Trump Cracks Down on Free Speech in Support of Palestinian Rights | Palestine Policy Roundup 02.03.25
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “Trump said he wants to ‘clean out’ Gaza and push the millions of Palestinians living there into neighboring countries. There is a name for this — ethnic cleansing — and it’s a war crime. This outrageous idea should be condemned by every American.”
Sen. Peter Welch on the resumption of delivery of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel: “Just as I said during the last administration: America shouldn’t give Israel 2,000-pound bombs to drop on one of the most densely populated areas in the world. We should help bring the remaining hostages home, surge aid for civilians in need, and create a lasting peace.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley: “Trump wants to remove 2 million Palestinians from their home in Gaza—this is horrific, unacceptable, and a massive violation of international law. We must stand with Palestinians to rebuild Gaza.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
📣 PRESIDENT TRUMP ISSUES EXECUTIVE ORDER TARGETING PROTESTS IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINIAN RIGHTS
President Donald Trump issued a repressive executive order last week that targets and seeks to stymie public support for Palestinian rights after more than a year of demonstrations against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The executive order directs the Department of Justice to prosecute students involved in demonstrations for Palestinian freedom and threatens foreign students who participated in demonstrations with deportation.
This vile attempt to stifle protected speech is very clearly and plainly another attempt to unleash law enforcement against students standing up for the human rights of Palestinians. The premise on which the executive order is based is false. An independent analysis of campus protests that spread across colleges and universities across the US in spring 2024 found that 97% of them were peaceful, and that in many cases police and pro-Israel mobs were the ones who engaged in violence against demonstrators.
This attack should also be recognized as an integral part of the extremist MAGA agenda promised by President Trump and many Congressional Republicans. In October 2024, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise promised during a meeting with AIPAC to target the accreditation of institutions of higher education where students were allowed to exercise their right to free speech and assembly in support of Palestinian rights. Additionally, the threat to deport foreign students holding student visas is yet another anti-immigrant measure in an administration that has peddled racism against immigrants and foreigners in the US.
This threat to free speech cannot be overlooked. This is part of the playbook of an administration that promised mass deportations and to abolish the Department of Education.
💣 PRESIDENT TRUMP RELEASES DEVASTATING 2,000 POUND BOMBS TO ISRAEL
President Donald Trump released a hold placed by the Biden administration on the delivery of 2,000 bombs to Israel, clearing the way for Israel to continue violating international law with these devastating weapons in Gaza–if the ceasefire does not hold–or elsewhere. President Biden paused delivery of this type of weapon to Israel over concerns of harm to civilians, but only after he had already delivered 14,000 of them to Israel.
These bombs are incredibly dangerous and are capable of leveling city blocks. They are capable of killing people up to 360 meters–nearly 400 yards–from where they are dropped, and can cause severe injury and damage from 800 meters–more than 6 football fields from endzone to endzone–away from the point of impact.
The Israeli military has deliberately used these US-supplied weapons in high-density areas in Gaza several times, amplifying the carnage and destruction unleashed on Palestinians in the occupied territory. Nearly 70 Palestinians were killed in October 2023 when the Israeli military used at least one of these bombs on a crowded market in Jabalia–an incident that Amnesty International said must be investigated as a war crime.
The Israeli military has also repeatedly used these weapons in areas where forcibly displaced Palestinians were ordered to go. After telling Palestinians to evacuate to Khan Younis in October 2023, the Israeli military used a US-supplied bomb on the al-Lamdani family house, killing 23 members of the family and other Palestinians. In January 2024, the Israeli military used a US-made MK84 bomb in a strike on a house in Deir al-Balah after forcing Palestinians to flee there. In September 2024, the Israeli military struck the so-called humanitarian safe zone in Al-Mawasi with a 2,000 pound bomb and killed at least 19 Palestinians. In that incident, Palestinians were buried under sand and the bombs left deep craters.
⚖️ CLOTURE MOTION FOR ICC SANCTIONS BILL FAILS IN THE SENATE
Last week, the extremist MAGA effort to sanction the International Criminal Court hit an important roadblock after H.R.23 failed to meet the 60-vote threshold to invoke cloture. Almost every single Democratic Senator–except for Sen. John Fetterman–voted against advancing this dangerous bill.
