Trump admin cracks down antisemitism as DOJ official exposes 'violent rhetoric' of radical protesters
The Trump administration has taken a more aggressive approach than its predecessor toward addressing the nationwide surge in antisemitic incidents launching investigations punishing elite universities and intensifying its immigration enforcement practices President Donald Trump through his Department of Justice DOJ and other agencies is using law-and-order tactics that his deputies say are necessary but that critics say could constitute overreach Harmeet Dhillon the DOJ's assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division advised Fox News Digital she has not seen any close cases when it comes to weighing antisemitic behavior against First Amendment rights of those who oppose Israel or Judaism BIDEN MENTORING DEPT PUT PRIORITY ON PRONOUNS LEFT BACKLOG OF NEARLY ANTISEMITISM COMPLAINTS OFFICIAL Criticizing the cabinet of Israel is not what I'm typically seeing here Dhillon declared I'm seeing an intifada revolution I'm seeing blocking Jewish students from transiting campuses and destroying property on campus which is a crime Quiet polite conversation and disagreement with Israeli procedures is not really what's happening here It's literally people saying Israel shouldn't exist and bringing the revolution to the United States Dhillon added that that type of violent rhetoric has led to violent acts in our country After Hamas s deadly terrorist attack on Israel on Oct the FBI s hate crime statistics proved a sharp spike in anti-Jewish incidents in the U S The facts runs through December Anti-Defamation League ADL content from and high-profile incidents this year suggest the trend is continuing An Egyptian national in the U S illegally in Boulder Colorado is facing state and federal charges for allegedly injuring people including elderly sufferers and a dog last weekend with Molotov cocktails during a peaceful pro-Israel demonstration in sponsorship of hostages being held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza Suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman stated to government he requested to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead according to an FBI affidavit During the attack he allegedly yelled free Palestine the agent mentioned In May Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim who worked at the Israeli Embassy in Washington D C were gunned down outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in D C Suspect Elias Rodriguez of Illinois shouted free Palestine as he was detained and Interim U S Attorney for D C Jeanine Pirro explained her office is exploring the scenario as a hate crime and act of terrorism SUSPECT CHARGED WITH MURDERING ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFF COULD FACE DEATH PENALTYIn another situation a man allegedly set fire to Pennsylvania Gov Josh Shapiro s residence on the first night of Passover Exigency call logs disclosed by local agents revealed that the suspect Cody Balmer invoked Palestine after the arson and blamed Shapiro who is Jewish for having my friends killed Tarek Bazrouk who identified himself as a Jew hater and stated Jewish people were worthless allegedly carried out a series of assaults on Jewish New Yorkers in and according to an indictment brought against him in May Bazrouk wore a green headband that mimicked Hamas garb and a keffiyeh during the attacks and he celebrated Hamas and Hizballah on his social media according to federal personnel Trump warned in an executive order at the start of his presidency that foreign nationals participating in pro-jihadist protests would be deported and he specifically highlighted college campuses as being infested with radicalism Unlike the Biden administration the Trump administration has since gone to war with elite universities particular of which have been roiled by disruptive pro-Palestinian protests that involve occupying academic buildings and installing encampments LEO TERRELL SAYS TRUMP ADMIN WILLING TO TAKE HARVARD ANTISEMITISM FIGHT ALL THE WAY TO SUPREME COURTHarvard and Columbia in particular are now engaged in litigation after Trump moved to freeze billions of dollars in federal funding for the universities and ban Harvard's foreign students The embattled schools have been thriving in winning temporary pauses to Trump s sanctions through the courts but litigation is pending and legal experts have declared they face an uphill battle The Trump administration has zeroed in on non-citizen students and activists who it has accused of supporting Palestinian causes in options it deems hostile to U S interests Amid Trump s pursuit of visa and green card holders Mahmoud Khalil s incident has become a flashpoint Khalil was arrested in March and detained after the administration accused him of violating immigration laws by engaging in anti-Israel activism This week Khalil announced in court papers the administration s proposes against him were grotesque and that his activism involved protesting this Israeli governing body s indiscriminate killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians Civil rights groups have warned that the governing body s hardliner posture risks violating free speech and protest rights A coalition of groups issued a joint comment this week on antisemitic hate crimes in which it warned the Trump administration not to over-correct because it would make us all less safe As we condemn these heinous antisemitic acts and those who perpetrate hate and violence we also recommit to ensuring that these events and the legitimate fear in the Jewish region are not exploited to justify inhumane immigration policies or to target Arab Americans and those who peacefully and nonviolently exercise their First Amendment rights in endorsement of Palestinian human rights the groups mentioned Dhillon notified Fox News Digital It's not my responsibility to balance free speech issues on campus It's my responsibility to enforce the federal civil rights laws And my opinion there's really no conflict When he took office Trump vowed in a string of executive orders to direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to aggressively prosecute terroristic threats arson vandalism and violence against American Jews Trump appointees at the DOJ then moved hurriedly to convene an antisemitism task force Dhillon revealed there is also frequent communication between the White House the DOJ and Jewish leaders about addressing antisemitism JEWISH STUDENTS WELCOME TRUMP ADMIN'S CRACKDOWN ON ANTISEMITISM HAMAS SYMPATHIZERS ON CAMPUSES We have heard from the Jewish district and I've ostensibly met with I think there's at least two dozen rabbis who have my number on speed dial now I literally sent three emails to rabbis in the last hour she announced She commented her division has opened several investigations involving land use for religious purposes under a law known as the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act RLUIPA including five related to Judaism The administration is also notifying Jewish communities of grants available for added defense at synagogues and she commented campuses are a considerable focus for her After reports surfaced that Dhillon's shakeup in the Civil Rights Division led to a mass exodus of more than attorneys leaving the division she communicated the media she was unfazed by the departures and that her focus remains on launching the division's work toward combating antisemitism Testing the limits of his subordinates and the courts another top DOJ official Emil Bove launched an internal scrutiny into Columbia apprentice protesters early this year The probe caused concern among line attorneys who felt it was flimsy and was also met with multiple reprimands from a magistrate judge according to the New York Times Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced in a comment in May that the New York Times' story was false and fed to the newspaper by a group of people who allowed antisemitism and aid of Hamas terrorists to fester for years Blanche verified the veracity of the research and declared it involved in part a probe into a Hamas-linked image on Columbia University Apartheid Divest s social media