Iran Rejects Direct Talks with U.S. Following Trump's Letter

https://www.pressrundown.com/top-news/iran-rejects-direct-talks-with-us-following-trumps-letter?

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian announced on Sunday that the Islamic Republic has rejected direct negotiations with the United States regarding its nuclear program. This statement came in response to a letter from President Donald Trump addressed to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. While Iran is open to the possibility of indirect talks, progress has stalled since the U.S. withdrew from the nuclear agreement in 2018.

Pezeshkian emphasized that Iran does not shy away from discussions but expressed concerns over the breach of promises that have led to mistrust. The Iranian government has faced increased economic difficulties and regional tensions since the U.S. adopted a "maximum pressure" strategy against Tehran. Following this policy shift, Iran's currency has significantly depreciated.

Tensions in the region have escalated, particularly following the recent Israel-Hamas conflict and ongoing U.S. airstrikes against Iranian-backed groups. Iranian officials have issued warnings about the risks of military confrontation should U.S. actions threaten Iran's sovereignty, citing their missile capabilities as a deterrent.

Trump's letter, which called for negotiations to avoid military conflict, echoed his previous communications with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, though no significant agreements resulted from those interactions. The U.S. and Israel have consistently asserted that Iran must not acquire nuclear weapon capabilities, raising concerns about potential military action as Iran advances its uranium enrichment efforts.

Despite the hardline stance taken by Iranian leadership, mixed signals have emerged from the country regarding its position on negotiations, with public demonstrations recently focusing on anti-Israel sentiments while less emphasis was placed on anti-American rhetoric. As developments unfold, the international community remains watchful of the situation.

Israel seeks to erase refugee camps from Jenin and Tulkarm

Israeli military has started implementing plans to change architectural structure of camps

By Fayha Shalash in Ramallah, Palestine

Published date: 30 March 2025

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-seeks-erase-refugee-camps-jenin-and-tulkarm

"So far, three streets have been opened, and they've begun opening horizontal roads. Residents whose houses are set to be demolished and confiscated are informed of a decision issued by the Israeli courts. This means the residents no longer even have the land to rebuild on," he said.

The demolition of homes doesn't just concern those directly impacted. When one house is demolished, all neighbouring buildings are affected due to the structural layout of the camps, where space is limited.

"When we are notified of the intention to demolish 30 homes, it actually means demolishing at least 100, because all the homes are built vertically. Similarly, when they tell us they will demolish 10 homes, they end up demolishing 40, without accounting for the significant damage to the neighbouring homes," Zuhairi added.

So far, at least 500 homes in the camp have been completely levelled, along with hundreds more partially damaged. The camp's 13,000 residents were all forced to leave, and everyone in the surrounding area was displaced.

Turning camps uninhabitable

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that the Israeli army's broader plan in the Palestinian camps is to ensure freedom of activity and create a new security reality.

A large number of homes have been searched for allegedly being used as operation rooms by Palestinians for "the preparation of explosive devices."

According to the newspaper, 200 homes were demolished in the Jenin camp, and roads spanning five kilometres were constructed. In Nur Shams camp, around 30 homes were demolished, and roads half a kilometre long were built. In Tulkarm, 15 homes were demolished, and a 200-metre long road was paved, all to facilitate access for Israeli forces when necessary.

In response, an Israeli security source confirmed that the demolitions were fully carried out after receiving approval from the Central Command and legal advice. A ban was then issued on the reconstruction of the demolished buildings and roads.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the army has prepared similar plans for the remaining 18 camps in the West Bank but that they will not be implemented unless these camps follow the example of Jenin camp in hosting armed groups.

The newspaper said the army's intention is to destroy the refugee narrative that the camps perpetuate.

The Israeli military also said it conducted a tour of Jenin camp for the heads of Israeli authorities in the West Bank, including settler leader Yossi Dagan, head of the Northern West Bank Settlement Council. The tour highlighted how the army’s activities in the area is creating a new reality where the camp is no longer used as a base for launching attacks.

In Tulkarm camp, the situation is not much different. Many homes were demolished to open up and widen roads to allow easier access for Israeli military vehicles.

Faisal Salama, the coordinator of the camp's popular committee, told MEE that the Israeli army demolished entire blocks and residential units, removed the debris from the demolitions and altering the camp's architectural structure.

"They are expanding streets, roads, and internal entrances in the centre of the camp to facilitate the entry of military vehicles and change the geographical and demographic landscape," he said.

Salama said that another goal Israel seeks to achieve is reducing the population by demolishing homes and displacing residents, creating a hostile environment until the camp becomes uninhabitable.

