Reply to Trump govt is deporting Green Card holder student exercising free speech

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What does it mean to "support Hamas?"
Pledging allegience to Hamas would certainly count.
Transferring money to "Hamas Inc." via wire transfer would count. 
Saying "I think Hamas' actions are justified" seems like a grey area.

Saying I want a cease fire and think Israel is committing genocide doesn't necessarily equate to "supporting Hamas." Did Hamas even want a cease-fire? Certainly on their terms, but that applies to any belligerent. For all we know he  might hate Hamas and prefer the PLO or some other organization.

What evidence is there that the student "supported Hamas?" Merely asking for a ceasefire or asking Columbia to divest, would not seem to qualify as "supporting terrorism."[/quote]

This. So much ^this.  This is what is so frightening about what Trump is doing (and it's not just Trump, it's Rubio too, calling Sen. Kelly a traitor for visiting Ukraine) -- calling people who oppose Israel's actions in Gaza does not make them a supporter of Hamas.  I completely oppose Hamas.  They are a terrorist organization.  Their attack on Israel on October 7th was a war crime.  Their detention of any civilian hostages for any period of time was also a war crime - civilians should have been returned immediately to Israel (and not doing this was not only a war crime but politically stupid).  Their detention of military hostages without regular access by ICRC and proper living conditions was also a war crime.

I think Israel was completely entitled to exercise its right of self-defense, but even self-defense is limited by rules of war -- proportionality, necessity, distinction and humanity. Instead, Israel has chosen to violate all of these principles -- indiscriminate and unnecessary targeting vis a vis the military necessity, completely disproportionate number of civilian victims,  lack of protection of cultural sites, denying access to humanitarian aid, killing humanitarian workers and medical staff.  Israel is choosing to commit genocide in Gaza - breaking all the rules of war.  And, the US has become complicit, even more so under Trump with this idea of cleansing Gaza of all Gazans and re-developing it as some kind of investment opportunity.

Anyone in the US is free to say this, and it doesn't mean that they support Hamas or are anti-semitic.  In fact, many Jewish Americans and Israelis are saying this loudly, in protests, over the last year.  None are terrorists.

The government either has to charge this guy with a crime or release him. His freedom of speech is our freedom of speech.

And, if you want to complain that this applies to Jan. 6ers also -- the ones who were committed crimes were charged.  The ones that marched and stayed outside the Capitol and did not commit any violence or cross any barriers were not.

As far as I'm aware Mahmoud Khalil hasn't committed any crimes -- if he has charge, him, even if it's trespass.  But, free speech is not a crime.  [/quote]

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