The black sheep’s path is to speak truth to the herd, knowing full well that the herd may not take kindly being challenged and they may face exile for doing so. Since we founded this publication, perhaps there has been no clearer example of someone following the black sheep path than Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil is facing deportation from the United States for speaking truths that Columbia University and Washington, D.C. don’t want to hear.
A ton of misinformation regarding Khalil’s case has been disseminated into the public discourse, which Jake has been covering on social media. Unfortunately, when someone speaks so powerfully against the herd, such malice is par for the course. To help clear up this misinformation and gain an understanding of Khalil’s legal situation, we spoke to friend of The Black Sheep Jenin Younes.
Jenin is an experienced impact and strategic litigator. A graduate of Cornell University and New York University School of Law, for 13 years she has litigated criminal and constitutional cases in state and federal courts. For the past several years, she has focused almost exclusively on First Amendment free speech cases and took an original legal argument to the Supreme Court last year in Murthy v. Missouri, which challenged the Biden administration’s pressure on social media companies to suppress conservative speech and alleged COVID-related misinformation. She also has extensive experience communicating legal issues and arguments to the public, and has appeared on hundreds of podcast, radio, and television shows for this purpose, participated in panel discussions and debates, and published opinion editorials in a range of outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Free Press, Compact Magazine, and Tablet.
In our conversation, we covered:
Khalil’s constitutional rights as a green card holder.
The evidence, or lack thereof, against Khalil.
The conflict between the First Amendment and the immigration statutes being used against Khalil.
The relevant legal precedent in Khalil’s case.
The social contagion of hatred and lies against advocates for Palestinians.
What will happen next in Khalil’s case and in the Trump adminstration’s broader efforts against pro-Palestinian activists.
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Our accidental matching outfits really hit lmao
First off, I wanted to say that Jake and Salome’s matching outfits were most hilarious and most unexpected. They look either as if they were the welcome committee in heaven or at Sears for family pictures. Also, why did Salome look like that picture of the Rock wearing that turtle neck sweater? I also noticed from the very first interview they did with Jenin Younes that her favorite phrase seems to be “ya.”
With all that out of the way, I want to discuss this excellent discussion from last night on the legal and free speech implications of Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest and detention. There is no evidence of Mr. Khalil making any statements that were antisemitic or in support of Hamas. Nor was he ever charged, indicted or convicted of any crime. Only if a green card holder is convicted of a crime can they be deported. Mahmoud Khalil was never even accused of a crime let alone convicted in a court of law. The Trump administration can’t even say what it is he did that merits him being expelled from the country. All they say is “he made statements in support of Hamas.”
But this in of itself is not a reason you can deport someone. That is protected speech under the first amendment. The only evidence they can produce of that is that someone was handing out pro-Hamas flyers at an event he spoke at. Pretty flimsy evidence if you ask me. Also, isn’t this deportation both inhumane and pretty cruel considering he has a wife and a baby on the way. The media never mentions that fact. I wonder why? 😉 They also never tell you he explicitly condemned antisemitism and said the liberation of the Palestinian and Jewish peoples were tied together.
He also acted as a mediator between the school and the protesters at Columbia as well. Only an individual trusted implicitly by both sides would be picked for such a role. Again, the media never reported anything about this. Antisemitism is a very real problem in this country and is at the highest levels we’ve seen it since the 1930s. This is not contrary to what some will tell you, an exaggerated problem. That being said, the Trump administration’s efforts to combat it are misguided and go too far. Pro-Palestinian activism is NOT inherently antisemitic. Nor does Pro-Palestinian = Pro-Hamas. Nor is censorship ever the way to fight antisemitic bigotry. This whole situation reminds me of the appalling banning of the film No Other Land from being streamed here in the United States.
At the end of the day, I am Pro-Israel, Pro-Palestine and Pro-Peace and a liberal Zionist. I love Israel and the Jewish people but I do NOT love the current Israeli government or it’s actions in the past few years. I could never ever become an anti-Zionist. Believe me, Jake and Salome have tried to convince me but with no success. 😅 But I will criticize Israel when I feel it’s warranted to call out injustice and move Israel closer to the Zionist dream it’s founders had for it. I also am as opposed to antisemitism as anyone but I do NOT approve of how our government and some NGOs seek to reduce it. Education, love and interfaith dialogue are how we fight antisemitic prejudice NOT censorship, undue accusations of antisemitism being thrown around willy nilly or deporting people who’s views we don’t agree with.
This is definitely a good example of the bandwagon effect in action. The Salem Witch Trials, the 1950s Red Scare, Tulipmania, the Reichstag Fire, the rush to convict JonBenet Ramsey’s parents of her murder, the lynching of Leo Frank in 1915, the Great Awokening, the Tentifada on College Campuses, and the rush to declare O.J. Simpson innocent of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman’s murders are all examples of this. If you ever find yourself in such a situation, re-read Salome’s article and go through the steps she lays out there and inoculate yourself against this tendency. Do your own research 🧐 don’t let the lying mainstream media tell you anything! Remember they don’t care about you and don’t work for you. They serve the government, the intelligence agencies, big business, and the military-industrial complex.
Thank you for covering this! The more people discussing it the better. Quite a concerning case.