 

From JFK to Donald Trump: How the USA Became Wedded to Zionist Israel

by Rick Sterling Posted on March 28, 2025

https://original.antiwar.com/Rick_Sterling/2025/03/27/from-jfk-to-donald-trump-how-the-usa-became-wedded-to-zionist-israel/

There are many contrasts between the 35th president, John F. Kennedy, and the 45th and 47th president, Donald J. Trump. One extreme example is regarding U.S. policy toward Israel.

JFK and Israel/Palestine

Unknown to many people today, JFK supported Palestinian rights and sought a sustainable peace in the region.

In 1960, when JFK was campaigning to be president, he spoke at the convention of the Zionists of America. In his speech, Kennedy was complimentary about Israel but frankly said, “I cannot believe that Israel has any real desire to remain indefinitely a garrison state surrounded by fear and hate.” That warning, issued when Israel had only existed for 12 years, was ignored.  

Kennedy did not just issue warnings. To the chagrin of the Israelis, JFK established friendly relations with Egypt’s President Nasser. The Kennedy administration provided loans and aid to Egypt.

The JFK administration supported UN resolution 194 which called for the right of return for Palestinian refugees driven out of their homeland. Although Israel committed to abide by UN resolutions when it was admitted to the United Nations in 1949, the Israelis reneged on this commitment and were hostile to the resolution. The day before JFK was assassinated, the New York Times reported (p 19), “Israel Dissents as U.N. Group Backs U.S. on Arab Refugees” and “U.S. Stand Angers Israel.”  The second item begins, “Premier Levi Eshkol expressed extreme distaste today for the United States’ position in the Palestinian-refugee debate.”

John Kennedy’s brother Robert was Attorney General and headed the Department of Justice. For two years, up until the end of 1963, the DOJ made increasingly strict demands that the American Zionist Council (AZC) register as agents of a foreign country. In response, the AZC stalled, delayed, and created the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The most intense disagreement between Tel Aviv and Washington was regarding the nuclear site under construction at Dimona. JFK was intent on stopping the expansion of countries which possessed nuclear weapons. Although Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion said the nuclear site was for peaceful purposes, JFK insisted that the US needed to inspect and confirm this. The inspection deadline was December 1963.

In each of these four areas of contention, US policy changed dramatically after JFK was assassinated and Lyndon Johnson became president. Dimona was never properly inspected, and LBJ did not object to Israeli acquisition of nuclear weapons. The demand that the American Zionist Council register as an agent of a foreign country was dropped. Over time, the US withdrew their support of UN resolution 194, and LBJ was hostile to Nasser and ended US loans and support. Details of this process are described in this article and this book.

Israel Policy since JFK and Today 

With few exceptions, US policy has been subservient to Israel’s wants ever since JFK.  An extreme low point was the treachery of President Johnson in covering up the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty during the June 1967 “Six Day War”. News about the Israeli killing and injuring of over 200 US sailors was suppressed for decades.

Now we are in a new extreme low point. In his first presidency, Trump flouted international law and longstanding US policy by moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The significant move was driven by mega donor Sheldon Adelson who wanted it announced on Trump’s first day in office.  Another prime concern of Adelson was to torpedo the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. Trump responded as expected and withdrew the US from the agreement, effectively killing it.

Now President Trump’s administration is trampling on the right to free speech and aggressively suppressing critics of Israel. This repression on behalf of Israel was taking place under Biden but has escalated dramatically. Authorities have imprisoned a perfectly legal resident, Mahmoud Khalil. They have forced Columbia University to punish students without just cause and to impose obvious restrictions and prohibitions on speech and opinion. Why did they do this? It appears to follow the wishes of megadonor Miriam Adelson. She is president and chief funder of the Maccabee Task Force, which has campaigned on these issues for months.

As reported at Responsible Statecraft, “Adelson’s support for the administration’s campaign to stifle criticism of Israel on college campuses isn’t a new focus but her alignment with the levers of state powers to implement her vision are unprecedented. In fact, tax documents reveal that she is directly overseeing a social media campaign targeting Khalil and Columbia University.” 

In addition to suppressing free speech and punishing critics of Israel, the Trump administration has bombed and attacked Yemen. They are doing this despite the fact that Yemen did NOT threaten U.S. ships in the region. The Houthi government only threatened Israeli ships after Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire and prevented food and other necessary humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel, with U.S. support,  is blatantly defying the International Court of Justice which ordered Israel to “Maintain open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance” and “Immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” Israel is in violation of this order and the US is complicit by providing most of the weapons. 

President Trump, who campaigned and won election on the pledge to STOP needless wars, has started a new war with Yemen which is of no benefit to the US but serves the interests of Netanyahu’s Israel.  Will he authorize attacks on Iran, in further subservience to Bibi?

