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Jewish Americans and Allies Occupy Trump Tower Demanding Release of Mahmoud Khalil
"We know what happens when an autocratic regime starts taking away our rights and scapegoating and we will not be silent."
Mar 13, 2025
This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
Nearly a year and a half after the advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace began leading nationwide demonstrations against Israel's U.S.-backed assault on Gaza, hundreds of organizers and supporters of the group risked arrest Thursday as they assembled in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City, demanding the release of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil.
"Three hundred Jews and friends in Trump Tower, because we know what happens when an autocratic regime starts taking away our rights and scapegoating and we will not be silent," said Sonya Meyerson-Knox, communications director for Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). "Come for one—face us all."
The latter phrase was emblazoned on banners that were displayed by campaigners, who chanted, "Never again for anyone, never again is now!" and, "Free Mahmoud, free them all!"
New York City police officers began arresting participants in the sit-in early in the afternoon.
Jane Hirschmann, a Jewish New York resident whose grandfather and uncle were abducted by the Nazis in Germany as Adolf Hitler rose to power, said Khalil's detention "is further proof that we are on the brink of a full takeover by an authoritarian regime."
"As Jews of conscience, we know our history and we know where this leads," said Hirschmann. "This is what fascists do as they cement control. This moment requires all people of conscience to take bold action to resist state violence and repression. Free Mahmoud now."
Actors Morgan Spector, Debra Winger, and Arliss Howard were in attendance at the sit-in, along with writer and artist Molly Crabapple and New York City Council member Alexa Aviles.
Khalil was abducted by plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last Saturday night as he was returning home to his Columbia-owned apartment with his wife, who is eight months pregnant. He was a graduate student at the university until this past December, and took a central organizing role in student-led protests and negotiations against Columbia's investment in companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policy in Gaza, including the bombardment it began in October 2023 in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack.
Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and a citizen of Algeria, was detained under the State Department's "catch and revoke" program, with the Trump administration revoking his green card and threatening to deport him. Administration officials have admitted that they are not accusing Khalil of breaking any laws by participating in Palestinian solidarity protests, but they said he is viewed as "adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States of America."
After a hearing Wednesday, a federal judge is considering whether Khalil should be sent back to New York, where he was detained, from the Louisiana ICE facility where he is being held. The same judge blocked Khalil's deportation this week.
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Nearly 400 Rabbis, Jewish Leaders Say 'No' to Trump Push for Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza
"It is vitally important that we in the American Jewish community add our voices to all those refusing to entertain this insidious plan," one rabbi said of Trump's proposal.
Feb 13, 2025
Over 350 rabbis and dozens of Jewish public figures on Thursday placed a full-page advertisement in The New York Times protesting President Donald Trump's proposal to force all Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and take over the coastal enclave recently decimated by U.S.-armed Israeli forces.
"Trump has called for the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza," the ad states. "Jewish people say NO to ethnic cleansing!"
The ad then lists the hundreds of people who signed on, including V (formerly Eve Ensler), Peter Beinart, Judith Butler, Molly Crabapple, Ben Cohen, Ilana Glazer, Tavi Gevinson, Nan Goldin, Naomi Klein, and Joaquin, Rain, and Summer Phoenix.
"Donald Trump—like Pharaoh in the Bible—seems to believe he is God with authority to rule, own, and dominate our country and the world," said Rabbi Yosef Berman of New Synagogue Project in Washington, D.C., a signatory to the Times ad.
"Jewish teaching is clear: Trump is not God and cannot take away Palestinians inherent dignity or steal their land for a real estate deal," Berman continued. "Trump's desire to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza is morally abhorrent. Jewish leaders reject Trump's attempts to wring profit from displacement and suffering and must act to stop this heinous crime."
Glazer, a comedian and actor, similarly stressed that "we, Jews, and all of us who care about basic human rights, must speak up and stand up to ensure Palestinians remain on their land, so they can rebuild their homes and lives in Gaza after the genocidal destruction they have endured. All of our safety is intertwined."
Today's NY Times. We, too, #SayNoToEthnicCleansing! So proud of our ED, R' @mhughesrob.bsky.social (+ board member Rabbi Andrea London), among the hundreds of Jewish clergy, professionals, lay leaders who signed on. Add your support at www.saynotoethniccleansing.org - click "sign on" in URH corner.
