khalil, as a U.S. green card holder, he’s entitled to due process before deportation. Donald Trump’s effort to deny him that – and his threat to do the same to other pro-Palestinian protest organizers – is weaponizing antisemitism to potentially deny constitutionally protected speech. The use of antisemitism as an excuse to deny free speech is not good for our community, security, or democracy.
It may be pro-Palestinian protestors who are targeted and denied their rights today, but we don’t know who will be next. If we support the selective denial of protected speech and rights of others, even those with whom we strongly disagree, we fall into a dangerous trap that will only come at our own peril.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that Khalil, who holds a green card, had no inherent right to remain in the U.S. and would not have been admitted had he disclosed his intentions.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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