Corruption of the political process

When Jewish donors to JFK’s 1960 campaign suggested they should determine his Mideast policy, JFK was shocked and definitively said NO.  As reported by Seymour Hersh in “The Samson Option”, Kennedy talked with a friend who described what happened: “As an American citizen he (JFK) was outraged to have a zionist group come to him and say, ‘We know your campaign is in trouble. We’re willing to pay your bills if you’ll let us have control of your Middle East policy.” At that time, JFK vowed to change the US electoral system to prevent this corruption if he got elected.  As president, he tried,but faced big hurdles and did not succeed.

Ever since JFK’s death, pro-Israel forces have had undue influence on U.S. policy.  If the International Court of Justice decides that Israel is committing genocide, as seems likely, the U.S. will be the primary collaborator in the war crimes. The US is increasingly alone in supporting the zionist state as it practices apartheid within Israel, theft of land in the West Bank, and massacres in Gaza. Fourteen countries now support South Africa’s charges of genocide against Israel.

Under Democratic President Joe Biden, U.S. policy to Israel was unwaveringly obsequious. Despite 70% of Democratic Party voters wanting the U.S. to get a ceasefire in Gaza, the Biden/Blinken team refused to do this.  The zionist ideology combined with zionist financial influence superseded their party members’ wishes. Netanyahu ignored Biden’s “red lines” with impunity.

Republican  President Trump has taken this to a new level. His zionist donors determine his Israel policy. To protect Israel, Trump issued an executive order which weaponizes antisemitism. Universities are being compelled to implement a new definition of antisemitism which conflates criticism of Israel with ethnic discrimination.  Trump’s campaign to “Make America Great Again” has evolved into “Miriam Adelson Gets All”.

It is a remarkable descent from the days when JFK did what was best for the U.S. as well as being best for Palestinians and non-zionist Jews.

As Israel expands the genocide, repression mounts in the U.S.

https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2025/03/26/as-israel-expands-the-genocide-repression-mounts-in-the-u-s/?

As Israel prepares plans for a full-scale ground invasion and occupation of Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians in the week since it unilaterally shattered the ceasefire agreement, its backers in the U.S. are escalating their crackdown on opposition to the U.S.-backed genocide.

That’s because they’re desperate to regain control of a narrative that slipped out of their grasp, as American support for Israel has fallen to a 25-year low.

Columbia University has totally capitulated to the Trump administration’s demands. 

Former Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil continues to be held in ICE custody in Louisiana, over a thousand miles from his home.

The Trump regime continues to direct ICE to harass and detain other students and academics for exercising their right to free speech.

And now the Anti-Defamation League has launched a new campaign… against Wikipedia. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt went on MSNBC to accuse Wikipedia editors of antisemitism. 

These may be strongman tactics — but they are a reflection of real political weakness.

Hundreds killed as Israel prepares plan to occupy Gaza.

In the nine days since Israel’s government unilaterally shattered the temporary ceasefire agreement, it has killed over 700 Palestinians — including at least 270 children. That makes the last days among the deadliest for Palestinian children since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza over 16 months ago. 

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are being forced to flee for their lives once again as the Israeli military expands its attacks across Gaza. Many of them had only recently been able to return to their homes during the month and a half that the ceasefire agreement was in effect. 

Israel is still fully blockading Gaza, and the few hospitals that have managed to withstand Israeli attacks are barely functioning. Palestinians in Gaza City described fending off stray dogs as they waited for a single ambulance to arrive to retrieve the dozens of corpses littering the streets. 

On Monday, Palestinians mourned the murder of two beloved journalists, Hossam Shabbat and Mohammed Mansour, in separate, targeted Israeli strikes. Hossam and Mohammed are among the over 200 Palestinian journalists that Israel has murdered in Gaza since the genocide began. 

As the Israeli military pushes further into Gaza, the Israeli government is reportedly readying plans for a full-scale ground invasion that would require the deployment of some 50,000 Israeli troops — with the ultimate aim of occupying huge swathes of Gaza for months or even years. 

The plan would see over two million Palestinians forcibly relocated to al-Mawasi, an already overcrowded 10-mile strip on Gaza’s coast. Though the plan has yet to be approved by Israel’s security cabinet, it was drafted by Israel’s new Defense Forces chief of staff and reportedly has the support of far-right ministers in Israel’s government — as well as Trump’s greenlight.

Co-director of Oscar-winning film beaten and detained in West Bank.

Meanwhile, in the Occupied West Bank Jewish Israeli settlers attacked Hamdan Ballal, the Oscar-winning co-director of the documentary “No other Land.” Hamdan was subsequently abducted by the Israeli military and held in an Israeli military base — handcuffed and blindfolded for over 20 hours — before finally being released, bruised and bloodied.