While this is an important development, the threat posed by the bill is not over. Some Senators who voted against advancing the measure also expressed support for the underlying attack on accountability for Israel’s crimes in Gaza and suggested that they would vote for the bill with minor tweaks.
The Senate should not pass this bill, even with minor tweaks, because it would still pose a fundamental threat to international law and the rules-based order. Instead of working to hold alleged war criminals accountable, H.R.23 proposes to sanction those trying to hold alleged war criminals accountable and to enable alleged war criminals to get away scot free. This bill undermines the principle of international justice for alleged perpetrators of the most heinous crimes under international law.
Leading human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have concluded that Israeli authorities have committed genocide and the crime of extermination against Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and all those complicit in these crimes must be held accountable.
💡 POLICY ASK: IMEU Policy Project strongly urges Senators to reject this bill and speak out against it should it be amended and come to the floor again.
📖 LEARN MORE: Check out the IMEU Policy Project’s policy memo on this bill and how it fits into the extremist MAGA agenda being pushed by Congressional Republicans.
IN THE NEWS
🍎 HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS DETAIL ISRAEL’S OBSTRUCTION OF AID TO GAZA
A recently published report by Oxfam found that Israeli authorities failed to comply with orders, issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) one year ago, to improve humanitarian access into Gaza. The report, which is based on a survey of 35 aid agencies working in Gaza, measured Israel’s obstruction of aid up until January 9th–before the ceasefire agreement was reached.
89% of survey respondents reported that Israel’s obstruction of aid not only failed to improve following the ICJ’s provisional orders, but also worsened. 95% of agencies that sent aid supplies into Gaza reported that their shipments regularly encountered delays, and every single agency reported that Israel’s procedures for aid entry were “...ineffective, had systematically impeded the humanitarian response, or were insufficient to meet the huge needs.”
The report also highlights the refusal of third party states to hold Israel accountable and uphold their obligations to prevent the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, making them potentially complicit in Israel’s crimes there.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Scott Paul, Director of Peace and Security at Oxfam America, criticized the US government for repeatedly denying Israel’s obstruction of aid: “It actually undercut a lot of the work that so many of us, so many of our organizations and other governments had done … to demonstrate what was blocking humanitarian assistance – and [that] the government of Israel was in the unique position to allow all of this aid to move in.”
Critical supplies such as personal protective equipment, tarps, winterization supplies, and hygiene kits were among the supplies that the agencies reported were blocked by Israeli authorities. The detrimental impact of these denials and Israel’s broader obstruction of aid is undeniable. At least 8 newborns died from hypothermia in just one month–something that could have been prevented had Israel faced real pressure from the US to allow more aid into Gaza.
While this survey does not address Israel’s actions since the beginning of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, it remains important as a testament to what Israel could have done all along. In the first days of the ceasefire, Israeli authorities allowed 4,200 trucks of aid to enter the occupied territory; in December, Israel only allowed a total of 72 trucks into Gaza. This is yet more evidence that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war, and demonstrates what may happen to Palestinians if the ceasefire does not hold.
🛑 ISRAELI MILITARY KILLS MORE THAN 20 LEBANESE WHO TRIED TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES
The Israeli military killed at least 22 Lebanese who were attempting to return to their homes in southern Lebanon on the day that the military was originally scheduled to withdraw from the country. The next day, the Israeli army killed 2 more Lebanese who were attempting to return to their homes. These killings are a violation of the ceasefire agreed to between Israel and Hezbollah in November, and are far from the only time that Israel has violated this ceasefire agreement. Israel and Hezbollah subsequently reached an agreement to extend Israel’s deadline to withdraw from Lebanon to February 18th.
In the 60 days during which the Israeli military was supposed to be withdrawing from Lebanon, Israel instead violated the ceasefire agreement numerous times. The Israeli army also said it launched attacks in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, killing at least 2 more Lebanese. Over these 60 days, the Israeli military killed 83 Lebanese and injured hundreds more.
