• Trump will deport non-citizen college students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, with a focus on prosecuting “violence against American Jews”.
• A survey of American-Jewish teens reveals growing sympathy for Palestinians, many expressing support for Hamas, stating Israel’s actions are genocidal.
U.S. President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order on Wednesday to deport non-citizen college students and others involved in pro-Palestinian protests, according to a White House official.
The order states that “Immediate action should be taken by the Justice Department to prosecute terroristic threats, arson, vandalism, and violence against American Jews, directing federal resources to address what it describes as the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets”.
Trump’s statement in the fact sheet reads:
‘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’z He continued, ‘I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before’.
However, the claim of a crackdown on alleged antisemitism is absurd and evidently fallacious, particularly, given that many American Jews have participated in pro-Palestinian protests across the United States and on college campuses. Could this move by the new Trump administration be influenced by the following statistics?
A survey conducted by Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs revealed interesting insights into the perspectives of American-Jewish teens aged 14 to 18. According to the findings, 36.7 percent either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with the statement, “I sympathise with Hamas”, a sharp contrast to only 7 percent of Jewish teens outside the United States.
Even more noteworthy to consider, 41.3 percent of American-Jewish teens concurred with the statement that Israel is “committing genocide” in Gaza, compared to just 10 percent of their international counterparts. Additionally, 66 percent expressed sympathy for the Palestinian people in general, signalling a generational shift in attitudes.
Many pro-Palestinian protesters have denied supporting Hamas or engaging in antisemitic actions, asserting that their demonstrations were in protest of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, where health authorities report over 47,000 murders.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a prominent Muslim advocacy organisation, condemned the Trump administration’s actions as an attack on free speech and Palestinian humanity under the guise of combating antisemitism. They further criticised Wednesday’s executive order, labelling it as dishonest, overbroad, and unenforceable.
The order will also mandate that agency and department leaders provide recommendations to the White House within 60 days on “criminal and civil authorities that could be used to combat antisemitism, with a focus on the removal of resident aliens who violate our laws”. The fact sheet highlights, “protests involving pro-Hamas vandalism, intimidation of Jewish students, and assaults on worshippers at synagogues, as well as the defacement of U.S. monuments and statues”. All of which there has been absolutely no evidence of.
Public opinion on Israel has undergone dramatic shifts, and the American administration seems intent on reversing this change in an Orwellian fashion. Moreover, since Trump’s leadership, TikTok has seen sweeping changes, including a ban on the phrase ‘Free Palestine’, a stark reflection of the administration’s growing control over discourse and influence over social media platforms.
