{"id":52091,"date":"2025-03-15T12:56:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T20:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=52091"},"modified":"2025-03-15T13:00:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T21:00:01","slug":"extremist-zionist-group-sent-list-of-palestine-defenders-to-trump-officials-for-deportation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/15\/extremist-zionist-group-sent-list-of-palestine-defenders-to-trump-officials-for-deportation\/","title":{"rendered":"Extremist Zionist Group Sent List of Palestine Defenders to Trump Officials for Deportation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Betar, the international far-right pro-Israel group that took credit for the Department of Homeland Security’s arrest<\/a> of former Columbia University graduate student and permanent U.S. resident Mahmoud Khalil for protesting the annihilation of Gaza<\/a>, claimed this week that it has sent “thousands of names” of Palestine<\/a> defenders to Trump administration officials for possible deportation.<\/p>\n

“Jihadis have no place in civilized nations,” Betar said<\/a> on social media Friday following the publication of a Guardian<\/em> article<\/a> on the extremist group’s activities.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Betar said<\/a>: “We told you we have been working on deportations and will continue to do so. Expect naturalized citizens to start being picked up within the month. You heard it here first. Those who support jihad and intifada and originate in terrorist states will be sent back to those lands.”<\/p>\n

Betar has been gloating about last week’s arrest of Khalil, the lead negotiator for the group Columbia University Apartheid Divest during the April 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, immigration officers arrested<\/a> another Columbia Gaza protester, Leqaa Kordia \u2013 a Palestinian from the illegally occupied West Bank \u2013 for allegedly overstaying her expired student visa. Kordia was also arrested last April during one of the Columbia campus protests against the Gaza onslaught.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said<\/a> that Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian doctoral student at Columbia whose visa was revoked on March 5 for alleged involvement “in activities supporting” Hamas \u2013 the Palestinian resistance group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government \u2013 used the Customs and Border Protection’s self-deportation app and, according to<\/a> media reports, has left the country.<\/p>\n

Khalil and Kordia’s arrests come as the Trump administration targets<\/a> Columbia and other schools over pro-Palestinian protests under the guise of combating antisemitism, despite the Ivy League university’s violent crackdown<\/a> on demonstrations and revocation<\/a> of degrees from some pro-Palestine activists.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>, who in January signed<\/a> an executive order authorizing the deportation of noncitizen students and others who took part in protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, called<\/a> Khalil’s detention “the first arrest of many to come.”<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice announced<\/a> Friday that it is investigating whether pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the school violated federal anti-terrorism laws. This followed Thursday’s search<\/a> of two Columbia dorm rooms by DHS agents and the cancellation<\/a> earlier this month of $400 million worth of funding and contracts for Columbia because the Trump administration says university officials haven’t done enough to tackle alleged antisemitism on campus.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Betar named<\/a> Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian studying philosophy at Columbia, as its next target.<\/p>\n

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Imagine if any Palestinian org tweeted something like this, they\u2019d arrest us for incitement. Like seriously imagine I said burn Columbia down, it would make the news and I\u2019d have FBI at my doors. But Betar continues to be a nonprofit right here in NYC. https:\/\/t.co\/RW7IbJifKp<\/a><\/p>\n

— Nerdeen Kiswani (@NerdeenKiswani) March 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n