Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident who has held a green card since 2015, was detained at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Colchester by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, his lawyers said.

The attorneys said they do not know where he is. They filed a petition in federal court seeking an order barring the government from removing him from the state or country.

“The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian. His detention is an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. It is also unconstitutional,” attorney Luna Droubi said in an email.

According to the court filing, Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. He recently completed coursework at Columbia and was expected to graduate in May before beginning a master’s degree program there in the fall.

The petition describes him as a committed Buddhist who believes in “non-violence and empathy as a central tenet of his religion.”

As a student, Mahdawi was an outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and organized campus protests until March 2024. He co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the U.S. and graduate student who recently was detained by ICE.

Khalil Was First Person Arrested Under Trump’s Crackdowns

Khalil was the first person arrested under President Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza. On Friday, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Khalil can be deported as a national security risk.

Christopher Helali, a friend of Mahdawi who lives near him in Vermont, was present outside the immigration office when Mahdawi was detained and recorded a video of Mahdawi being led away by authorities. In the video, which Helali released on social media Monday, Mahdawi is shown giving a peace sign with his hands and being led away to a car.

Helali described Mahdawi as a peaceful demonstrator who has worked to foster dialogue about the struggle of Palestinians in his homeland. Helali said he and Mahdawi were aware that Mahdawi could be detained today and that his friend went forward with the appointment anyway.

“And rightfully so, he was nervous for what was going on around him. But he was very much resolute in coming to this interview and coming today because he didn’t do anything wrong and was a law-abiding citizen, or soon-to-be citizen,” Helali said.

Vermont’s congressional delegation issued a statement condemning Mahdawi’s arrest, saying that instead of taking one of the final steps in his citizenship process, he was handcuffed by armed officers with their faces covered.

“This is immoral, inhumane, and illegal. Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention,” said the statement from Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint.

The post A Palestinian Activist Expecting a US Citizenship Interview Is Arrested Instead by ICE appeared first on GV Wire.

The White House asserts that these moves — many of which involve immigrants with visas and green cards — are necessary because those taken into custody threaten national security. But some legal experts say that the administration is trampling on free speech rights and using lower-level laws to crack down on activism.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the State Department under his direction had revoked the visas of more than 300 people and was continuing to revoke visas daily. He did not specify how many of those people had taken part in campus protests or acted to support Palestinians.

Rubio gave that number at a news conference, after noting that the department had revoked the visa of a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University in Massachusetts. He did not give details on the other revocations.

Immigration officials are known to have pursued at least nine people in apparent connection to this effort since the start of March.

The detentions and efforts to deport people who are in the country legally reflect an escalation of the administration’s efforts to restrict immigration, as it also seeks to deport immigrants who lack legal status en masse.

Here is what we know about the college detentions.

Who Is Being Targeted?

The nine people who have been pursued and, in some cases, detained by federal officials include current and former students and professors. Most of them have publicly expressed pro-Palestinian views. Some have green cards, making them lawful permanent residents. Others have student visas, which allows foreign nationals to enter the United States for full-time study.

The extent of their involvement in pro-Palestinian advocacy varies. Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident who is believed to be the first to be taken into custody, helped lead high-profile protests at Columbia University in New York against Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. Khalil, who has Palestinian heritage, is married to a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant. He was sent to a detention center in Louisiana.

The administration has also targeted students who have been less involved. Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish citizen and graduate student at Tufts, was taken into federal custody Tuesday. She had drawn the attention of a right-wing group that claims to combat antisemitism on college campuses and publicizes its findings online after helping write an opinion piece in the student newspaper criticizing the university’s response to pro-Palestinian demands.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said investigators with that agency and Immigration and Customs Enforcement “found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans. A visa is a privilege, not a right.” She did not offer evidence or details of that support.

A video of Ozturk’s detention, showing plainclothes agents from the Homeland Security Department detaining her as she was heading out to break her Ramadan fast with friends, has circulated widely online. “This video should shake everyone to their core,” her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai, said in a statement Wednesday. Ozturk is being held in Louisiana.

As it scrutinizes people living in the United States, investigators for ICE have been searching videos, online posts and news clippings of campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war. The government also appears to be getting information from private organizations.

Who Else Has the Government Sought to Deport?

Several other students and academics have been detained or are being sought.