On Monday night, armed Israeli settlers descended on the Palestinian village of Susiya. As is so often the case, they were flanked by Israeli soldiers, who immediately turned their guns on the Palestinians being attacked. According to Hamdan, an Israeli settler he recognized and two Israeli soldiers followed him to his home and beat him bloody. All the while, his wife hid inside with their three children, powerless to help her husband as he screamed out in pain.

“I felt they were going to kill me, not just to punish me. … I felt I would die,” Hamdan told Al Jazeera.

Settler attacks like these are a daily reality for Palestinians across the Occupied West Bank. But this violence has only escalated since the Israeli military launched a large-scale military operation in the West Bank in January, just days after the now-shattered Gaza ceasefire went into effect. 

Since then, the Israeli military has ethnically cleansed entire Palestinians towns, forcing over 40,000 Palestinians to flee their homes, accelerated illegal settlement expansion, and further empowered settler mobs to attack Palestinians with impunity.   

In the U.S., Israel’s backers are escalating their crackdown on dissent…

Repression is mounting stateside as the Trump regime and the pro-Israel lobby team up to silence anyone who speaks out against these atrocities. 

Columbia University has totally capitulated to the Trump administration’s demands, agreeing to implement draconian measures in the hopes of regaining $400 million in federal funding. Those changes include banning face masks, hiring dozens of new security officers with the power to arrest students, and putting the Palestine studies and Middle East, South Asian, and African studies departments under academic receivership.

Former Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil continues to be held in ICE custody in Louisiana, over a thousand miles from his home, though a federal judge ruled last week that his trial would proceed in New Jersey. Mahmoud was abducted from his New York apartment by ICE earlier this month in a transparent act of retaliation against him for his pro-Palestine speech.

The Trump regime continues to direct ICE to harass and detain other students for exercising their right to free speech. On March 17, ICE detained Dr. Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow in peace and conflict studies at Georgetown University, before transferring him to a detention facility in Texas. Last week, DHS issued a deportation order against Cornell University PhD student Momodou Taal, a day before he was set to appear in court for a lawsuit he filed against the U.S. government to stop the deportation of student activists. Columbia undergraduate student Yunseo Chung, a green card holder who has lived in the U.S. since she was a child, is being hunted by ICE. On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled to stop her deportation.

…but only because they’re losing control of the narrative.

Last week, Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Grenblatt went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to accuse Wikipedia of antisemitism, after the ADL published an outrageous report claiming that Wikipedia editors conspired together to push content critical of Israel. It’s a transparent attempt to shut down criticism of Israel and retaliate against Wikipedia for pointing out the ADL’s anti-Palestinian bias.

If it sounds like the ADL is getting desperate, it’s because they are. Today, American support for Israel has fallen to a 25-year low. Pro-Israel groups and their right-wing backers know they’re losing the narrative war.

Our movements are cracking open the central claim of anti-Palestinian groups like the ADL — that Jewish safety could ever come at the expense of Palestinian freedom — and exposing it for the racist lie that it is. We are disrupting business as usual at every turn, refusing to allow mass slaughter to become the new normal. 

We are building an alternative vision of Jewish safety: one that acknowledges that none of us is free until all of us are free. That has become even clearer as Israel’s backers team up with Trump’s regime of white nationalists and Nazi sympathizers to crush dissent under the guise of combating antisemitism. All the while, everyday Americans struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table are being inundated with daily media coverage of U.S.-funded atrocities. 

Our movements are successfully shifting the narrative, moving more people than ever to question why their government is funneling billions in resources out of their communities and into genocide abroad. That’s why fascists are trying to silence us: They know we have real power, and they know the people are on our side. It’s up to our movements to stand resolute in the face of this mounting repression. And as the Trump regime hurls false accusations of antisemitism at student activists, using Jewish pain and fear as a cudgel to silence dissent, it’s up to us as anti-Zionist Jews to continue crying out with everything we have.

What is Betar US, the group pushing to deport pro-Palestinian students?

The Zionist group is one of many supporting calls by Trump to deport pro-Palestine students from the US.

By Al Jazeera Staff

Published On 25 Mar 2025

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/25/what-is-betar-us-the-group-pushing-to-deport-pro-palestinian-students

Several pro-Israel groups have come out in support of United States President Donald Trump’s push to expel and deport students for participating in pro-Palestine protests on US campuses.

One of the most prominent among them is Betar US, a group that says it is sharing the names of pro-Palestinian protesters with the Trump administration.

