Student activist detained in the US

Whatsinanamehey-That's excellent news! Now that he has been released and not charged with anything, I wonder if those who accused him of "aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation" are going to apologise?

Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil has said the Trump administration failed to suppress pro-Palestinian voices, following his release from more than three months in immigration detention.
"My existence is a message" to the Trump administration, he told the BBC after returning to New Jersey from a detention centre in Louisiana. "All these attempts to suppress Pro-Palestinian voices have failed now."

Great news

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70r839kxd9o.amp

It's probably impossible to work in Gaza and not get Hamasniks in your organization. Hamas is embedded in Gaza's society even though not everyone supports it.

now, is that sufficient to make UNRWA a no go organization? That's another question. And I'm suspicious because they came up with this reason later.

in any case we have other people who have been detained or deported. Theee was the Indian architecture student who self deported to Canada rather than get kicked out. She had no involvement with protests beyond some instagram posts but had been arrested because she was walking past a protest as it got broken up. The charge was dismissed. There's simply no question that they're going after people to make examples, including green card holders.

Apparently based on those numbers, “Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations,” the panel said. “However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this.

Exactly, these are Israel's claims that they did not provide evidence for?? It was surely in their best interest to provide this evidence.

Is your second comment based on the Turkish lady who is being threatened with deportation due to writing an article?

Frightening times for America, fascism in practice.

I guess you missed these bits from the article you linked to:

In February, a video aired from October 7 showed two men, including an individual identified as UNRWA social worker Faisal Ali Mussalem al-Naami outside Kibbutz Be’eri, taking the body of Jonathan Samerano, who was murdered by terrorists, and placing it in an SUV to take back to Gaza.

The picture of Palestinian terrorist Dalal Mughrabi who carried out the Coastal Road Massacre is featured on a classroom chalkboard in the Al-Zaytun Elementary School in Gaza run by the UNRWA Palestinian humanitarian aid agency. (Courtesy IMPACT-se)

In further damning revelations, IDF forces found in February a subterranean data center — complete with an electrical room, industrial battery power banks and living quarters for Hamas terrorists operating the computer servers — underneath UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City.

Numerous past reports have found that UNRWA schools and teachers continue to teach hatred of Jews and glorify terrorism, including a 2022 report by the IMPACT-SE organization that UNRWA textbooks continue to contain incitement. A 2023 report by the same organization along with the UN Watch group cited dozens of examples of social media posts by UNRWA employees that “glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis and incite antisemitism.”

And the US State Department is free to make its own independent assessment of the credibility of the allegations, also informed by the findings of American intelligence agencies, which have their own independent sources in the Middle East. It doesn't have to be "proven" in the court of pubic opinion to be acted on by the US in an immigration matter.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/unrwa-review-israel-hasnt-provided-evidence-that-agency-staff-were-terror-group-members/

"A series of investigations, including one led by French former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some "neutrality related issues" at UNRWA -- but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its headline allegation"
Source: France 24
.
Sorry I meant actual verified evidence provided to the many investigations."

What evidence did Israel provide to back up these claims?

Well, for one thing, specific individuals were identified:

The Oct. 7 intelligence reports seen by the Journal identified an Unrwa Arabic teacher who the reports said was also a Hamas militant commander and took part in a terrorist attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were killed and about 26 people were kidnapped and taken as hostages to Gaza.

Another Unrwa employee, described in the dossier as an Unrwa social worker, played a role in absconding with the body of a dead Israeli soldier, which was taken to Gaza, the reports said. He also coordinated trucks and munitions distributions for Hamas before being killed.

I guess you didn't bother to read the article.

What evidence did Israel provide to back up these claims?

I don't think the word extensive should be used

@Martymcfly24, you've linked to UNRWA's own press release about the allegations, so hardly an unbiased source. From the WSJ article I linked to above:

Intelligence estimates shared with the U.S. conclude that around 1,200 of Unrwa’s roughly 12,000 employees in Gaza have links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and about half have close relatives who belong to the Islamist militant groups. Both groups have been designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. and others. Hamas has run Gaza since a 2007 coup.