• Ranjani Srinivasan, a Fulbright recipient from India who was pursuing a doctoral degree in urban planning at Columbia, fled to Canada after immigration authorities revoked her student visa.
• Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old Columbia student and legal permanent resident from South Korea, has been targeted for deportation by immigration agents. A federal judge ordered the Trump administration Tuesday to halt its efforts.
• Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian student from the West Bank who had been involved in the protests at Columbia, was taken into custody by immigration agents after overstaying a student visa that was terminated in 2022.
• Momodou Taal, a dual citizen of Gambia and Britain pursuing a doctorate in Africana studies at Cornell University in New York state, was ordered to surrender to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A prominent pro-Palestinian voice on campus, Taal had previously filed a preemptive lawsuit to block possible action against him.
• Badar Khan Suri, an Indian citizen who was studying and teaching at Georgetown University in Washington, was detained at his home. He is married to a Palestinian American woman whose father is a former adviser to a deceased Hamas leader. A federal judge has temporarily blocked Suri’s deportation. He is “awaiting his court date” in Alexandria, Louisiana, according to his lawyer.
• Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist and professor at Brown University’s medical school in Rhode Island, was deported despite holding a valid visa. She was detained upon returning from a trip abroad to Lebanon, her home country, and expelled in possible defiance of a court order. A lawyer representing a member of Alawieh’s family has vowed to continue fighting.
• Alireza Doroudi, an Iranian citizen and doctoral student at the University of Alabama, was taken into custody and detained by immigration officials. A Homeland Security official said Thursday that Doroudi “posed significant national security concerns” but did not provide additional information about why he was detained.

Are These Detentions and Deportations Legal?

The Trump administration has justified the actions by citing a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which grants the secretary of state broad authority to expel foreigners deemed to pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the United States.

But legal experts question whether the actions of the targeted students meet this threshold. Lawful permanent residents are also protected by the Constitution, including free speech and due process rights, which could set up a major legal challenge. Lawyers for those whose student visas have been revoked have similarly challenged the administration on constitutional grounds.

In some cases, the administration has also cited lower-level offenses to justify deportation efforts. The government has added new accusations against Khalil, saying that he withheld information about his membership in organizations, including a United Nations agency that helps Palestinian refugees, when applying for permanent residency. One of Khalil’s lawyers dismissed these new claims as “patently weak.”

Will More Students Be Targeted?

Administration officials have signaled that these detentions and deportations reflect the beginning of a broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters. President Donald Trump called Khalil’s case the first of “many to come.”

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Kate Selig/Bing Guan
c. 2025 The New York Times Company

The post What We Know About the Detentions of Student Protesters appeared first on GV Wire.

The order will not have any immediate effect on the detention status of the Columbia graduate, Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of pro-Palestinian protests on the university’s campus, who after his arrest was swiftly transferred from New York City to New Jersey and then to Louisiana. The Trump administration has sought to deport him, although he is a legal permanent resident who has not been accused of a crime.

The White House has said Khalil spread antisemitism and promoted literature associated with Hamas terrorists. Khalil’s lawyers deny that he has done so and say he is being retaliated against for promoting Palestinian rights and criticizing Israel, views that the Trump administration disagrees with.

Khalil’s legal team had been trying to move his case out of Louisiana since he was transferred there. Had his case been heard there, a conservative appeals court in New Orleans could have set a broad precedent for deportations.

The New York judge, Jesse Furman, ordered federal authorities not to remove Khalil from the country. On Wednesday, in moving the case to New Jersey, he left that order in place.

Khalil Expected to Stay in Louisiana

Khalil is expected to remain in Louisiana until a new judge weighs in.

Furman noted that Khalil’s lawyers had accused the government of punishing him for participation in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and that his First and Fifth Amendment rights had been violated.

“These are serious allegations and arguments that, no doubt, warrant careful review by a court of law,” he wrote. “The fundamental constitutional principle that all persons in the United States are entitled to due process of law demands no less.”

But the judge found that he did not have jurisdiction to decide those issues. The case, he wrote, belonged in New Jersey, where Khalil was in detention when his lawyers first filed their petition for his release.

Khalil’s lawyers, whose already-filed arguments accusing the government of retaliating against their client will now be heard across the Hudson River, greeted Furman’s decision as a partial victory.