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— Partners for Progressive Israel (@partners4israel.bsky.social) February 13, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its 15-month military response to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack. The Israeli assault killed more than 61,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to estimates by local officials. A fragile cease-fire took effect last month.
After Hamas threatened to suspend the release of additional hostages over Israeli violations of the deal—which prompted Israel to threaten more violence, seemingly backed by Trump—the group said Thursday it would free three captives this weekend.
The ad in the Times on Thursday is just part of the growing opposition to Trump's proposal to kick Palestinians out of Gaza and turn the territory into what he claimed could be the "Riviera of the Middle East." Polling published Wednesday by Data for Progress shows that a majority of Americans are against the United States seizing control of Gaza, and nearly 7 in 10 oppose sending U.S. troops for the takeover.
A coalition of over 100 groups led by A New Policy—founded by Biden administration officials who resigned in protest—and the Quaker organization Friends Committee on National Legislation said Monday that they "decry and oppose any effort or initiative, and any calls for, the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, and support the joint statement of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab League that similarly rejected any such steps."
The Guardianreported Thursday that Cody Edgerly, director of the In Our Name Campaign and one of the organizers of the Times ad, pointed to Trump's relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that it came at "a critical time as political redlines that were once thought immovable are rapidly shifting as the Trump-Netanyahu alliance takes hold again."
It has been "heartening to witness such a rapid outpouring of support from across the denominational and political spectrum," added Edgerly. "Our message to Palestinians is that you are not alone, our attention has not wavered, and we are committed to fighting with every breath we have to stop ethnic cleansing in Gaza."
Every day, more and more Jewish leaders break from decades of silence to reject ethnic cleansing. Thank you to these 350 rabbis using your voices in this moment to oppose Trump’s plans in Gaza and #SayNoToEthnicCleansing. #GazaIsNotForSale
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— Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (@jfrejnyc.bsky.social) February 13, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents and author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, said in a statement that "as someone who loves the American Jewish community, and lives my life in the American Jewish community, and could not imagine another way of living. It is utterly horrifying to see the degree to which people who enjoy great legitimacy and respect in our community are willing to support something that would be considered one of the greatest crimes of the 21st century."
Another signatory to the ad, Rabbi Toba Spitzer of Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in Newton, Massachusetts, said that "it is vitally important that we in the American Jewish community add our voices to all those refusing to entertain this insidious plan."
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's "dream of making Germany 'Judenrein,' 'cleansed of Jews,' led to the slaughter of our people," Spitzer added. "We know as well as anyone the violence that these kinds of fantasies can lead to. It is time to make the cease-fire permanent, bring all of the hostages home, and join in efforts to rebuild Gaza for the sake of and with the people who live there."
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American Jews Have Long Questioned Zionism
In the name of Jewish and global sustainability and safety, American Jews must end their long standing, unquestioned allegiance to Zionism and Israel.
Sep 23, 2024
As historians and as anti-Zionist Jews active in our communities, we know that unqualified support for Israel has been widespread among American Jews, built on the idea that only Israel could prevent another Holocaust and keep Jews safe. But crucially, there has never been a complete pro-Zionist “consensus.”
What we understand is that there has always been a small, vocal, articulate American Jewish minority—many with direct ties to the devastation of the Holocaust—who fundamentally questioned the role of Zionism and Israel in American Jewish life and asserted that Zionism and democratic ideals are incompatible. Our own lives and research agendas illuminate that for over a century, since the beginning of the modern Zionist movement with Theodor Herzl in 1897, some American Jews have drawn attention to the brutality and racism inherent in the modern Zionist project.
