Jewish Voice for Peace protesters occupied Trump Tower on Thursday in a protest over the illegal and unjust detention of Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil, a Green Card holder and legal U.S. citizen, helped lead the Columbia student protests against the university’s financial support of Israel and the Palestinian genocide. Khalil was abducted from his home by ICE on Saturday and is still being held as the Trump admin attempts to deport him. The Trump Tower protestors spoke to this directly with chants of “Bring Mahmoud home now!” Now the infamous New York City landmark is centerstage in the fight against fascism.
Trump Tower Occupied By Anti-Fascist Activists
After warning the protestors to leave, police put at least 65 in zip ties and removed them via city bus and a police van. Though Khalil was arrested on Saturday, the Trump administration has yet to charge him with any crime. That fact, along with America’s ongoing support and funding of Israel, burned at the heart of the Trump Tower protest.
The abduction of Mahmoud Khalil for exercising his 1st Amendment rights is nothing short of an attempt to disappear him. Choosing to silence one’s political opponents and dissenting voices? That’s something Americans picture the Gestapo doing, but now the perpetrators are ICE. The Trump administration is increasingly using Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a cudgel to beat citizens into silent submission. That’s one reason that Jewish Voice for Peace protestors occupied Trump Tower in a vocal act of resistance.
If any doubt remained about the protestors’ position or reasoning, the signs dispelled it. One read “Jews Say Do Not Comply,” a sign of Jewish resistance against the fascistic detention of Mahmoud Khalil. Holocaust survivors, their descendants, and their community members know exactly what such governments will do to achieve their ends. Another sign at the protest expanded on the oft-repeated phrase, saying,
Never Again For Anyone
Targets of the Holocaust included Jewish people, socialists, LGBTQ people, racial and ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities, among others. Immigrants and trans people were among the first targets of the Trump administration, but they won’t be the last. As anti-Palestinian and pro-Zionist rhetoric rises, so too will abductions such as that of Mahmoud Khalil. Protestors like those who occupied Trump Tower in NYC are staying loud to ensure fascists don’t get the silence they want.