“Now that we have ensured Mahmoud’s federal case remains in the New York City area, the next step is to bring Mahmoud home,” said one of his lawyers, Ramzi Kassem, a co-director of CLEAR, a legal clinic at the City University of New York.

A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, whose lawyers had been arguing the government’s case, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited a little-used law to try to justify Khalil’s detention. The measure says Rubio can initiate deportation proceedings against any noncitizen whose presence in the United States he can reasonably deem a threat to the country’s foreign policy aims. Rubio has said that it is a policy of the United States to restrict the spread of antisemitism.

Khalil, who lives in New York with his wife, an American citizen, was arrested on the evening of March 8. The agents who detained him told his wife and one of his lawyers, Amy Greer, that he was being taken to New York’s downtown immigration court.

At 4:40 a.m. the next day, Greer filed a petition seeking Khalil’s release in New York federal court, where an online locator said Khalil was still being held. But by that point, he had already been transferred to New Jersey.

Khalil’s lawyers have since argued that the government blocked his efforts to seek his release in the proper court. But Furman wrote that noncitizens arrested in New York City were frequently transferred to New Jersey for detention.

“The court cannot conclude that the government’s transfer of Khalil from New York to New Jersey was done to prevent his lawyer from promptly challenging his detention in federal court,” he wrote.

However, Furman, who said that it was “imperative” that the case be resolved quickly, also concluded that it would be inappropriate for Khalil’s case to be transferred to Louisiana as the government had requested. He said the Supreme Court had rejected a similar argument in a different case.

Requiring Khalil to seek his release anew in Louisiana, he wrote, “would also mean litigating far from his lawyers, from his eight-months-pregnant wife and from the location where most (if not all) of the events relevant to his petition took place.”

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Jonah E. Bromwich/Bing Guan
c. 2025 The New York Times Company

The post Judge Says Khalil’s Deportation Case Can Be Heard in New Jersey appeared first on GV Wire.

The issue may seem minor compared with the First Amendment concerns raised by the arrest of Khalil, a legal permanent resident who was a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the Columbia campus and who the Trump administration is seeking to deport.

But where Khalil’s case is heard could have profound consequences, not just for him but for anyone else the White House targets for removal from the United States. If Khalil remains in Louisiana, his case is likely to end up in one of the nation’s most conservative appeals courts, which could determine whether the law the government has cited as the rationale for his detention is allowed to stand.

The White House has accused Khalil of siding with Hamas terrorists during the Columbia protests and spreading antisemitism. That accusation, which Khalil’s lawyers deny, is not criminal, and in fact, Khalil has not been charged with any crime.

Rubio Cites Little Used Law to Justify Detention

Instead, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, has cited a little-used law to justify the detention. The measure says Rubio can initiate deportation proceedings against any noncitizen whose presence in the United States he deems a threat to the country’s foreign policy aims.

That law, which would seem to grant the Trump administration almost unchecked power in deporting noncitizens, appears not to have been reviewed by an appeals court, which could determine whether it is constitutional. And if Khalil’s immigration case plays out in Louisiana, it will most likely be appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which presides over federal court cases that come from Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi.

It is one of the country’s most conservative appeals courts. Most of its judges were nominated by Republican presidents, including six by President Donald Trump during his first term.

“The 5th Circuit is the court I’d least want to be in if I were Khalil,” said Steve Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University’s law school who studies constitutional issues and has written about Khalil’s case. He added, “It is a court where immigrants in general have a historically poor track record, and it’s a court in which judges are going to be most sympathetic to the government’s ability to point at someone and say, ‘You supported Hamas.’”

If judges in that court were to decide against Khalil, he could appeal to the Supreme Court. But there is no guarantee that the justices in Washington would take his case, and even if they did, and found in his favor, the government is likely to continue to revoke green cards in the interim, citing the same statute that informs Khalil’s case. Other detainees might have little legal basis to fight the government’s accusations.

Khalil’s Immigration Case to Play Out

On the other hand, were Khalil’s immigration case to play out in New York — where his lawyers first called for his release — any appeal would arrive at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That court includes more judges appointed by Democratic presidents and is widely considered a less partisan venue. And in the meantime, Khalil, were he to be released, would have access to his family. His wife, Noor Abdalla, is expecting a baby next month.

Lawyers for Khalil have sought his release and return to New York since he was arrested on the evening of March 8. The timing of his arrest and transfer to Louisiana is key to understanding their case.