Marty’s mother Molly and her mother Clara fled the Nazis from Heidelberg, Germany, in 1938 and 1940, respectively. The Nazis murdered many in their family. In 1934, the Blue Card was established in Germany to assist Jews fleeing the growing persecution and subsequently re-established in 1939 in the United States to provide direct financial assistance to needy Holocaust survivors. Over a span of nine decades, Marty’s grandmother and mother and Marty, three generations, made a donation every single year to the charitable organization. And now Marty has concluded, painfully, that he can no longer contribute. The Blue Card Passover appeal highlighted the need to “combat the rising tide of antisemitism.” In an August 9 email, the organization noted that many Holocaust survivors are “…triggered by anti-Israel street protests that remind them of Nazi rallies…” The Blue Card has not uttered a single word of condemnation against the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. There are several Holocaust survivors who have forcefully condemned the Israeli onslaught. In a message to the Blue Card executive director Masha Pearl, which she has not responded to, Marty wrote: “With my family background, I am appalled by what Israel is doing to the Palestinians….As an American Jew, I condemn the brutal violence of Israel and say – Not in my name.”
How can we move forward out of the current nightmare? We call upon every American Jew to reject the genocidal policies of Israel.
As analyzed in Marjorie’s book, Threshold of Dissent, American Jewish critics of Zionism have long observed that Israel does not ensure Jewish safety. Yiddish and English-language journalist William Zukerman, based in New York City, wrote in his Jewish Newsletter in the 1950s that Israel and Zionism contributed to hostility toward Jews around the world. Together with Israeli diplomats, Jewish leaders forced him out of journalist jobs and removed his communal funding. He incurred the wrath of many American Jews for pointing out their hypocrisy, for example, in this comment in 1959: “How can the American Jewish Congress and other outspoken Zionist organizations honestly fight segregation in the South if opposition to integration of Jews with non-Jews is the basic principle of Zionism?”
Also, Marjorie relates in her book that in 1973, Marty taught a course in Tufts University’s Experimental College titled “Zionism Reconsidered,” which cast a critical eye on Israel’s history, teaching students about the Nakba (the forced dispossession of 750,000 Palestinians at Israel’s founding) and about U.S. support for Israel’s brutalities. The Jewish Defense League (JDL) and the mainstream Jewish community each attacked him and the course. The JDL called the course “an anti-Jewish outrage” and distributed a flyer that declared: “Not since Germany in the days of Hitler has any university dared to offer a course presenting a one-sided view of any national movement.” Not to be outdone, Boston’s Jewish Community Relations Council labeled Blatt’s course “an insult to the Jewish community” that was part of an “anti-Israel propaganda effort.”
Since the early 20th century, and especially since the strong Cold War alliance between Israel and the U.S. dating back to the 1960s, in the name of Jewish safety, American Jewish communal leaders have marginalized American Jewish critics of Israel. These leaders categorize them as “self-hating Jews” or antisemites. Though their lives were profoundly upended by the virulent communal response, many, including Zukerman and Marty, remained steadfast in their commitment to providing more and diverse American Jewish opinions about Israel and Zionism.
The horrific brutality of the present Israeli genocidal onslaught is instead rooted in the Zionist project itself which focuses on dispossession and hence is characterized by oppression of the indigenous non-Jews, i.e., the Palestinians. Uncovering the history of dissenting American Jews may help a community that has terribly lost its way. American Jews need to open up to honest conversations about Israel’s brutal past and American Jewish communal complicity in that past.
Many of the thousands of student protesters in the encampments were Jewish, acting as part of this long tradition of dissent. Drawing from an old playbook, communal leaders charged them with antisemitism and self-hatred. However, this remains a big lie used to attack and defame and smear. These student activists reject, as we do, the false equation of antisemitism with anti-Zionism.
How can we move forward out of the current nightmare? We call upon every American Jew to reject the genocidal policies of Israel. We stand with Jewish organizations including If Not Now and Jewish Voice for Peace who declare: “NOT IN OUR NAME.” We call for an immediate cease fire; exchange of all hostages, including Palestinian prisoners; cessation of arms supplies by the U.S. to Israel; substantial negotiations for a lasting peace with justice for Israelis and Palestinians. Some sort of confederal state will be required as Israel has effectively crushed the possibility of a two-state solution.
In the name of Jewish and global sustainability and safety, American Jews must end their long standing, unquestioned allegiance to Zionism and Israel. By embracing an understanding of the voices of American Jewish dissent, past and present, perhaps American Jews can play a constructive role moving forward to end the genocide carried out today in our names in Gaza and the West Bank.Keep ReadingShow Less
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