The Trump administration has detained Palestinian Columbia University graduate and activist Mahmoud Khalil and an Indian postdoctoral scholar at Georgetown University, Badar Khan Suri, and is attempting to deport them.

Trump has promised to deport students who protested last year against Israel’s war on Gaza and who demanded that US universities divest from companies linked to Israel.

So what is Betar US, why is it pushing for the deportation of pro-Palestinian protesters, what criticism has it faced, and what are the other groups supporting Trump’s moves against campus protests?

What is Betar US?

Betar US is a branch of Betar, a Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 by Ze’ev Jabotinsky, who promoted the idea of strong Jewish militarism and territorial expansion. The group says it has branches across the world, including chapters throughout the US.

“Our movement has changed the course of the Jewish world. We are the fastest growing Zionist movement worldwide with more than 35 chapters, including throughout Europe, Latin America, Australia and the United States,” Daniel Levy, spokesperson for Betar US, told Al Jazeera by email.

“We are loud, proud, aggressive and unapologetically Zionist. We aren’t the nice, polite Jews we are the loud proud Zionists,” the group says on its website.

Zionism is a nationalist and political ideology originating in 19th-century Europe that called for the creation of a Jewish state.

Betar US works “on campus, in cities, in the media, in business communities and on the streets”, according to its website.

But critics have questioned the gulf between the group’s bold advocacy of its views and the limited information about Betar US leaders and members available on its public platforms, including its website.

Jenin Younes, a civil liberties and free speech lawyer, said the secrecy was “unusual”.

“They claim to be loud and proud,” she said, “but their website does not say who their employees are. That is somewhat unusual for a nonprofit that has received tax-exempt status from the state of New York.”

“It suggests that they are trying to shield themselves from accountability,” Younes said.

Betar US, however, rejected suggestions that it had anything to hide. “Betar in the US is a 501c3 non-profit and in full compliance with all rules and regulations and filings,” Levy told Al Jazeera.

Who is Betar US targeting?

Since the campus protests erupted last year, Betar US has doxxed pro-Palestinian students. “We’ve provided his name to the government! And many more,” Betar posted on X in January, referring to Khalil.

In the same X thread, the group posted a video with Khalil giving an interview, and accused him of saying “Zionists don’t deserve to live while he’s on a visa”. But in the clip shared by Betar US, Khalil does not say that.

Two days after Khalil was arrested, Betar US posted a message on X in which they openly declared their intent to have pro-Palestinian students expelled. In the widely shared post, the group said: “We told you we have been working on deportations and will continue to do so. Expect naturalised citizens to start being picked up within the month.”

In the statement to Al Jazeera, Betar’s Levy confirmed that “we provided hundreds of names to the Trump Administration of visa holders, and naturalized Middle Easterners and foreigners”, who he claimed — without offering evidence — “support US designated terrorist organizations”.

“Those who come to the United States on visas or as naturalized citizens and encourage hate and violence will be deported,” Levy said.

The group also insists that those it is targeting in its lists are anti-Semitic. However, many civil rights organisations have in recent months raised concerns that pro-Israel groups and their supporters are conflating criticism of Israel and Zionism with anti-Semitism, which they say hampers free speech in the US and other countries.

“Betar US is acting as a nonprofit organisation here in the US,” Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), told Al Jazeera. “But they are engaged in aggressive forms of harassment, going after First Amendment rights [which grants free speech].”

Ayoub called Betar US “a problematic entity that is causing a lot of concern”.

What has Betar US said on Gaza?

The group has openly called for a bloodbath in the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip, where Israel has resumed its devastating war. In a now-deleted post, Betar US responded to a list of names including hundreds of Palestinian babies killed in the enclave, saying: “Not enough. We demand blood in Gaza!”

On Tuesday, Israel launched a predawn strike in Gaza after a breakdown in talks for the second stage of the ceasefire, killing more than 400 people, including 174 children and women. Israel has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023. The brutal Israeli response came after Hamas carried out an attack in Israel, killing 1,139 people and taking some 250 captive, dozens of whom remain in Gaza.

Betar’s social media accounts have repeatedly posted messages calling for violence and the expulsion of Palestinians from their land. In one post, the group said it “firmly supports the plan to remove Palestinians from Gaza”.

Younes, the civil liberties lawyer, recalled how in January, Betar US said in a post on X that they were going to disrupt a vigil for Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year.

Betar US has been labelled an “extremist group” by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Jewish advocacy group set up more than a century ago to combat anti-Semitism.

However, Levy said in his statement to Al Jazeera that the group was a “mainstream” Zionist organisation and represents “the majority of the Zionist and Israeli public”.

