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Jewish Voice For Peace protesters arrested in Trump Tower for opposing genocide
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We Will Not Comply

Freefalling through our authoritarian takeover, this week saw New York police in the grotesque faux-gold belly of the beast arrest 100 Jews of conscience chanting "Free Free Palestine" to protest the ICE abduction of a Palestinian peace advocate for likewise standing against Israeli genocide - both acts of Constitutionally-protected free speech this dark regime deems criminal. Jews on detainment for expressing the wrong political ideas: "We know our history, and we know where this leads. This is what fascists do."

The Jewish Voice For Peace protest - at the start of the Jewish holiday of Purim, which celebrates a long-ago, truth-telling queen who spoke out against another slaughter of innocents, in this case Jews - came after last weekend's nighttime arrest by ICE of Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old leader and mediator of pro-Palestinian campus protests at Columbia University where he'd just earned a Master's degree in international affairs. The arrest was sinister: In newly released video recorded by his wife Noor Abdalla and shared by the New York Civil Liberties Union, burly plainclothes ICE agents confront Khalil in the lobby of his Columbia-owned apartment. They refuse to produce a warrant, say who they are or talk to the couple's attorney on the phone; they threaten both Khalil and his 8-months-pregnant wife before eventually handcuffing Khalil, forcing him into an unmarked car and driving away. "It was the most terrifying moment of my life," said Abdalla. "It felt like a kidnapping, because it was."

In these times, the arrest of Khalil, after a "vicious, coordinated" doxxing campaign by Zionist thugs, was shocking but not surprising. A Syrian-born Palestinian citizen of Algeria whose family fled both the Nakba and then the war in Syria, Khalil was well-respected for his thoughtful, judicious work, first in the UK embassy in Beirut and last year as a negotiator during Columbia's protests. Though he's a legal permanent resident of the U.S. with a green card and a wife who's an American citizen, he was evidently considered fair prey by a stupid, bigoted regime that declared on arrival, "To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: we will find you, and we will deport you." After announcing Khalil had been "proudly apprehended" - he was in plain sight at Columbia - Trump brayed it was “the first of many to come” among "Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before...(They) are not welcome here.”

For 38 hours after his arrest, neither his wife nor lawyers knew where Mahmoud was held; it turned out authorities had secretly transported him from New York to New Jersey, and then in the middle of night to an infamous immigration detention center in Louisiana, a common, toxic ICE move to find judges more supportive of Trump's anti-immigrant assaults. But they still face one problem: Khalil hasn't been charged with any crime, and from the start Trump lackeys have been flailing to find one. ICE agents who arrived at his home first announced they'd revoked his student visa; when they were told he had a green card, they said they'd revoked that, which is almost impossible to do. Now, seeking to prove he is, as charged, an anti-Semitic supporter of Hamas - a claim for which there is no evidence and which his lawyers call "false and preposterous" - they're scrambling to justify their wildly illegal actions by clutching at implausible tactics - terrorism to immigration to McCarthy-era fearmongering.

After a lame effort to base the arrest on a Homeland Security claim Khalil “led activities aligned to Hamas" - despite having no contact with them - Marco Rubio dug deep to find and cite a little-used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that the Secretary of State can deport "an alien whose presence or activities in the United States (would) have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences" for the U.S. Presented with this absurd notice in court in Louisiana, Khalil refused to sign it. Because irony is dead, the State Dept. may also use 1952's Red=Scare-and-anti- Semitic McCarran-Walter Act, which set quotas against "subversives" to keep out Jewish Holocaust survivors or "disruptors" suspected of being Soviet agents, to cancel visas of "pro-Hamas" foreign students like Khalil. Despite Jews fighting the law, Congress enacted it, making it almost impossible for Polish survivors to enter the U.S; those who did, like Jared Kushner's family, told US authorities they were German.

Khalil's lawyers say the government’s case has "no basis in law," and it's "chilling" they seek to deport someone because they disapprove of speech "absolutely protected" by the Constitution: "The government doesn’t get to decide what you can talk about ...If it's adverse to U.S foreign policy interests, it's still protected." They also challenge, on legal and moral grounds, the regime's brazen effort to use the Immigration Act's “foreign policy” provision in this life-and-death situation: "If the government thinks Mahmoud’s speech in favor of Palestinian human rights and to end the genocide is not only contrary to U.S. foreign policy, that is something in itself, but that that dissent provides grounds for arrest, detention and deportation...It's an astonishing claim.” They are now trying to get Kahlil back in New York from Louisiana, a move they call a “retaliatory transfer” to restrict his access to his lawyers and family. A New York judge temporarily blocked his deportation at a hearing that drew hundreds of demonstrators.

