Soumaya Ghannoushi – Middle East Eye March 17, 2025
“He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.”
With these words, US President Donald Trump did not merely insult Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer – he exposed something far more insidious. In Trump’s world, Palestinian is not just a nationality. It is an accusation, a sentence of exile, a mark of delegitimisation.
Schumer’s crime was questioning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s increasingly authoritarian government. Schumer, a staunch Zionist who has long positioned himself as one of Israel’s most unwavering defenders, dared to suggest that Netanyahu’s extremism was harming Israel’s future.
That alone was enough for Trump to strip him of his Jewishness, to brand him as something else – something meant to be demeaning.
This is not the first time Trump has wielded the word “Palestinian” as a slur. He has used it against former President Joe Biden, against Schumer previously, and indeed against anyone who dares to question Israel’s policies.
A Palestinian can be arrested for protesting, fired for speaking, or blacklisted for dissenting. And now, anyone can be treated as one.
This is the real warning in Trump’s attack. You don’t have to be Palestinian to be punished like one. You don’t have to be Arab or Muslim. You only have to step out of line.
Even Jewishness is no longer protection. Your identity has become conditional, your history disposable. You can be declared a traitor, an enemy within, someone who has forfeited their place.
The moment you question Israel, you become Palestinian – not by birth, but by decree. Because in this world, a Palestinian has no rights, nor does anyone who defends them.
A new McCarthyism is taking hold in America, and this time, it is not communists in its crosshairs. It is anyone who refuses to fall in line with Israel’s agenda.
Historical purge
In the 1950s, repression was justified as a crusade against subversion, a purge of those deemed enemies of the state. Today, the same machinery of silencing is at work under the guise of combating antisemitism. But this is not about protecting Jewish people from hate; it is about criminalising criticism of Israel.
It is about silencing students, journalists, academics, activists – anyone who speaks out against occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
And the hypocrisy could not be more glaring.
Trump and his allies have built their brand on railing against political correctness. They claim to be defenders of free speech, warriors against censorship. Just a few weeks ago, Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, stood at the Munich Security Conference and scolded European leaders for restricting expression. He lamented the West’s supposed retreat from free debate.
And yet, in the US under Trump and those who champion his ideology, free speech does not apply if the topic is Israel.
Pro-Palestinian students are arrested, expelled and stripped of their degrees. Professors who challenge Israeli policies are pushed out. Journalists who report on Israeli war crimes are blacklisted, harassed and silenced. Films documenting Palestinian suffering are cancelled. Human rights organisations are smeared as terrorist sympathisers.
Universities and colleges – once bastions of free inquiry – are under siege, with the Trump administration threatening to strip their federal funding if they do not suppress pro-Palestinian activism. The same institutions that once championed open debate are now being forced into policing thought.
The consequences extend beyond campuses. The US Department of Education, which is supposed to protect students facing discrimination, has been ordered to prioritise antisemitism cases – some of which are politically motivated – over the needs of vulnerable children.
Parents of students with disabilities are struggling to access the support to which they are legally entitled, because civil rights resources have been diverted to police speech on Israel. A system meant to safeguard the marginalised is now being repurposed to shield a foreign government from criticism.
Witch hunt
Another federal agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has also been redirected – not to combat human trafficking or drug smuggling, but to hunt down students who express solidarity with Palestine. ICE has reportedly paused key investigations so that its agents can monitor social media, tracking and flagging pro-Palestinian students for their posts and likes. This is not law enforcement. This is a witch hunt.
And now, the next step: legal oppression turning into outright state violence.
Trump is prepared to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime measure that allows the president to detain and deport non-citizens without due process.
Under this law, green-card holders, students, spouses of US citizens – anyone without citizenship – can be rounded up and expelled at the president’s discretion. It was designed for times of war, for use against citizens of enemy nations. But Trump is repurposing it, transforming immigration status into a weapon of political control.
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And this process has already begun. Trump just deported Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese transplant specialist and professor at Brown Medicine, a legal resident on a valid H-1B work visa. There was no alleged crime, no hearing and no due process. A respected doctor was expelled at the stroke of a pen because she fits the regime’s profile of the unwanted.
This is not a legal system. This is ethnic and political cleansing disguised as immigration enforcement.
Who will be targeted? We already know: Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims. Those who have protested, who have spoken out, whose very existence is now treated as subversive. The crackdown is escalating. First slander, then blacklists – now the threat of deportation without trial.
This is how rights are destroyed – not all at once, but in stages, each step paving the way for the next. It begins with one group, then it spreads. Soon, dissent itself is an act of defiance punishable by exile.
Crisis for democracy
History has already shown us how this unfolds.
McCarthyism began with communists, but it did not stop there. It spread to journalists, academics, labour organisers, civil rights activists – anyone deemed subversive. Lives were destroyed, reputations ruined, entire fields purged of independent thinkers.
The same pattern is unfolding now. It starts with Palestinians, then students, then professors, then journalists, then public figures, then anyone who refuses to pledge unquestioning loyalty to the state of Israel.