Video of the arrest filmed by Abdalla and released by the American Civil Liberties Union shows that agents from the Department of Homeland Security handcuffed Khalil in the lobby of his apartment building, which is owned by Columbia. After his wife, holding back tears, repeatedly asked where Khalil was being taken, the agents responded “26 Federal Plaza,” the address of New York’s downtown immigration court. Amy Greer, one of Khalil’s lawyers, was told the same thing.

Greer worked through the night on a legal filing known as a habeas petition, a vehicle for challenging unlawful detentions. Occasionally, she checked an online locator to make sure of Khalil’s location. At 1:35 a.m. March 9 and again at 4:29 a.m., the locator said that Khalil was in New York.

She filed her petition at 4:40 a.m. in a New York federal court. But the government has since argued that Khalil arrived in New Jersey more than an hour before that. He was taken there, they say, because the New York facility does not have beds or overnight medical staff, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy dictates that no detainee should be held in such a facility for longer than 12 hours.

Kahlil Brought Back into New York

Around noon March 9, Khalil was brought back into New York, to Kennedy International Airport. He was then flown to Dallas and then to Louisiana, where he has been held since.

The following day, the New York judge with whom the petition was filed, Jesse Furman, ordered the government not to remove Khalil from the country. There is no indication that the government has ignored the judge as it may have in other recent deportation cases. Khalil’s first hearing in immigration court is scheduled for March 27.

The arguments in front of Furman have piled up, with Khalil’s lawyers imploring the judge to return their client to New York, and the government insisting that the proper venue for his case is the district in which he is currently being held.

Furman could rule as early as Monday. He has insisted that he has no view on the issues at play in the case — which include core concerns about First Amendment rights amid Trump’s immigration crackdown and vow to fight antisemitism — but has acknowledged their importance.

If Furman decides the case should not be heard in New York, Khalil’s lawyers have asked for the opportunity to transfer it to New Jersey. If the case were to play out there, any appeal would be heard in yet another appeals court — the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — and Khalil would be closer to his family.

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Jonah E. Bromwich/Marco Postigo Storel
c. 2025 The New York Times Company

The post What’s Next for Mahmoud Khalil? A Fight to Keep His Case in New York. appeared first on GV Wire.

Organizers have shared protest locations on Instagram, Reddit, and other social media platforms, with events planned at state capitols and other key sites.

Fresno Protesters Focus on Palestine, Anti-Deportation

In Fresno, a protest focused on Gaza and the West Bank brought out demonstrators holding signs addressing genocide, anti-deportation policies, and the conflict in the region.

The demonstration, organized by Raza Against War, took place outside the Robert E. Coyle Federal Courthouse, where dozens gathered in support.

Lori Garcia, a member of Raza Against War, said frustration has been mounting. “I think people are frustrated and angry and outraged. This has been going on for 15 months now, she said. “People are fed up.”

Though smaller than protests in Sacramento, Tampa, or Los Angeles, organizers said the turnout signaled a presence for Fresno.

Related Story: Protesters Across US Rally Against Trump and Project 2025

Protests Comes After Trump Says He Wants to ‘Take Over’ Gaza

The demonstrations come after former President Donald Trump suggested the United States should “take over” Gaza and permanently resettle its Palestinian residents.

Speaking at a White House news conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump outlined a plan for the U.S. to build new settlements for Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip and redevelop the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio walked back Trump’s plan on Wednesday, saying that the White House’s proposal involved the temporary relocation of Palestinians while Gaza undergoes U.S.-led reconstruction.

Related Story: Merced Sees Back-to-Back Protests Demanding Immigrant Protections

Trump’s proposal was swiftly rejected by both American allies and adversaries.

Dr. Mohammad Shaikh, a physician at Clovis Community Hospital, took time from his lunch break to join the protest.

“We’re all human, ultimately. We all suffer the same injuries, we all bleed the same,” he said. “We’re all human and try to keep that sympathy and that empathy alive.”

Related Story: Where Will Californians Rally During Nationwide Protest Against Trump ...

Rallies Happening Across United States

Many of the protests, organized largely online, are happening Wednesday at state capitols, with some taking place in other cities.

Flyers circulating on social media denounce Project 2025, a hard-right blueprint for American government and society, with messages such as “Reject fascism” and “Defend our democracy.”