Still, Zionist forces remain hard at work. With polls showing U.S. support for a genocidal Israel at its lowest in 25 years, pro-Israel groups and lawmakers are fighting to stifle dissent, criminalize divestment efforts like BDS, further criminally blur the line between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, and delightedly deport the righteous likes of Mahmoud Khalil. Thus, the news that uber-Zionist Betar US, labeled a hate group by the Jewish ADL - for posts like their response to a list of thousands of children killed in Gaza: "Not enough. We demand blood" - has claimed credit for ratting out Khalil to the government. It also says it's compiled a thousands-strong “deportation list” of pro-Palestinian protesters on visas at Columbia and other schools, claiming to have "documentation" to support the claim they're “promoting the eradication, the destruction and the devolution of western civilization." Their former director charges Khalil is an "operative"; asked for whom, he said he hasn't figured that out yet.

Still, disappearing people now is evidently not enough, so a berserk regime keeps cracking down, with Dept, of Education plans to investigate over 50 universities for "racial discrimination." Trump keeps tormenting Columbia, maybe because its city keeps hating him. He's threatened to pull $400 million in contracts and "review" $5 billion more if it doesn't get pro-Zionist, cuts already affecting research at the medical school; his DOJ plans to probe if Columbia "was harboring or concealing immigrants (in) the US illegally" or committing "terrorism crimes”; ICE thugs are roaming the campus searching rooms and reportedly detained at least two more students. When the besieged school ignored the Do Not Obey In Advance memo and said it expelled, suspended or temporarily revoked the degrees of students who took over Hamilton Hall during April demonstrations, Khalil and seven other students filed a lawsuit to stop them from providing activists’ names to vengeful GOP lawmakers in D.C.asking for them.

Still, Trump pressed on. In "an extraordinary ultimatum," he demanded Columbia place its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies programs under “academic receivership" for five years, ban masks that conceal identity or “intimidate others,” re-define antisemitism, abolish its discipline rules and "reform" admissions and international recruiting, adding, "We expect your immediate compliance." WTF. His minions are going with the rabid flow: Comic-book thug Tom Homan called Khalil "a national security threat," and Barbie Press Secretary said Khalil “distributed pro-Hamas propaganda, flyers with the logo of Hamas." His lawyers: "The reality is that Mr. Khalil completely, vehemently denies doing anything like that. He has absolutely no connections to Hamas whatsoever. (His) punishment should outrage anybody who believes speech should be free in the United States...If (he) is deported, no one can have any confidence in legal and constitutional protections as a line of defense against arbitrary state violence and punishment."

It was in the same belief Khalil's arrest marks a fascist escalation from which "there is no going back" that about 300 Jewish Voice For Peace activists, allies and Holocaust descendants flooded the public atrium at Trump Tower to protest against "a clear move from the playbook for authoritarian government we know all too well." Their calls: “Bring Mahmoud home now! Not In Our Name! Stop Arming Israel! Fight Nazis Not Students! Never again for anyone, never again is now!" and, stubbornly even as police continuously clambered up and down that damn gold escalator to thin and handcuff their red-shirted ranks, "Free, Free, Free Palestine!" They argued Khalil's arrest "does nothing to make Jews safer.“ They recalled the stories "we grew up on" of relatives abducted by the Nazis, authoritarian regimes targeting and scapegoating people, grieving families separated. They proclaimed, "We will not stand by" and "we will not be silent." And they chanted even as they were dragged away, "Come for one, face us all."

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protest outside EPA
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Lawsuit Aims to End 'Cruel War on Our Environment' by Trump and Musk

A leading conservation group filed suit Monday to stop U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk from "gutting" over a dozen of the federal government's environmental agencies and departments.

This isn't the Center for Biological Diversity's first lawsuit targeting Trump's Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, but it is the first lawsuit in the country "challenging DOGE's efforts to eviscerate the agencies charged with protecting the environment, natural resources, and wildlife," according to a statement from the group.

The suit names as defendants the Environmental Protection Agency and departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, and Transportation, as well as several entities under them: the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Federal Aviation Administration, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Park Service.