This is only the latest in violations of the ceasefire by the Israeli military. In the first week after the ceasefire was agreed to, Israel violated the agreement about 100 times, adding to the systematic destruction that its military caused during its widespread bombing campaign. During its assault on Lebanon, the Israeli military killed nearly 4,000 Lebanese and displaced more than 1 million. An investigation published by NBC News in November found that 42% of the buildings in areas occupied by the Israeli military were destroyed, casting doubt on Israeli promises that this was to be a limited operation.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
🚨 ISRAELI MILITARY SHOOTS AND KILLS TWO YEAR OLD AS ITS WEST BANK INVASION CONTINUES
The Israeli military shot and killed a 2-year-old Palestinian child as Israel’s invasion of the West Bank continues. Laila al-Khatib was shot while her family was reportedly eating dinner at their home in Jenin, where the Israeli military has waged a campaign of death and destruction for 2 weeks. Laila’s mother was feeding her when a sniper reportedly shot her in the head, seriously injuring her and her mother.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Mohammad Al-Khatib, Laila’s grandfather, described his daughter’s grief for her daughter: “She had been struggling with the trauma of losing her husband, so I brought her and her daughter to live with us at home. She used to say, ‘I just want to raise my daughter and take care of her.’ Now, she keeps asking me, ‘Why did they kill my daughter? What did this little child do to deserve this?’”
Laila’s killing took place in the context of Israel’s ongoing invasion of the West Bank, which has now expanded to Tulkarem, Tubas, Qalqilya, Nablus, and Jericho, in addition to the ongoing invasion in Jenin. An Israeli air force strike that targeted a house killed 10 Palestinians in the town of Tammun last week. The Israeli army reportedly targeted critical infrastructure in Tulkarem just as it did in Jenin, destroying streets, telecommunications networks and water mains.
📺 WATCH: A video report published by The Guardian reportedly shows the Israeli military destroying homes and water infrastructure with bulldozers in the West Bank city of Tulkarem.
🏠 HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PALESTINIANS RETURN TO NORTHERN GAZA AS ISRAEL VIOLATES CEASEFIRE
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians crossed the Netzarim Corridor and began their return to northern Gaza last week after the Israeli military opened checkpoints it used to divide the occupied territory during its assault on Gaza. The Israeli military shot and killed several Palestinians who were waiting at the checkpoint as the opening of the crossing was delayed by 2 days.
📺 WATCH: A video report published by The Guardian captured the moment that Palestinian twin brothers were reunited after more than a year. Mahmoud and Ibrahim al-Atout were separated when Ibrahim was displaced to southern Gaza as the Israeli military devastated northern Gaza.
Palestinians returning to northern Gaza face immense challenges that are a result of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Israel displaced 90% of Palestinians in Gaza–nearly two million people–and reduced significant parts of the occupied territory to rubble. Palestinians also face the consequences of Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system, as many of them deal with life-altering injuries; a lack of access to clean water also makes them more susceptible to infectious disease.
Despite these challenges, many Palestinians welcomed their return to northern Gaza with joy and resilience. Ismail Abu Mattar told the Associated Press: “A tent here is better than a tent there…We had thought we wouldn’t return, like our ancestors.” Ibrahim Hammad told the AP: “We had to return, even to the rubble. Here we don’t have a house, but our family is here, and we will help each other.” Another Palestinian, identified only as an old woman, sang: “Stand by each other, people of Palestine, stand by each other. Palestine is gone, but it has not bid you a final farewell,” and said: “Thank God, we’re returning to our homes, after suffering so much ruin and hunger and disease.”
As Palestinians returned to their homes, the Israeli military continued to violate the ceasefire agreement. The Israeli army shelled a horse cart and killed 5-year-old Nadia Mohammed al-Amoudi near the Nuseirat refugee camp. In a separate strike in Nuseirat on the same day, the Israeli military killed a Palestinian man. More than 80 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire agreement took effect on January 19th, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. 49 of these Palestinians were killed in Rafah.
📖 LEARN MORE: As the ceasefire in Gaza hopefully ends Israel’s assault on Palestinians there, check out IMEU Policy Project’s policy memo on the agreement and policy recommendations for making sure Israel cannot restart its genocidal campaign.
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY 4.0 (File URL), via Wikimedia Commons.