A coalition of Jewish groups say they are being used by the Trump administration to justify the removal of student protestors supporting Palestine.
The White House says the crackdown accuses protesters here on student visas with being antisemitic and harming the country’s foreign policy interests.
“We firmly reject the false choice between confronting antisemitism and upholding democracy. Our safety as Jews has always been tied to the rule of law, to the safety of others, to the strength of civil society, and to the protection of rights and liberties for all,” the group said in a statement.
In an interview with NPR, Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs said “We’ve seen hundreds of visa revocations and arrests over the last few months. They all involve different students in different scenarios, but it’s very clear based on some of these higher profile cases, that fundamental rights of due process and civil liberties have not been applied. And when we start selectively applying rights based on someone’s views or identity, that’s a slippery slope that makes us all unsafe.”
In his executive order, President Trump wrote he would take “unprecedented steps to marshal all Federal resources to combat the explosion of anti-Semitism on our campuses and in our streets since October 7, 2023…“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
Not all Jewish groups agreed with the statement put out.
“Our community has never sought to restrict free speech rights on campus or elsewhere, but we have and will continue to seek action by universities and government against those who incite against Jewish students,” Eric Fingerhut, the CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, wrote in his own statement, according to the Jewish Chronicle. “Whether the cases that are currently before the courts are examples of such incitement will be determined in due course.”
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