"The world's richest man has created an alternative power structure inside the federal government for the purpose of controlling spending and pushing out employees."

"Elon Musk and his hacker minions are tearing apart the federal agencies that protect our public lands, keep our air and water clean, and conserve our most cherished wildlife. The public has every right to know why they're waging this cruel war on our environment," said Brett Hartl, the center's government affairs director.

"Musk has shown that he can and will destroy a federal agency in a single weekend," Hartl added. "If his deranged antics are allowed to continue, we might never be able to fix the damage to America's environment."

The suit alleges "a flagrant violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which requires transparency, open public participation, and balanced representation when the president or executive branch agencies establish or use nonfederal bodies for the purpose of seeking advice or recommendations."

Trump's executive order establishing DOGE directs all agencies to form teams, or what FACA calls advisory committees, controlled by Musk. The complaint argues that "defendants have failed to ensure that the DOGE teams comply with the balance and openness requirements of FACA."

"Mr. Musk and other billionaire and tech executives working with DOGE stand to benefit personally and financially from the DOGE teams' work, including by securing government contracts, slashing environmental rules that apply to their companies, and reducing the government's regulatory capacity and authority, including by targeting specific agencies, statutes, and spending decisions that affect their businesses," the filing warns.

The complaint notes recent reporting that "Musk is using his influence over the DOGE teams to rapidly consolidate control over large swaths of the federal government, sideline career officials, gain access to sensitive databases, and dismantle agencies and regulatory systems."

"Since President Trump assumed office—and without any congressional approval—the world's richest man has created an alternative power structure inside the federal government for the purpose of controlling spending and pushing out employees," the document adds. "Meanwhile, Musk has been named as a special government employee, which subjects him to less stringent rules on ethics and financial disclosures regarding his role overseeing DOGE and the DOGE teams."

The new case calling on the court to require compliance with FACA comes after the center filed another federal suit in Washington, D.C. last Thursday with the aim of using the Freedom of Information Act to unveil details about what Hartl said "should be called the Department of Government Evisceration."

It also follows U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, launching a probe last month into Musk's official title. The congressman demanded answers from the White House by this coming Thursday.

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President Donald Trump at the White House
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Call What's Coming the 'Donald J. Trump Recession,' Says Economist

As U.S. financial markets continued their downward spiral on Monday amid rapidly mounting concerns about the impacts of President Donald Trump's erratic and destructive tariff policies, one economist argued that the president has almost single-handedly engineered economic conditions that could result in a recession in the near future.

"Past recessions have been the result of policy errors or disasters," Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, wrote Monday. "The most typical policy error is when the Federal Reserve Board raises interest rates too much to counter inflation. That was clearly the story in the 1974-75 recession as well as the 1980-82 double-dip recession."

"Then we have recessions caused by collapsing financial bubbles, the 2001 recession following the collapse of the stock bubble and the 2008-09 recession following the collapse of the housing bubble. And of course, we had the 2020 recession because of the Covid pandemic," he added. "But now Donald Trump is threatening us with a recession, not because of something that is any way unavoidable, but rather because as president he has the power to bring on a recession."

Baker pointed specifically to Trump's decision to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, which the economist estimates will cost Americans roughly $2,000 per household as companies push the costs of the tariffs onto consumers in the form of higher prices.

Trump is going to give us a recession, because he can cepr.net/publications...

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— Dean Baker (@deanbaker13.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 12:04 PM

Retaliatory measures are also likely to inflict pain on Americans: On Monday, Ontario announced it would charge 25% more for the electricity it provides to Minnesota, New York, and Michigan in response to Trump's tariffs on Canadian imports, a move that's expected to hike electricity bills significantly for ratepayers in those states.

China, meanwhile, hit back at Trump Monday with an additional 15% tariff on U.S. farm products, including chicken, pork, soybeans, and beef.

Trump's tariff policies, and the widespread confusion surrounding their implementation, have sparked a sell-off on Wall Street and broader fears about the state of the U.S. economy as the labor market shows signs of stalling and consumer confidence plunges.

"While a recession may not be fully baked into the cards at this point, the risk is evident and it's almost entirely coming from Donald Trump's policies," Baker argued, noting that while the recession threat is "first and foremost" driven by tariffs, they "are just one possible route."