Levy dismissed ADL’s labelling of Betar as “extremist”. The ADL, he said, was a “radical, left-wing, woke” organisation. “Anyone calling Betar extremists is calling Zionism extremism,” he said.

Is Betar US backing Trump’s deportation plans?

Totally, it says.

“Those who come to the United States on visas or as naturalized citizens don’t have the right to come participate in Hamas events or support terrorist organisations,” Levy said. “We support the Trump Administration’s policy.”

However, Trump administration officials are yet to make public any evidence linking those who have been detained — including Khalil — to any support for Hamas or other organisations listed as “terrorist” groups in the US.

Khalil, who has been lodged in a detention facility in Louisiana, said on Tuesday he was a “political prisoner” in his first comments since his arrest by Department of Homeland Security officers on March 8. “My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night,” he wrote.

On March 7, before his arrest, Khalil had written an email to Katrina Armstrong, the interim president of Columbia University, asking her to “protect international students from doxing and from deportation”, citing threats by Betar.

Younes, the free speech lawyer, said the arrest “speaks to the sheer insanity and terror of the current moment”, especially if “the president of the United States” was taking Betar’s advice about whom to deport – something that has not yet been confirmed.

Betar, meanwhile, wants the Trump administration to do even more.

“While we thank the Trump Administration, we urge many more deportations and quicker,” Levy, the Betar spokesperson said.

Are there other groups supporting Trump’s crackdown?

Yes, but to different extents.

• ADL – The group has dubbed the campus protests as anti-Semitic and has backed Trump’s executive orders to combat anti-Semitism on campuses. However, it did not publicly support mass deportation campaigns.
• Mothers Against College Antisemitism (MACA) – The group claims to combat alleged anti-Semitism on college campuses and has welcomed Trump’s executive orders. It supports the deportation of Khalil and other pro-Palestinian activists it describes as Hamas supporters.
• Canary Mission – It is an online database that “documents individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond”. It publishes personal information about people and institutions that it considers to be anti-Israel or anti-Semitic. It has welcomed Khalil’s arrest and called for the arrest of more students and faculty.

Are Trump’s planned deportations legal?

The legality of Trump’s deportation threats remains highly contentious.

According to Ayoub from the ADC, Trump’s deportation orders are technically legally enforceable. The administration has the authority to revoke the visas of foreign students under certain conditions – namely if a person is engaging in fraud, or has been deemed a national security threat, say experts.

However, Younes argued that the First Amendment of the US Constitution “does not differentiate application based upon immigration status”, and that these deportations are “unlawful”.

Khalil’s lawyers have approached the courts to have his deportation blocked.

More broadly, civil rights groups are alarmed over what they perceive as a crackdown on free speech, which is protected under the First Amendment.

Ayoub said universities have a responsibility to protect students.

“Universities have to stand by the right of all students to exercise their First Amendment rights to freedom of expression. They can’t engage in vilifying students or spreading information about them,” Ayoub said.

He warned that this situation creates a “chilling effect” where students are too afraid to speak up, affecting not just Palestinian activists, but all other activists.

Osama Abuirshaid, executive director of American Muslims for Palestine, echoed similar concerns, saying universities have “completely capitulated to pressure from big donors and the Trump administration”.

“These are some of the most difficult times to be a student of conscience and global citizen,” he told Al Jazeera.

Younes, the free speech lawyer, said with Trump’s executive orders in effect and groups like Betar US targeting students, foreign nationals, especially, should seek legal counsel immediately before engaging in pro-Palestine activity.

“Unfortunately, the safest thing to do is to remain silent now,” she said.

 

Gaza Health Ministry Releases Names of 15,613 Children Killed by Israel Since October 2023

The ministry has fully identified more than 50,000 Palestinians that have been killed, but the real death toll is likely much higher

by Dave DeCamp March 24, 2025

https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/24/gaza-health-ministry-releases-names-of-15613-children-killed-by-israel-since-october-2023/

Gaza’s Health Ministry on Monday released the names of 15,613 children who have been killed by the US-backed Israeli assault on Gaza since October 2023.

The children were included in a list of 50,021 Palestinians who have been killed by the IDF and have been fully identified. The first 27 pages of the list named infants killed by the Israeli military who didn’t reach their first birthday, accounting for 876 of the dead children.

Children aged 6-12 were the most represented age group among children killed by Israel, accounting for 36.8%. Children aged 13-17 accounted for 31.2%, while ages 1-5 accounted for 26.3%, and infants made up 5.7% of the 15,613 slaughtered kids.

The list only includes children who have been fully identified as of March 23 and doesn’t account for those missing under the rubble or children who have died due to indirect causes due to the Israeli siege.