This is not just a crisis for Palestinians. It is a crisis for democracy itself.
Israel and the US were not content with trampling on international law to wage their genocidal war on Gaza. Now they are trampling on hard-won rights and freedoms at home to silence criticism of their war crimes, erode democracy, and criminalise opposition.
They are dismantling free speech in the name of combating antisemitism – when, in reality, they are weaponising it, reducing it to a political tool. And in doing so, they fuel the very antisemitism they claim to fight, conflating such repression with Israel and Jewishness itself.
The moment we accept that criticism of Israel is a crime, we open the door to something even darker. Today, it is Palestinians who are denied their humanity. Tomorrow, it is anyone who dares to dissent.
Because in a world where the mere act of speaking out is enough to strip you of your rights, your identity, your place in society – then anyone can become Palestinian.
Soumaya Ghannoushi is a British Tunisian writer and expert in Middle East politics. Her journalistic work has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, Corriere della Sera, aljazeera.net and Al Quds. A selection of her writings may be found at: soumayaghannoushi.com and she tweets @SMGhannoushi.
We can say a lot about Trump, but after the recent Nazi Joo attack killing over 300 Palestinians, Trump is finished.
Even if he was toying with Gaza building plot, it’s now clear that Trump is a butcher, and that Putin should take note, you can never trust an Amerikan Nazi.
The Hooties have again hit a US carrier. We can expect a lot more of this, including important Israeli sites. As I said yesterday, the US embassy in Jerusalem would be a dandy start.
We wait to see what transpires in today’s chat between the Butcher and Putin, although, I’ve no fecking idea why Putin is bothering.
And I’ll go one step further. IMHO, Trump has literally become unhinged.
But Macarthy was right! . Corrosive communists were indeed lurking everywhere and pushing subversive degeneracy .. as is now obvious to all .. he is vindicated . And deserves a reappraisal. So.. not a very good example at all .
But the point in generally is taken for sure .. nothing compares really .. it is unprecedented .. possibly the Catholic banishment of England maybe ?. (The foundation of UK old money families was that looted from the once Catholic monestrys and holdings), much as Zionist build on the blood of displaced and banished .. ? And Christians seem to be forgotten altogether with constant reference to Muslim Arab world blah blah .. sigh .. some are saying they will overwgg this puddin and it will backfire spectacularly , as it always has repeatly in the past . The Talmudic tribe always go beyond the pale consumed by their own hubris until they are snapped back and despised all round and their stolen standing kicked out from under them like a child expelled from every school in the state they declare the entire state unfair never look to themselves .
When did they establish that Jews are good? I would like to see the proofs, because “Jew” might just be another word for “bully”
General Patton said we have been fighting the wrong enemy referring to the Zionist Allies’ war against Christian Germany. Today, President Trump has America fighting the wrong enemy, in his unwavering support for Demonic Israel, Zionists of the Beast, Jews of the anti-Christ and the Devil’s Lying children, Trump knows full well he is bringing about total destruct of the USA, so, he is determined to make Canada and the Greenland Zionist States of America, believing, wrongly, he and his fellow Zionist Satanists and the Devil’s Lying Children will have a safe place to run too. The way forward is repentance and praying to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Heaven Father, the Holy Heavenly Mother and Almighty God.
The palestinians do merit this amerikakan president super-kike Drumpfendreck – they worked so hard to topple the pro-palestinian syrian govt of Bashar Al-Asad and installing the ISIS one, and the palestinian movement of resistance to the jewish occupation keeps it’s headquarters in…Qatar, of all places. To make it short – the amerikike bombers which bomb the pro-palestinian yemenis(“Houthis”) take off from a base Al-Udeid in Qatar. Give me a break!
“GAZA!”…. Yet ANOTHER Blockbuster from GloboZOG Productions…
FUN for the Whole Family….
and coming SOON to a “Theatre” near YOU!
Man denies causing £150k worth of damage to statue at BBC headquarters
Story by Harry Stedman
A man has pleaded not guilty to attacking a statue outside the BBC headquarters, causing more than £150,000 worth of damage.
David Chick, 58, of Bozeat, Northamptonshire, is accused of damaging the Grade-II listed statue in Portland Place, central London on May 20 2023.
The statue, which depicts Prospero and Ariel from William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, was created by Eric Gill, who is said to have sexually abused two of his daughters and several stray dogs
According to court documents, the statue suffered £153,014.18 of damage from the incident.
Gill was among the most prominent sculptors of the 20th century until his death in 1940, but his diaries, published much later, detailed the sexual abuse of his daughters and others .A man has pleaded not guilty to attacking the pedophile statue outside the BBC headquarters, causing more than £150,000 worth of damage.
David Chick, 58, of Bozeat, Northamptonshire, is accused of damaging the Grade-II listed statue in Portland Place, central London on May 20 2023.
According to court documents, the statue suffered £153,014.18 of damage from the incident.