Two officials familiar with the intelligence said the Unrwa employees considered to have ties with militant groups were deemed to be “operatives,” indicating they took active part in the organization’s military or political framework. The report said 23% of Unrwa’s male employees had ties to Hamas, a higher percentage than the average of 15% for adult males in Gaza, indicating a higher politicization of the agency than the population at large.

Nearly half of all Unrwa employees—an estimated 49%—also had close relatives who also had official ties to the militant groups, especially Hamas, the intelligence reports said.

That sounds fairly extensive to me.

Absolute thugs and bullies.

I do fear though this is only the beginning. Trump has clearly shown his irrational hatred of Muslims time and time again and this allows him to purge the US by claiming people are terrorists.

I saw this it was disgusting. Those thugs arresting her whilst she was on her way to break her fast. The judge has so far halted the deportation. It's no wonder I see so many threads on mumsnet talking of how America is no longer a place they would want to visit whilst the Trump administration is in office.

https://www.unrwa.org/unrwa-claims-versus-facts-2025

I don't think the word extensive should be used

Do you think it's right that Rumeysa should be snatched off the street based on an article on which she was the co editor.

It voided the application because the application was not complete. It omitted material information that should have been included. And working for an organization with known ties to a designated terrorist entity is potentially disqualifying.

In the case of UNRAW, the organization was found to have extensive ties to Hamas, and some of it’s staff participated in the October 7th attacks.

Intelligence Reveals Details of U.N. Agency Staff’s Links to Oct. 7 Attack Around 10% of Palestinian aid agency’s 12,000 staff in Gaza have links to militants, according to intelligence dossier

In regards to the other omission, the green card application is required to be both correct and complete. I’ve no idea why he didn’t include the other job, but he should have.

Me neither @odras.

Just watched a conference with Marc Rubio about Rumeysa. His answer to the question about why her visa was revoked while talking around the issue basically confirmed it is based on her article.

He also threatened more visas being revoked.

It appears that Israel is now above any criticism in the US which is very scary.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/27/us/rumeysa-ozturk-detained-what-we-know/index.html

Has anyone heard about this? Is there more to the story, the accusation is the same as Khalil but no evidence has been given yet.

She was a co author of a piece in a student newspaper criticizing the universities response to protests criticizing investing in Israel which appears to the be the reason she has been singled out .

Either way the video of her arrest is shocking she was handcuffed on the street by plain clothes ICE officers which is terrifying as they did not show their badges until after she was arrested.

Mmm, if true it's very bad, but you'll forgive me for being suspicious of them suddenly coming out with this.

They'll have his original green card application on file. He surely has a copy as well. Are you suggesting both have been replaced with forgeries?

Mmm, if true it's very bad, but you'll forgive me for being suspicious of them suddenly coming out with this.

ICE also tried to arrest a Columbia student who has lived here since she was 7; they had a warrant but couldn't find her. All she's accused of is participating in protests; she held no leadership roles and was not arrested. She sued and a judge ruled today she can't be detained.

Pretty stupid thing to do.if correct.

"According to recent court filings, President Donald Trump's administration said Khalil failed to disclose when applying for his green card last year that his employment by the Syria Office at the British Embassy in Beirut went "beyond 2022" and that he was a "political affairs officer" for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees from June to November 2023."

@MissConductUS Oh heck, I hope for his family’s sake that this isn’t true.

Here's a shocker. He seems to have lied on his green card application.

Trump administration claims Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil misrepresented information on green card application

He can be deported on this basis alone.

Yep. And Musk has said he wants the judge who made the court order impeached! It’s actually unbelievable. Musk and Trump are blatantly ignoring the courts and doing what they want. I really hope they both get impeached and jailed.