"The other is Elon Musk's DOGE team attack on the government. If there was ever any doubt, it is now clear that this outfit has nothing to do with increasing government efficiency," Baker wrote. "The direct impact of Musk's job cuts on both the budget and the economy is likely to be small. The bigger impact is the uncertainty they have created in large sectors of the economy."

"In short, Donald Trump has good reasons for telling us that his MAGA policies might give us a recession," he added. "It's hard to know how bad this recession would be, but it will definitely be the 'Donald J. Trump recession.'"

"Will the Trump slump turn into a recession? How will Trump lie and cheat his way out of it? Stay tuned."

Baker's assessment came a day after Trump declined to rule out the possibility of an economic recession in the U.S. this year and downplayed the effects of his tariffs, claiming without a shred of evidence that they will make the country "so rich you're not going to know where to spend all that money."

Trump previously insisted that the U.S. stock sell-off was attributable not to his chaotic tariff announcements, but to "globalists that see how rich our country is going to be and they don't like it."

Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote Monday that just seven weeks after Trump's inauguration, "the bottom is falling out" of the U.S. economy.

"Stocks are plunging. Treasury yields are falling. Consumer confidence is dropping. Inflation is picking up," Reich wrote. "The cost of living—the single biggest problem identified by consumers over the last several years—is going up, not down. Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum, and his threatened 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, are playing havoc with supply chains inside and outside America."

"Even before this Trump slump, only the richest 10% of Americans had enough purchasing power to keep the economy going with their spending. The bottom 90%—including most Trump voters—were barely getting by. The next eighteen months could be rough on millions of people," he continued. "Will the Trump slump turn into a recession? How will Trump lie and cheat his way out of it? Stay tuned."

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American Federation Of Government Employees Rally To Save The Civil Service
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Judge Orders Trump Administration to Reverse 'Sham' Mass Firing of Federal Workers

A U.S. judge on Thursday ruled that the Trump administration must reinstate thousands of government workers fired from half a dozen federal agencies based on the "lie" that their performance warranted termination.

U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California William Alsup—an appointee of former President Bill Clinton—granted a preliminary injunction supporting a temporary restraining order against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and acting Director Charles Ezell on the grounds that the mass firing of probationary federal employees is "unlawful" because the agency lacked the authority for the move.

Alsup—who last month also found the OPM firings illegal—ordered the Trump administration to immediately reinstate all probationary employees terminated from the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.

"The reason that OPM wanted to put this based on performance was at least in part in my judgment a gimmick to avoid the Reductions in Force (RIF) Act, because the law always allows you to fire somebody for performance," Alsup said, referring the process used by federal agencies reduce the size of their workforce during reorganizations or budget cuts.

Last month, Trump signed an executive order directing Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to institute RIFs across federal agencies as part of a so-called "workforce optimization initiative."

"It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie," Alsup wrote. "That should not have been done in our country. It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements."

While the White House blasted Alsup's ruling as "absurd and unconstitutional" and lodged an appeal, advocates for government workers cheered the decision.

Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said in a statement that the union "is pleased with Judge Alsup's order to immediately reinstate tens of thousands of probationary federal employees who were illegally fired from their jobs by an administration hellbent on crippling federal agencies and their work on behalf of the American public."

"We are grateful for these employees and the critical work they do, and AFGE will keep fighting until all federal employees who were unjustly and illegally fired are given their jobs back," Kelley added.

Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said: "Public service workers are the backbone of our communities in every way. Today, we are proud to celebrate the court's decision which orders that fired federal employees must be reinstated and reinforces they cannot be fired without reason."

"This is a big win for all workers, especially AFSCME members of the United Nurses Associations of California and Council 20, who will be able to continue their essential work at the Department of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs Department, and other agencies," Saunders added.

Violet Wulf-Saena, founder and executive director of Climate Resilient Communities—a California-based nonprofit that "brings people together to create local solutions for a healthy planet"—also welcomed Thursday's ruling.

"The mass firing of public service employees is a direct assault on the environmental justice movement and will harm people living in heavily polluted communities," she said. "Today's decision represents a key win for our movement because our lifesaving work cannot proceed without the vital infrastructure and support of our federal employees."

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US-POLITICS-ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-CONFLICT-EDUCATION-WAR
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Experts Warn Trump Legal Claims for Mahmoud Khalil Arrest Portend Rise of Fascist Police State

As a federal judge on Wednesday extended an order temporarily banning the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil and new details emerged about the Trump administration's arguments for trying to expel him, legal experts and other commentators continued to express alarm over the targeting of the green-card holder involved with pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year.

