Bullying, intimidation and threats will not be enough to silence critics in American universities

The United States’ foreign policy has often been the most divisive issue in the US’ domestic political scene and student protests and participation in activism against certain policies have and will always be a clear representation of the highest levels of awareness among young Americans and the society at large. After all, schools are the incubators of political and social leaders and the hotbed of future influencers across a wide range of social issues. We have seen this in the 1960s and 1970S anti-war movement against the US involvement in the Vietnam War.

The same could be said about the response of the authorities to such youth activism, which ranges from heavy handed crackdowns to tactics of intimidation, bullying and threats targeting protest leaders. This has been the case back then and it is being repeated, but with some difference this time.

The Trump Administration’s crackdown on anti-war and pro-Palestinian activists is nothing new. It is basically suppression of dissent within society, at large, and schools represent its peak moments. Essentially, the anti-Vietnam War movement was rejection of war itself, in which thousands of students across America took the lead. The same can be said about the recent wave of anti-Gaza war and pro-Palestinian activism that have engulfed US schools and spread out to other parts of the world.

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However, what is unique this time around is the direct involvement of the President himself and the flimsy justifications he offers, which are basically: anti-Semitism and threat to national security. Mr. Trump, though, failed, so far, to offer any evidence to support his claims. To make his point, he went as far as mentioning certain targeted students by name, such as the Palestinian Mahmoud Khalil of Columbia University, who was arrested last month.

Writing on his social media network, “Truth Social”, on 10 March, President Trump said “following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil.” He went on to describe Mr. Khalil as a “radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University” without furnishing any evidence to justify the move.

In fact, Mr. Khalil, whose American wife is pregnant, played a positive role in the Columbia protests, when hundreds of students of the Ivy League school encamped on University grounds calling for an end to the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza. Khalil led the negotiations with the University administration to calm down the protestors, while communicating their demands to the University leadership. Those demands were: end US help to Israel and Columbia University should stop all kinds of dealing with both Israeli government and Israeli institutions. For leading such efforts, Mr. Khalil should be thanked, not arrested and accused of being a pro-Hamas activist. Worse still, and again without any evidence, Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio’s assessment that Khalil’s presence in the US would have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences”, while denying that the arrest is an attempt to muzzle out free speech.

More or less the same pattern of action was repeated in another two high profile cases. Conflict resolution researcher, Indian citizen Badar Khan Sur, of Georgetown University, was arrested by immigration agents and being held for deportation. He was also, without proof, accused of some kind of relationship with Hamas, which the US describes as a terrorist organisation. In fact, Mr. Sur’s only connection to Gaza and Palestine is two-fold: his marriage to an American citizen of Gazan origin and his participation in supporting humanitarian aid to Gaza years ago.  In fact Mr. Sur, renowned among the research community, never took part in his University’s students’ protest against Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the rest of Palestine. Clearly, his marriage seems to be the only reason for his arrest, as if the Trump Administration wants to decide who should marry whom!

The third high profile case is that of Yunseo Chung, a permanent resident US resident. Ms. Chung is also a student at Columbia’ sister Barnard College and she took part in Columbia’s anti-Israel encampment last April. And just like Khalil and others, she is accused of supporting Hamas, when she has nothing to do with Hamas or with Palestine, other than rejecting Israel’s ongoing mass murder of women and children in Gaza who make up more than 70 per cent of the over 50,000 that the Israeli army has killed in Gaza, so far.

The aforementioned three high profile cases are only the first of “many to come” arrests of students to come, according to Mr. Trump. While all cases are in court now, the Trump White House seems to be determined to continue its drive against free speech packaged as part of the President’s wider slogan of “Making America Great Again”.

Notably, though, the primary reason for all arrests has, in fact, been on behalf of Israel. While the US government prefers other unfounded claims for the arrests and targeting of students as being a crackdown on anti-Semitism, none of the accused and detained, so far, has been clearly accused of the crime of hating Jewish people. Furthermore, many Jewish students took part in Columbia University anti-Israeli protests, as well as in other US schools. In fact, the biggest anti-Israeli demonstrations in New York City condemning the genocide in Gaza were organised by Jewish people. A good example is the demonstration calling for ceasefire in Gaza in October 2023, which was called for by Jewish organisations, including Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

Strangely enough, not a single anti-Semitism police complaint has been filed against any of the arrested individuals or against any student who took part in the anti-Israel protests in schools.

Regardless of what the courts will decide, and even if they side with the Trump Administration, what is certain, though, is one thing: this is not the end of the story and all attempts to silence critics of the US foreign policy will fail, simply because it is the wrong policy and it is harmful to American interests, particularly in the Middle East.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.