Hundreds are also rallying in Washington, D.C., in support of USAID, as the Trump administration moves to dismantle the agency.

The decision has sent U.S. workers around the world scrambling to pack up households and shutter the institution’s six-decade mission.

Related Story: Protesters Across US Rally Against Trump and Project 2025

In California, demonstrators are expected to gather at the state Capitol in Sacramento, according to Reddit users.

Organizers on the platform confirmed the protest was scheduled to begin at noon Wednesday on N Street between 12th and 13th streets.

In Los Angeles, demonstrators planned to gather at City Hall’s Park Center at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Additional protests may take place at city halls in other locations.

While the scale of participation is uncertain, the movement has gained traction online, drawing attention from activists nationwide.

—

Connect with Anthony W. Haddad on social media. Got a tip? Send an email. 

The post Fresno Joins Nationwide Protest Wave Focusing on Gaza, Trump Deportations appeared first on GV Wire.

The order promises “immediate action” by the Justice Department to prosecute threats, vandalism, and violence against American Jews, focusing on antisemitism linked to pro-Palestinian protests.

Related Story: Israel’s Prime Minister Says Trump Has Invited Him to the White House on ...

President Vows to Deport College Students

Trump also vowed to deport non-citizen college students involved in these protests, including those who support Palestine, calling for the removal of “resident aliens” who violate laws.

The order will also demand agencies provide recommendations on criminal and civil actions to address antisemitism within 60 days.

Protests related to the Gaza conflict led to several months of unrest, particularly on U.S. college campuses, with many civil rights groups documenting incidents of antisemitism and violence.

Trump’s plan to fight antisemitism would “marshal all federal resources” and bring immediate action from the Justice Department to investigate and punish offenders on U.S. campuses, the Associated Press reported.

Related Story: Trump’s Gaza Displacement Plan Faces Rejection, Regional Concerns

Critics Say Order Violates Free Speech

Critics, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, argue that the order undermines free speech and targets Palestinian rights activists under the pretense of combating antisemitism.

During his 2024 campaign, Trump promised to deport “pro-Hamas” students. He also has signed an executive order providing broader powers to block or expel foreign nationals, particularly those from Muslim-majority countries.

Read more at Reuters. 

Related Story: How the Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Deal Will Unfold —and Why It Is so Precarious

The post Trump Set to Sign Order Deporting Pro-Palestinian Exchange Students appeared first on GV Wire.

Nine turbulent months later, Chowdhury is out, impeached and removed from office by the student assembly just before midnight Monday.

Impeachment and Removal

Chowdhury’s ouster follows a lopsided impeachment vote in mid-November, which also led to the removal of Elias Atkinson, the body’s vice president and a fellow activist.

In a student judicial hearing that spanned seven days and lasted more than 20 hours, they were found guilty on a single charge of dereliction of duty — the consequence of effectively fulfilling the shutdown their campaign promised.

Related Story: Bethlehem Marks a Second Subdued Christmas During the War in Gaza

Campus Polarization and Controversy

Like the protest encampments at universities across the country, the takeover of Michigan’s student government by pro-Palestinian activists last spring polarized the campus. The activists’ tactics drew objections from students who said their obstructionism went too far and did little to help the Palestinian cause.

The activists saw their movement as a way to shake university officials and students out of what they saw as complacency, and face the plight of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.

Limited Impact and Opposition

But like many student protests, the takeover made little headway — and maybe even stirred up opposition. The university, which had long said that it would not divest, adopted a policy of institutional neutrality in October, meaning that it would avoid taking stances on political or social issues that were not directly connected to the school.

Margaret Peterman, a sophomore member of the student assembly who started the impeachment motion, said the president and vice president’s conduct in office and their unwillingness to aid the student body were “inexcusable.”

Related Story: Global Monitor Says Famine Is Weeks Away in North Gaza. A US Diplomat Calls ...

Campaign Promises and Aftermath

The impeached president and vice president, both of whom declined to comment, ran for their positions last spring as part of the Shut It Down Party, with the promise that they would withhold the roughly $1.3 million of annual funding until the university’s regents agreed to total divestment from companies that they said profited from Israel’s war in Gaza. They won their elections handily with a low voter turnout.

With the assembly’s leadership ousted, the speaker of the student assembly, Mario Thaqi, will finish out the presidential term.

