Please look into the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, an activist at Columbia University who was detained by ICE. Mr. Khalil is a permanent resident of the US who was detained illegally for exercising free speech in defense of the millions of people in Gaza being eradicated by Israel.
Is it wrong to be empathetic to the suffering of infants, children, women and elderly who are dying daily because of a lack of humanitarian aid? And a lack of electricity & potable water due to relentless carpet bombing which has destroyed most of the infrastructure in Gaza?
This is being orchestrated by an occupying oppressive government, who is collectively punishing a population for (let’s just admit) daring to resist the oppression and occupation. It’s their right by international law to resist oppression, even by force. Israel is now moving on to the West Bank & attempting to annex it. We are directly responsible for aiding them with the weapons to destroy a population in its entirety.
Is there a reason we’re supporting Ukraine against an oppressive occupying government like Russia but denying our support from Palestine? I know you consider Israel to be “our greatest ally” but at what point are you going to acknowledge Israel is doing the same thing as Russia (and has been for decades)? It’s the height of hypocrisy to support Ukraine & Israel concurrently.
History will remember this as another holocaust. Isn’t it supposed to be “never again?” Shouldn’t it be “never again for anyone?” Do you really want our country to be complicit in ethnic cleansing, genocide & complete eradication, the Palestinian Holocaust? I know I don’t.
Free speech doesn’t just apply to speech you approve of, free speech applies to what you don’t support as well. It’s protected by the first amendment, the right of citizens and permanent residents who are not only your constituents but also pay your salary.
Or maybe you’ve been bought by lobbies who want to suppress speech against Israel. Is that why you’re voting to keep supplying the tools of slaughter?
Criticizing a foreign government’s war crimes & crimes against humanity isn’t illegal. Speaking out against an Israel isn’t antisemitic, Israel doesn’t represent Judaism. The Israeli government’s responsible for committing these crimes, not a religion or an ethnicity. Criticizing our government’s complicity due to funding these war crimes & crimes against humanity isn’t a crime, and it’s not antisemitic either.
You must launch an investigation into this case and ensure the executive branch is not just getting started with illegally detaining & disappearing people. If this administration gets away with unlawfully detaining this man, what comes next?
This is a democracy. Illegally detaining & disappearing people is something both Russia and China do, and it’s completely antithetical to a democratic society.
Democracy is dying because you won't wake up and do something. DO SOMETHING.
