The arrest of Mahmoud Khalil

There are so many things to object to these first 45 days of the second Trump administration, it’s almost hard to know where to start. But the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil is the one that inspired me to write.

The appalling extralegal detainment of a U.S. permanent resident -- married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant no less -- is an affront to our city, our country and the rule of law. The specious claim of Khalil’s legal speech, somehow putting him in “alignment” with a terrorist organization, should send a chill down the spine of every American, even ones who may vehemently disagree with him.

To be clear, I write this as a Jewish American, New Yorker and Riverdalian, who is married into an Israeli family. And I consider, alongside much of what’s left of the Western world, Hamas to be a terrorist organization that deserves every punishment it gets. But for that reason, it is even more important for me and others like me, to speak out. Whether or not one agrees with Khalil’s position is immaterial — the summary rendition and potential expulsion of a legal resident for engaging in protected political speech is a rubicon we simply cannot cross and still maintain our American, even our Jewish, identity.

To quote Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, “Any Jew who thinks this is going to start and stop with a few Palestinian activists is fooling themselves. Our community should not be used as an excuse to upend democracy and the rule of law.”

Danny Rogers