March 12, 2025 (EIRNS)—Americans are being challenged in a healthy way to take a fresh look at their concepts of free speech after the arrest by immigration agents of Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian-American grad-student at Columbia University last weekend. While some Americans are flunking the test, there are signs that the “divided America” may not be as divided as one might think. Across the political divide free speech is considered a birthright which should not be sacrificed for momentary political expediency.
The ADL was quick to support Khalil’s arrest, but the Jewish Telegraphic Agency writes that anti-Semitism is real, but asks, “Can we deport our way out of the problem?” and “Is this the fight that we signed-up for?” This article quotes a Jewish former leader of the ACLU Udi Ofer saying that deporting a Green Card holder for his student activism is something that “we normally associate with repressive regimes.” He said, “Jews benefit when constitutional rights are protected to the fullest.” Also quoted is Rabbi Sharon Brous of Los Angeles saying, “We, the Jews, are being used to advance a political agenda that will cause grave harm to the social fabric, and to the institutions that are best suited to protect Jews and all minorities. Our pain, our trauma, is being exploited to eviscerate the dream of a multiracial democracy, while advancing the goal of a white Christian nation.”