Gill was among the most prominent perverted sculptors of the 20th century until his death in 1940, but his diaries, published much later, detailed the sexual abuse of his daughters and family dogs
Chick was already facing trial for criminal damage to the same statue relating to a previous incident on January 12 2022. He admitted he was against pedophiles
Judge David Tomlinson granted an application by prosecutor Nathan Palmer to join the two matters together during a plea hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday. “They are two offences of not just the same or very similar nature but, in effect, identical offences,” the judge said.
The defendant, wearing a black jumper with a red Spiderman logo in the dock, spoke only to confirm his name and deny criminal damage to property over £5,000.
The judge released Chick on conditional bail, ordering the defendant not to go within 100 metres of the statue.
A trial date was set at the same court for May 6 next year, he had already admitted to being pedophobic
“The more political power the Jew accrues, the more their Talmudic tyranny & persecution of their enemies mushrooms.” –Nico X
Israel the Anglo/American bastard son coming home with a plague for his parents.
Downing Street rejects Lammy’s claim Israel broke international law in Gaza
Story by Kiran Stacey Political correspondent •
so the genocide and mass killings during the cease fire is ok ?
criminal racist bastards
Hello palestinians – are yoy happy now? After all you’ve got what you deserve, haven’t you? Your friend Jewlany from Syria will certainly help you, or your “brothers” from Qatar, where HAMAS keeps its headquarters and from where take off the amerikike bombers which bomb Yemenis, the ONLY people on earth who try to prevent jews form starving Gaza. Don’t you deserve what you’ve got?
Of course Drumpf just drags a large percentage of his cult along with him… because of course they are a rather confused bunch listed in the Book of Life or the swindlers list as Judeo-Christians.. 😉
supposedly believing he was the bullet proof orange messiah (moshiac) come to ‘Save’ them all and who was going to ‘drain the swamp’ and lock her up for the ‘economy’…even though he’s been a payed up Swamp dweller all his life.. and swims with lizards..
Dear Dear what will happen to his ‘followers’…somebody ought to whisper in their shell likes that he’s actually beyond hehe…’redemption’…and So are they too incidentally…which I’m sure would be as popular as Melon Husks Tesla trucks or even a turd in the Whitehouse punchbowl.. which incidentally describes Donny Drumpf to a T… (for Talmud
There’s no such thing as democracy. Never has been and never will be. So it can’t be having itself a “crisis” can it? Just another fascist doing the fascist dance. He lied, people “voted”, now he’s doing what he pleases, like in every “democracy”. The safe thing to do is to say and twat nothing if you aren’t lucky enough to be a born-in-the-usa american. Think of it like this: no matter how much you’re silenced, you still get to go to baseball games, walk in the wide open outdoors, reap all the benefits of the things trump is doing that WILL benefit you, and you get to live a good life. Imagine the alternative: living in shit (like the “uk”), surrounded by immigrant invaders, pedos, gagged, abused financially, having your kids told they’re shit because they’re white, and being terminate by the “euthanasia” bill when you get old and poor enough. It isn’t really any choice is it now?
So they have a vapour of a ceasefire, but the truth, Putin isn’t only, ‘Putin the Weak’ , he’s also fool for even talking to the Nazis, and he’s going to sell Russis for 1 ruble, as in, you win in court, but the judge awards you the lowest denomination of said country.
This is a disaster for the Russian sheeple, and sheeple across the New Free World.
I really can’t believe Putin is doing this, negotiating with Nazi scum, when Trump should be signing treaties of surrender and coughing MAGA loads of compensation and costs for heinous Nazi crimes.
Many elite Russians must be furious with their sellout leader, Putin the Weak.
Trump with his Israel first policies is destroying any prospects of stopping the globalist corporatocracy destruction of his nation and the rest of the West. Who will want to cooperate with efforts to “insource” industries from China to the US or to the West?
lewis
jew is a euphemism for ‘mongrel’
ISRAEL THREATENS IRELAND
over support to stop the war on palestinians
https://www.renegadetribune.com/jewish-groups-threaten-irish-pm-with-serious-action-during-his-diplomatic-trip-to-u-s/
Trump is a fool and lunatic for supporting Israel, and he should be sued as accessory to genocide, Trump is aiding and abetting a genocide. Trump acting unilaterally in support of Israel is treason.
Trump is a MIGA pig. If he expands this war to Iran, he is done for.
If i have a row with the man over the road
should i go take it out on someone down the road ?
of course not so why is israel who hasa problem with hamas demanding freedom
go bomb villages and towns in Gaza ?
the real reason is that since 1948 jews have been killing everyone there to steal the land
and the israeli terrorism must be stopped
The news that israel with the help of donald trump and starmer wants to take jordan egypt and turkey
has horrified many people across the world
“The more power the Nazis gain the more wacky/fascist the world gets”-Carl Jones
“Free them in their own place!”
Nice. I want a girlfriend like this! She’s so Nice!
https://x.com/umyaznemo/status/1882640758857212331
@Yukon Jack
“Trump is a fool and lunatic for supporting Israel…”
Are you all ridht in your upper store to say such nonsense? Drumpfdendreck is neither a fool nor a lunatic – it is his kikush ESSENCE. And you don’t understand that? Too bad for you.