Gaza’s Media Office has said that nearly 62,000 adults and children have been killed by Israeli violence since October 2023, a number that accounts for missing Palestinians. Other estimates that factor in indirect deaths put the death toll in the hundreds of thousands.

Hundreds of children have been killed since Israel restarted its massive bombing of Gaza last week. According to Haaretz, 200 children were killed in a single day, marking the single largest massacre of children in Israel’s history.

When asked about the massive child casualties, the US has blamed Hamas and has expressed its full-throated endorsement of Israel’s actions. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters last week that the US would “stand with Israel in every circumstance.”

 

 

Report: Israel Planning More Aggressive Invasion of Gaza

The IDF will take control of the humanitarian aid in the Strip

by Kyle Anzalone March 23, 2025

https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/23/report-israel-planning-more-aggressive-invasion-of-gaza/

According to the Washington Post, the Israeli military is gearing up for a major ground operation in Gaza that could last months or longer. Last week, Israel broke a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas and conducted large-scale bombings in the Strip that killed hundreds.

The Post spoke with current and former Israeli officials, who explained that “The new and more aggressive tactics” would probably include “direct military control of humanitarian aid,” “targeting more of Hamas’s civilian leadership, and evacuating women, children and vetted noncombatants from neighborhoods to ‘humanitarian bubbles.’”

The officials said those who are not evacuated would face a siege that is a “more intense version of a tactic employed last year in northern Gaza.” In 2024, the Israeli military carried out a version of the “general’s plan,” an outline for ethnic cleansing drawn up by retired IDF generals for Northern Gaza.

The plan called for the complete evacuation of all Palestinian civilians south of the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land controlled by the Israeli military. Under the plan, if civilians don’t leave, they are to be treated as combatants and killed, either by military action or starvation.

The Post reported the more brutal strategy reflects a change in military leadership, and the new policy is more in line with the view of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi stepped down from that post earlier this month. He was replaced by Eyal Zamir.

Amir Avivi, a former deputy commander of the military’s Gaza division, explained to the Post that President Donald Trump’s vigorous support for Tel Aviv gives Israeli military commanders more faith that they will have the equipment needed in Gaza.

“Now there is new [IDF] leadership, there is the backup from the U.S., there is the fact that we have enough munitions, and the fact that we finished our main missions in the north and can concentrate on Gaza,” Avivi said. “The plans are decisive. There will be a full-scale attack and they will not stop until Hamas is eradicated completely. We’ll see.”

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has decimated the Strip and killed at least 50,000 Gazans. Still, Israeli and US officials have said Hamas has returned to its prewar strength. The Post noted that the IDF would not be less restrained in order to defeat Hamas.

Yossi Kuperwasser, a former senior IDF intelligence official and head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security think tank explained, “There is less opposition now with Zamir and [Defense Minister Israel] Katz. They are more ready.”

“The government was committed to removing Hamas from power,” Kuperwasser added. “The security establishment was not happy with this idea. They were trying to focus more on military assets and less on civilian assets. Because once you remove Hamas from Gaza, the IDF would have to rule Gaza.”

While the Post report says the IDF plans to wage a counterinsurgency in Gaza, Katz has said Tel Aviv will expel the Palestinians and annex the Strip. “I have instructed the IDF to seize additional areas in Gaza, while evacuating the population, and to expand the security zones around Gaza for the protection of Israeli communities and IDF soldiers,” he said on Friday.

On Saturday night, the Israeli Security Council established a new office that will coordinate the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.

Since breaking the ceasefire and hostage deal last week, Israel has resumed large-scale bombing in Gaza. Additionally, Israeli troops have attacked Rafah in southern Gaza and the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.

Jewish plan for the future – take your land and turn you into a Jew

A prominent Jewish futurist talks about Jewish future

Hua Bin

Mar 24, 2025

Hua’s Substack

Max Singer was a Jewish co-founder of Hudson Institute and a self-styled futurist. Hudson Institute is a right wing think tank originating from Rand Corporation “with a unique future-oriented perspective” (according to their marketing material).

Singer’s better known co-founder was a Herman Khan, fellow Jew and the most celebrated nuclear strategist of his day, who had the dubious honor of being the model for the mad ex-Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove, a movie directed by another Jewish celebrity Stanley Kubrick.

Max Singer, the Jewish futurist, wrote an article titled “A futurist looks at the Jewish future” in 1987 and the magazine Mosaic, an online Jewish publication “of Jewish ideas, religion, politics, and culture”, reprinted it in 2020: https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/history-ideas/2020/04/a-futurist-looks-at-the-jewish-future/

The following are some quotes from his article that shed light on a leading Jewish futurist’s idea for the future of the Jews and Judaism. Of course, those were his views only, not some overt official Israeli or Jewish religious mandates. You can interpret them anyway you want to. My own thoughts are in italic in the parentheses after each quote.