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Halina Bennet/Nic Antaya
c.2024 The New York Times Company

The post Pro-Palestinian Activists Removed From Michigan’s Student Government appeared first on GV Wire.

The deployment would be a step toward Ukraine joining NATO, Zelenskyy said in a post on his Telegram channel.

“But before that, we must have a clear understanding of when Ukraine will be in the European Union and when Ukraine will be in NATO,” Zelenskyy said.

His proposals tread a delicate diplomatic path amid international efforts to find a way of ending Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II at a time when Russia has gained an upper hand in the fighting.

Related Story: US Announces Nearly $1 Billion More in Longer-Term Weapons Support for Ukraine

Trump Looks for Ceasefire

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is seeking to bring about a ceasefire and met with Zelenskyy in Paris on Saturday. But Zelenskyy said Monday that he would approach outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden about Ukraine’s possible NATO membership because he’s still in office, while Trump doesn’t yet have “legal rights” to decide on the matter.

“He wants to have a cease-fire,” Trump said of Zelenskyy in comments to the New York Post published Sunday. “He wants to make peace. We didn’t talk about the details.”

Putin’s forces are taking heavy losses in Ukraine, Trump noted.

“I’m formulating a concept of how to end that ridiculous war,” he said.

The possibilities of Ukraine joining the 32-nation NATO military alliance and of Western troops being stationed on its soil have been deeply divisive and contentious issues since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022.

At their summit in Washington in July, NATO declared Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership, but stopped short of inviting the country in. The United States and Germany have balked at Ukraine joining NATO while at war with Russia.

Related Story: White House Pressing Ukraine to Draft 18-Year-Old Men to Help Fill Manpower ...

One obstacle has been the view that Ukraine’s borders would need to be clearly demarcated before it could join so that there can be no mistaking where the alliance’s pact of mutual defense would come into effect. Russia’s invading army occupies about one-fifth of Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea of Western troops on the ground in Ukraine last February. But it raised the same fears of escalation that have led Western leaders to place limits on weapons supplies and permissions for their use.

European military heavyweights Germany and Poland immediately said they wouldn’t send troops to Ukraine. Macron declined to provide details about which nations were considering sending troops, saying he preferred to maintain some “strategic ambiguity.”

Kyiv’s Defenses Creaking

Ukraine’s forces are weathering a monthlong onslaught by Russia centered on the eastern Donetsk region, where Kyiv’s defenses are creaking.

Zelenskyy said on X that over the past week alone, Russia launched nearly 500 powerful guided bombs, more than 400 attack drones and almost 20 missiles of various types against Ukraine.

“Ukraine wants this war to end more than anyone else. No doubt, a diplomatic resolution would save lives. We do seek it,” he said.

Zelenskyy thanked Biden for the latest U.S. military aid of nearly $1 billion. With doubts about whether Trump will keep up U.S. military support, the Biden administration has been trying to spend every dollar remaining from a massive foreign aid bill passed earlier this year to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s challenger in the upcoming German election, Friedrich Merz, said that there’s a “basic consensus” in Germany on continuing to provide military aid to Ukraine.

Related Story: Ukraine Says Russian Attack Sets a New Record for the Number of Drones Used

But during a visit to Kyiv, he also highlighted differences with Scholz, who has refused to send Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine as he insists that everything must be done to prevent a wider war between the West and Russia. Merz has been open to providing them and allowing Ukraine to hit military targets inside Russia.

As he met Zelenskyy, Merz noted that France, the U.K. and the U.S. have a different position from the current German government.

“Our position is clear, as is that of my parliamentary group: we want to put your army in a position to reach military bases in Russia – not the civilian population, not the infrastructure, but the military targets from which your country is being fought,” he said.

“With this range restriction, we are forcing your country to fight with one hand behind its back, and that is not our position,” he added.

Merz’s center-right Union bloc leads German opinion polls. The election is expected on Feb. 23.

The post Zelenskyy Open to Western Troops Providing Security for End to War in Ukraine appeared first on GV Wire.

“We support liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance,” the group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, said in its statement revoking the apology.

The group marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by distributing a newspaper with a headline that used Hamas’ name for it: “One Year Since Al-Aqsa Flood, Revolution Until Victory” it read, over a picture of Hamas fighters breaching the security fence to Israel. And in an essay, it called the Oct. 7 attack a “moral, military and political victory,” and quoted Ismail Haniyeh, the assassinated former political leader of Hamas.

