On the evening of March 8, activist and 2024 Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the lobby of his New York City apartment building. The Department of Homeland Security explained in a tweet that Khalil was detained because he organized activities “aligned to Hamas” and “in support” of executive orders “prohibiting antisemitism,” an allegation that Khalil has vehemently denied and something that is notably not a crime.
By throwing hazy charges of antisemitism at Khalil, President Trump has put members of the Princeton University community at immediate risk — our constitutionally enshrined speech freedoms are being stomped out before our eyes. What is more, though, is that Donald Trump and his lackeys are using Jewish students as shields to push an anti-First Amendment agenda meant to crack down on dissent to his political project.
Even though Khalil was arrested in the name of protecting Jews, make no mistake: Khalil’s arrest does the opposite.
It’s clear that Trump’s limitations on free speech and academic expression can hurt students on our campus — debates over the extent of that freedom have filled the Opinion section of the ‘Prince’ for many years on end. Now, though, we’re seeing the tangible effects of an emerging crackdown and the fear of its consequences.
Trump’s threat that the attempted deportation of Khalil is only the first “of many to come” entrenches something worse than the worst-case scenario expressed by many last fall. Undocumented students, and now, students who are green card holders, don’t have the same right to free expression as their peers with citizenship.
No matter how this power is wielded, even if it is ostensibly to stop antisemitism, it will cause the millions of non-citizens in our country — and the more than 2,000 international students on our campus — to censor their own speech rather than risk deportation for something that, recall, is not a crime. Jewish students should reject this egregious measure that was enacted speciously on our behalf.
Jewish students on campus are not a singular, ideologically-uniform community, and we hold a wide range of opinions on the crisis in Gaza. It’s disingenuous for Trump to claim that arresting Khalil protects Jewish students when many protested alongside him during the Gaza solidarity encampment on Columbia’s campus last spring.
On our own campus, Jewish students counter-programmed the Center for Jewish Life’s “Israel Shabbat” during last spring’s encampment by holding a “Solidarity Shabbat” on Cannon Green. The Princeton Alliance of Jewish Progressives — of which I am a board member — endorsed the divestment proposal sent to the University by the Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest organization. This is all to say that treating Jewish people as a monolith is a non-starter.
Fighting antisemitism — and hate in general — is absolutely a noble cause. But criticism of the state of Israel and its conduct in Gaza is not antisemitic, and the only things that Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest seem to infringe upon are the free speech rights of a Palestinian green card holder.
If Trump wants to fight antisemitism, he should start by stopping the rollback of anti-discrimination executive orders or fire his advisor that parrots antisemitic conspiracy theories and launches into gestures that look awfully similar to Nazi salutes at rallies.
Khalil’s arrest comes amid a broader attack on educational freedom by the Trump administration: Columbia had $400 million of federal funding canceled by the federal government because of a so-called failure to police antisemitism. In the days after Khalil’s arrest, the Department of Education sent a letter to Princeton and 59 other Universities notifying them that they were “under investigation for antisemitic discrimination and harassment.”
When the Trump administration directly calls out Princeton University in attempts to dismantle American higher education at the same time it is arresting students for political speech, it is not trying to make Jews safer: it is putting us in active danger.
We should be wary of what Jamie Beran calls “smokescreen antisemitism” — the deliberate positioning of repressive actions as benefitting Jewish people. If we don’t put up a fight, Trump’s sweeping generalizations about Jewish students on college campuses will drive a wedge between Jews and their neighbors in a time where dialogue is paramount.
Jewish people, and our safety, do not exist in a vacuum — our safety and freedoms exist in conjunction with the safety of the people that the Trump administration is targeting.
By using antisemitism to justify a crusade against free speech, Beran writes, the Trump administration creates two adverse effects for Jewish people on college campuses. When they advertise repressive actions as being beneficial to Jewish people, they generate a raison d’être and pit Jewish people against non-Jews who “might otherwise join together to oppose these actions.”
When the Trump administration uses Jewish safety to justify blatant disregard for constitutionally enshrined freedoms, they unavoidably foster animosity towards Jewish people that will allow actual antisemitic threats to fester.
To be clear, it is Palestinian students and students advocating on behalf of Palestinian rights who are most actively under threat as a result of the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, and the University must act to protect these members of our community. But it is also dishonest when the Trump administration claims that these actions fight against antisemitism, and it is dangerous for Jewish students on our campus when taken to its logical conclusion.
Safety for Jewish people — on Princeton’s campus and beyond — will not be achieved through attacks on higher education nor the silencing of free speech.
It must come at the behest of all of us because Jewish safety is intertwined with the safety of Palestinians, with the safety of immigrants, and with the safety of all Americans.
Assistant Opinion Editor Charlie Yale is a first-year from Omaha, Neb. and can be reached at cyale[at]princeton.edu. Charlie is on the board of the Princeton Alliance of Jewish Progressives.
Read More
Princeton must protect the sanctity of scientific research
Davis HobleyAs a new cost-cutting administration takes the stage, we members of the on-campus community, students, administration, and faculty, must firmly stand in support of federal funding for academic research, which is diametrically opposed to the alleged inefficiency that the administration is targeting, and is a necessity for the development of the country.
As a new cost-cutting administration takes the stage, we members of the on-campus community, students, administration, and faculty, must firmly stand in support of federal funding for academic research, which is diametrically opposed to the alleged inefficiency that the administration is targeting, and is a necessity for the development of the country.
Universities are scared of Trump. Princeton spoke out — and others should join us.
Daily Princetonian Editorial BoardBut as Princeton stands up first, it can invite others to stand with it. Through coordinated action and litigation, universities can show that they will never again fight the Trump administration’s attacks alone.
But as Princeton stands up first, it can invite others to stand with it. Through coordinated action and litigation, universities can show that they will never again fight the Trump administration’s attacks alone.
For an FGLI student, there is truly no better place to be than Princeton
Jorge ReyesPrinceton’s pre-college programs and FGLI academic programming make it the best choice for a smoother transition into college with all the support you need during your time here and beyond.
Princeton’s pre-college programs and FGLI academic programming make it the best choice for a smoother transition into college with all the support you need during your time here and beyond.