“…more importantly, we Jews have much more power to defend ourselves than we have had during most of the last 2,000 years. We no longer need be dominated by the fear that if we attract attention we will be attacked and destroyed.

This all adds up to a tremendous opportunity for the expansion of Judaism. If classic Judaism represents a superior way of life and/or the way God wants people to live, why shouldn’t tens or hundreds of millions of people choose to become Jews? By “choosing to become Jews” I mean deciding to join their fate with and to love the Jewish people, and to live a Jewish life with the Jewish people according to Jewish law—as best they can—after a conversion according to that law”.

(many in the west have accused Muslims want non-Muslims to live under Sharia Law. I wonder what they think of this? How many in the west want to join “the superior way of life and/or the way god wants people to live – as exemplified as Israel today?)

“This view of future Jewish possibilities tells us something about our role as Jews today. We, and especially the Jews of Israel, are determining the future of Judaism by showing the world what kind of life, what kind of people, and what kind of state Judaism produces.”

(Indeed, the world has learned what kind of life, people and state Judaism produces in its homeland of Israel from Israel’s very moral actions in Gaza and the west bank in the last 2 years).

Now look at Judaism as a competitor in the marketplace where people decide how to live and what to live for. Pride is not the only basis for thinking that we have a product good enough to gain a serious share of the market. Judaism is intended to teach a way of life that fulfills basic human needs. It is an extraordinarily wise and sensitive system for making the world better by helping people to be good. It is also an expression of idealism that can attract and harness the determination of young people to improve on their parents’ world with methods that build on rather than destroying what has been created before.”

(interesting. It seems the state of Israel is bent on “creative destruction” in Palestine today, not so much “building on rather than destroying what has been created before. Who knows, maybe they don’t mean what they say – surprise, surprise. Didn’t we talk about their sacred Kol Nidre before?)

“The facts of future demography are clear. In a century or so there will be about ten billion people in the world… If Jews are to constitute even 1 percent of this population—and we have never been such a small fraction of the civilization of which we were a part—there will be at least 100 million Jews (many of them converts or descendants of converts)…This means that there will be plenty of Jews to be a majority in Israel—whichever line eventually becomes our eastern border.”

(now it makes sense why Israel doesn’t have a border – it is in a state of “becoming” so its eastern border is organic and grows. Mohammed bin Salman, watch out).

“We can be 100 million in a century and a half-billion in two centuries, even if there is not a single year in which new converts are as many as 1 percent of our population.

To get a perspective on how much change can happen in only two centuries, think back to the United States 200 years ago, when we wrote our Constitution. There was already an American people, but they were few, poor, uneducated, part slave, and relatively unimportant in the world. Now all those things have changed, but we are still Americans (and as a committed Jew whose two grandfathers were immigrants—and two of whose sons are Israelis—I still can comfortably say “we”).

The United States grew so big and powerful primarily because of the immigration of people who were not American and didn’t speak English, but became American. (And the United States never sought, or even desired, large numbers of immigrants.) While there are obvious differences between the United States and Judaism, American history does teach us how much can happen in 200 years—and how much continuity can be combined with so much change.”

(now this comparison with the US is thought provoking on many levels – 1) isn’t the US already the New Jerusalem, ruled by a Jewish overlord class? 2) Can the world live with another US-like Jewland? Do people have to live with Jewish hegemony on top of US hegemony? Will the US hegemon fight the Jewish hegemony for world domination or merge into yet another Frankenstein state? 3) To accommodate “half a billion” Jews, how many land do they need to grab? To reach the size of US – even minus 51^st state Canada and Greenland, Eretz Israel needs to take over the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Granted India is only too happy to become part of Jewland given their fervent admiration of all things Jewish, including Jewish genocide – see for yourself on X, Facebook and other social media, would the others also kneel and succumb?).

“…although we generally think that Israel will be successful if most Jews come to live there, the fact is that if 200 years from now most Jews live in Israel, Judaism of this era will have failed. That is, even if there are 30 million Jews filling our ancient borders, if there is not a much larger number of Jews living outside of Israel we will have failed to achieve our task of living lives that witness God’s hope for the peoples of the world.

To me, all of this says that Judaism up to now has all been prologue, and that the real show is about to begin. The actors are about to come on stage in great numbers for the first time. What are we if we do not believe that we can live so that a fair share of them will choose our way?”

(the battle line is drawn – what has come so far is just a prologue, the Jewish project has much bigger aspirations. They want your land and convert your children into a Jew. The question is how will the goyim choose).