Washington (Quds News Network)- Only 14 Democratic lawmakers signed a letter urging the release of Mahmoud Khalil, an anti-genocide Palestinian activist and U.S. green card holder. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detained him without charges for his activism at Columbia University.
“We are horrified by the illegal abduction and indefinite detention of Mahmoud Khalil,” the letter states. It demands his release from DHS custody.
The letter, addressed to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, condemns the action. “Khalil has not been charged or convicted of any crime. As the Trump administration proudly admits, he was targeted solely for his activism,” it reads.
Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Mark Pocan, Ayanna Pressley, Nydia M. Velázquez, Delia C. Ramirez, Jasmine rocket, Summer Lee, Lateefah Simon, Gwen S. Moore, Nikema Williams, Al Green, Andre Carson, and Jams McGovem signed the letter. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not sign, despite previously criticizing Khalil’s arrest.
Strongly suspect this letter was probably organized quickly since multiple very outspoken dems aren’t on there. Probably prioritized getting out faster rather than getting people signing
I mean it’s not like AOC was light about it despite not signing
“If the federal government can disappear a legal US permanent resident without reason or warrant, then they can disappear US citizens too,” she wrote in a separate post. “Anyone—left, right, or center—who has highlighted the importance of constitutional rights + free speech should be sounding the alarm now.”
https://newrepublic.com/post/192558/aoc-ocasio-cortez-arrest-palestinian-activist-mahmoud-khalil
EDIT: AOC also already signed a seperate letter to Noem & the acting ICE director along with other NY dems making this article grossly misleading by claiming she didn’t sign on
I skimmed it quickly but I can’t really find criticism of Israel in the AOC letter. Which might be why she signed that one but not this letter.
What the fuck? Seriously? How in the fuck is blatant, overt political persecution not an absolute slam-dunk policy position for any sane politician here?
Gonna be sending some nastygrams to my congresspersons today. They’re all blue, and it’s categorical bullshit that they are ignoring this.
Here’s the letter:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GlxJ2coXAAAEynj?format=jpg&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GlxJ3VtW8AAl5z4?format=jpg&name=medium
Guessing the criticism of Israel is the reason they didn’t sign
Probably. And it’s a 0/10 justification to not sign.
If the holocaust happened today, this is exactly how we’d respond to it. People suck.
That’s exactly how most Germans did respond to it back then too.
Pretend it wasn’t happening. Pretend they didn’t know about it. Until they get slapped in the face with reality when the allies show up and force march them to dig the graves at the concentration camps.
This is pretty shameful. I’m def going to contact my legislators over this.
I know that lots (if not the vast majority) of American Israel supporters that would defend Mahmoud’s right to free speech even if they don’t support what he said.
Uh oh! Republican Voters who will NEVER vote Democrat will NOT like this! And THOSE voters are MUCH more Important then Democrat Voters who vote Democrat!
So there are literally 14 people in the US congress who have a functional moral compass. Noted.
They lack moral compasses in many other ways. There are only 14 people in the Congress who may nominally oppose this specific policy of political persecution
The lesser evil everybody!
You’re not wrong, but I mean, did any Republicans sign it?
Good job Democrats, you’re slightly better than the fascists. 🙄
2.6% better. lol
Yep. At least we know who among the Democratic party has a spine. The rest we might be able to do something about. It’s a good reason to support politicians over party, if anything.
Shame that the fascists are in power, though, so if there is ever another fair and free election in the US again, I’ll be plenty surprised.
Not mentioned in the article. No link to the letter itself either.
From Rashida Tlaid’s Twitter:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GlxJ2coXAAAEynj?format=jpg&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GlxJ3VtW8AAl5z4?format=jpg&name=medium
images linked form this post:
Don’t forget this gem from 2015, they’re still at it and are better at it:
“Once we isolate key people, we look for people we know are in their upstream – people that they read posts from, but who themselves are less influential. We then either start flame wars with bots to derail the conversations that are influencing influential people, or else send off specific tasks for sockpuppets (changing this wording of an idea here; cause an ideological split there; etc).”
The goal is to keep opinions we don’t want fragmented and from coalescing in to a single voice for long enough that the memes we do want can,…
Edit: This is a bonus
I can prove that virtually everyone ends up feeling happier from hearing a feel good soundbite as a result of what I do, and goes about their life both feeling they’ve done something and happier. They weren’t actually interested in doing something for real, they are leaving that up to someone else. Someone like my employers.
Democrats IRL: Giving standing ovations to Netanyahu, and giving him billions to kill Palestinians.
They’re a brutal, vicious party, and anyone who associates with them should have to answer for their crimes against humanity.
AOC didn’t sign. Disappointed but not surprised that a politician would chose not to side against their reelection chances.
EDIT:
AOC signed a different letter to DHS, which means this article is misleading.
Her claim is that “she was waiting for details from Mahmoud’s lawyer”. Not sure what details could be important enough to hold off on signing the letter.
Do you have a source for that? Your statement kind of sounds like likely misinformation because she signed on to a similar letter sent to acting ICE director yesterday and has been super outspoken about this
“If the federal government can disappear a legal US permanent resident without reason or warrant, then they can disappear US citizens too,” she wrote in a separate post. “Anyone—left, right, or center—who has highlighted the importance of constitutional rights + free speech should be sounding the alarm now.”
https://newrepublic.com/post/192558/aoc-ocasio-cortez-arrest-palestinian-activist-mahmoud-khalil
https://newrepublic.com/post/192606/14-democrats-mahmoud-khalil-letter
The absence of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was noted given her previous criticism of Khalil’s arrest, but her chief of staff said she was waiting on one detail from Khalil’s legal team, when signing for the letter was closed. He added that she would sign the letter if it was still open.*
Yeah, that’s a pretty weak excuse. Hopefully she gets enough heat for this to pressure her back into the right side of history.The article failed to mention her letter to DHS.