In a Wednesday statement, Legal Defense Fund president and director-counsel Janai Nelson cited President Donald Trump's recent Truth Social post that described Khalil as "a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student" and pledged that "this is the first arrest of many to come."

Nelson warned that "the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, and President Trump's promise that there will be more arrests to come, is a chilling presentiment that raises serious concerns about this administration's misuse of immigration enforcement personnel to curtail and punish constitutionally protected First Amendment activity. The Trump administration's tactics aim to stoke fear and signal that dissent will result in harmful immigration consequences and other forms of oppression that may include surveillance, violence, detainment, and even potential deportation."

"The law is clear," she stressed. "The First Amendment guarantees demonstrators the right to peacefully assemble and dissent without government retaliation. We demand due process and human and civil rights protections for Mr. Khalil and all lawful protesters. His treatment should alarm everyone who believes in the primacy of the U.S. Constitution and, especially, First Amendment freedom and equal protection under law."

Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent, finished his studies at Columbia in December. He was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York City on Saturday while returning home with his pregnant wife, a U.S. citizen who said that "ICE officers hung up the phone on our lawyer." He is being held at an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana.

The Washington Postreported Wednesday that "a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio is so far the Trump administration's sole justification for trying to deport" him. The newpaper obtained a notice informing Khalil that he faces deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act because Rubio "has reasonable ground to believe that your presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."

Rubio on Wednesday suggested to reporters that Khalil supports Hamas, which has goverened the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades and is designated as a terrorist group by the United States. The secretary said that "this is not about free speech. This is about people that don't have a right to be in the United States to begin with... No one has a right to a green card."

Khalil's lawyers said in a Monday filing that as a Palestinian, he "has felt compelled to be an outspoken advocate for the human rights of Palestinians, including on the campus of Columbia University," and "he is committed to calling on the rest of the world to protect the rights of Palestinians under international law and to stop enabling violence against Palestinians."

Last year's protests at Columbia and other campuses came as Israeli forces responded to a Hamas-led attack on Israel by waging a devstating U.S.-backed military assault on Palestinians in Gaza, resulting in widespread allegations of genocide.

The administration's attempt to deport Khalil and Trump's signal that other pro-Palestinian advocates will face similar attacks have provoked intense outrage. Khalil's legal team includes lawyers with the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which launched proceedings challenging his detention and seeking his return to New York.

"This is clearly an attempt to deport Mahmoud by exploiting a vague and overly broad provision of U.S. immigration law," CCR's Brad Parker told the Post. "This provision, if not reined in, will be exploited to pursue the deportation of anyone who disagrees with the administration's foreign policy agenda. This is not about security, this is about absolute executive power and repression."

Paul O'Brien, executive director at Amnesty International USA, also weighed in with Wednesday statement, calling Khalil's arrest "another attack on human rights by the Trump administration" and emphasizing that "each and every one of us—regardless of immigration status—has the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and due process."

"Targeting and threatening peaceful protesters and their immigration status for the content of their protest, such as advocating for the human rights of Palestinians, is a violation of human rights," he said. "This targeting sends a chilling message to people across this country, on and off campuses, that anyone exercising their rights will be subject to repression, detention, and possible deportation. And for the immigrant communities already living in fear throughout the U.S., they are now only further pushed into the shadows with fear that they could be deported for speaking out."

In addition to demanding Khalil's immediate release, O'Brien called on universities to "take steps to protect their immigrant students from ICE enforcement and ensure that the human rights of all of their students and faculty to protest in support of Palestinian rights and other issues is respected and protected."

As Common Dreams reported earlier Wednesday, Khalil's wife said in a detailed account of their recent experiences that her husband had emailed Columbia University the day before his arrest, seeking legal support, and had never heard back.

Jeffrey C. Isaac, a political science professor at Indiana University Bloomington, argued in a Wednesday opinion piece for Common Dreams that "this is not about Hamas or Palestine or Israel or antisemitism. It is about the crackdown on dissent. Period. Foreign 'agitators,' American 'agitators,' it makes no difference."

"The arrest of Khalil Mahmoud is an offense to every citizen of the United States, and it sets a precedent that endangers us all," Isaac added. "Trump is turning the United States into a police state."