“The Palestinian resistance is moving their struggle to a new phase of escalation and it is our duty to meet them there,” the group wrote Monday on Telegram. “It is our duty to fight for our freedom!”

Related Story: Gov. Newsom Signs Laws to Address Gaza Protests at Public Universities

The group’s increasingly radical statements are being mirrored by pro-Palestinian groups on other college campuses, including in a series of social media posts this week that praised the Oct. 7 attack. They also reflect the influence of more extreme protest groups off campus, like Within Our Lifetime, that support violent attacks against Israel.

“Long live October 7th,” Nerdeen Kiswani, the head of Within Our Lifetime, wrote on the social platform X on Tuesday.

The rhetoric poses a challenge to university administrators who must decide how to handle students and student groups that take such positions. Their statements are broadly protected under the First Amendment but could lead to federal investigations into campus antisemitism or on campus discipline if they are deemed to create a hostile environment for Jewish students.

“Statements advocating for violence or harm are antithetical to the core principles upon which this institution was founded,” said Ben Chang, a spokesperson for Columbia.

Oren Segal, vice president of the ADL Center on Extremism, said that there were chants and other messages “filled with support for terrorist organizations” at many of the over 100 protests the organization tracked on and off campuses around the country marking the anniversary of Oct. 7.

Some students who have sympathy for pro-Palestinian student actions last semester disagree with the hard-line turn in the movement. In interviews at Columbia and Barnard College in New York last week, several students said that between student activists’ harsher stances, and the threats of punishment from administrators for participating in protests, their desire to protest has lessened.

“I think this whole situation and the way that it’s been handled on my campus has absolutely no eye for nuance,” said Bellajeet Sahota, a Barnard senior, who added she was “a little meek when it comes to campus protests.”

Related Story: Youth Activists Protest to Demand Action on Climate as Big Events Open in NYC

“I also think my fellow students, as much as I love them, also have no eye for nuance,” she said.

Students for Justice in Palestine, a pro-Palestinian student group that has chapters at hundreds of colleges across the country, was among the groups whose members posted praise for the Oct. 7 attack.

“Al-Aqsa Flood was a historic act of resistance against decades of occupation, apartheid, and settler colonial violence,” the Brown chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine posted on Instagram.

The increasingly revolutionary tilt of the student movement reflects an internal push among many pro-Palestinian groups to align their goals with principles known as the Thawabet, crafted by the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1977. They include the right of Palestinians to armed resistance and to self-determination on all the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

In a series of posts on Substack, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, or CUAD, narrated its own evolution since last semester from an organization that saw itself in April as a “continuation of the Vietnam antiwar movement” focused on pushing Columbia to divest from Israel to one that now openly backs armed resistance by Hamas and other groups.

On Tuesday, the group said it rescinded an apology it made last spring about the behavior of Khymani James, a student who had said in a disciplinary hearing that “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” and, “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”

“We let you down,” the group wrote in a statement, referring to James. No longer, the group vowed, would it “pander to liberal media to make the movement for liberation palatable.”

James, who is suing Columbia over his ongoing suspension, thanked the group. “I will not allow anyone to shame me for my politics,” he wrote on social media. “Anything I said, I meant it.”

–

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Sharon Otterman/Adam Gray
c. 2024 The New York Times Company

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This initiative comes in response to rising antisemitism on campuses following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year.

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The new laws require mandatory anti-discrimination training for students and aim to counter reported spikes in antisemitic harassment. Proposed by Jewish lawmakers, the legislation garnered broad support from both parties in the state Legislature despite opposition from pro-Palestinian activists and the ACLU.

Newsom had previously signaled support for revising university conduct codes even before the bill reached his desk.

Related Story: Jewish Lobby Presses California Lawmakers to Combat Antisemitism

State Sen. Steve Glazer, who authored the codes of conduct bill, emphasized the need for a safe environment for all students to express themselves without intimidation. Although protests on California campuses have not yet escalated as they did last spring, university leaders have pledged to prevent the kind of pro-Palestinian encampments that occurred previously.

Newsom also signed a bill aimed at preventing “hate littering,” addressing the distribution of harmful materials on campuses.

Read more at Politico. 

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