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A veiled, elderly Palestinian woman sits amid the rubble of her home in Gaza
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As Israel Pulls Plug on Gaza, Smotrich Says Trump's Ethnic Cleansing Plan 'Taking Shape'

Israel's finance minister said Sunday that U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza is proceeding, remarks that came on the same day as Israel completely cut off electricity from the last receiving facility in the obliterated Palestinian enclave.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the far-right Religious Zionism party told fellow Knesset lawmakers that "this plan is taking shape, with ongoing actions in coordination" with the Trump administration.

Smotrich said that he is working with Cabinet members including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz to establish a "migration administration" that will oversee the removal of an indeterminate number of Gaza's approximately 2.1 million people, most of whom are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were ethnically cleansed from what is now Israel during the modern Jewish state's founding in 1948.

While Smotrich insisted that Palestinian removal would be "voluntary," it is highly questionable whether many Palestinians would leave what remains of their homeland of their own free will, or what kind of incentives it would take to convince them to go.

Last month, Trump—who on Wednesday threatened to kill everyone in Gaza unless Hamas handed over the dozens of remaining Israeli and other hostages it has held for over 500 days—vowed that the U.S. would "own" Gaza.

U.S. developers, the president said, will "level" Gaza and build the "Riviera of the Middle East" there after Palestinians—"all of them"—leave. Asked if his plan involved sending U.S. troops to Gaza, Trump replied, "If it's necessary, we'll do that."

Forced removal of people by an occupying power is a war crime according to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, under which Israel's apartheid settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are also illegal.

Smotrich said Sunday that the so-called Trump Plan "involves identifying key countries, understanding their interests—both with the U.S. and with us—and fostering cooperation."

"Just to give you an idea—if we remove 10,000 people a day, seven days a week, it will take six months," Smotrich said. "If we remove 5,000 people a day, it will take a year. Of course, this is assuming we have countries willing to take them, but these are very, very, very long processes."

Leaders of both Egypt and Jordan, where Trump has proposed sending Gazans, vehemently oppose the plan. A counterproposal issued by Egypt and other Arab nations—which involves rebuilding Gaza without forcibly displacing its residents—has the support of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation and nations including China, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy.

Smotrich's remarks came on the same day that Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said that he "just signed an order for the immediate halt of electricity to the Gaza Strip" as part of a policy to use "all of the tools that are at our disposal to ensure the return of all the hostages."

Smotrich weighed in on the power cut, arguing that "the Gaza Strip must be completely and immediately blacked out as long as even one Israeli hostage is being held there."

Israeli officials believe 24 hostages are still alive in Gaza, including 22 Israelis, one Thai, and one Nepali. The bodies of 35 hostages who died or were killed after their abduction are also being held in Gaza.

"Israel must bomb the huge fuel depots that entered the strip as part of the unfortunate deal, as well as the generators operated by Hamas," Smotrich said, referring to the crumbling cease-fire that went into effect on January 19. Israel stands accused of nearly 1,000 violations of the truce.

In recent days, renewed but limited Israeli airstrikes and statements from Israeli leaders about resuming a full assault on Gaza have further imperiled the shaky cease-fire.

Electricity was first cut off to Gaza in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, as then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a "complete siege" of the coastal strip. The ongoing blockade has fueled deadly starvation, disease, and exposure.

Along with Israel's bombardment and invasion—which have left more than 170,000 Palestinians dead, maimed or missing in Gaza—the siege is cited in the South Africa-led genocide case currently before the International Court of Justice. Netanyahu and Gallant are also wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri is also a fugitive from the ICC.

Humanitarian groups warned that the suspension of electricity to Gaza could force the shutdown of the strip's two functioning desalination plants, reducing the already scarce supply of fresh water.

However, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said Sunday that the electricity cutoff probably wouldn't have much impact, given the existing siege. But Qassem still called the move "behavior that confirms the occupation's intent to continue its genocidal war against Gaza, through the use of starvation policies, in clear disregard for all international laws and norms."

Hamas further slammed the Israeli move as "cheap and unacceptable blackmail."

In the United States, the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned what it called "Israel's latest act of genocide in Gaza."

"By openly trying to starve and freeze an entire civilian population to death, the far-right government of indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu has once again clearly demonstrated its genocidal intent in Gaza," CAIR said in a statement. "Banning food, water, fuel, medical supplies—and now electricity—threatens the lives of everyone in Gaza."

"The United States and other western nations must stop treating Palestinians as less than human and stop giving this one government impunity as it flagrantly violates international law," the group added.

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