Pro-Hamas agitators might not be doing so much agitating after President-elect Donald Trump gets into office. Congressional Republicans and members of Trump’s team are working on strategies to deal with the wave of pro-Hamas protests using legal actions to target activists, organizations, and foreign students supporting Hamas or other terrorist groups.
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The efforts could include federal investigations, prosecutions, and even deportations, according to NBC News.
An NBC News review of congressional hearings and letters, along with lawsuits filed by organizations led by former Trump officials, provides a preview of which federal laws a second Trump administration could use when pursuing investigations and potential prosecutions.
Judging from what has been pushed thus far, there are several legal measures most likely to be used once Trump returns to Washington. One would be deporting foreign college students in the U.S. on a visa after they’re found to have openly advocated for Hamas or another U.S.-designated terror group, or after they participated in an unauthorized campus protest and were suspended, expelled or jailed.
Another measure would be to pursue federal prosecutions of demonstrators who block synagogue entrances or disrupt Jewish speakers at events. A third approach is to charge protest leaders and nonprofits that aid in fundraising for protest groups with failing to register with the U.S. Justice Department as an “agent of a foreign principal.” And a fourth avenue is to open investigations into protest leaders who are in direct contact with U.S.-designated terror groups while advocating on their behalf.
The multifaceted law enforcement approach is a marked departure from the Biden administration’s response to the protest movement. Some of the nation’s leading civil rights groups told NBC News that they are gearing up for a flood of legal battles to protect the protesters.
Trump allies have expressed solidarity with Trump’s plan to crack down on those harassing and assaulting Jewish Americans and others over the conflict between Israel and Hamas. “President Trump will enforce the law,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) in an email to NBC News.
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Reed Rubinstein, a senior vice president at America First Legal (AFL) affirmed that people “do not have the right to deny somebody the ability to congregate in a church or synagogue.”
The Biden administration has done little to address the problem. The fact that pro-Hamas activists have been engaging in behavior that goes far beyond simple protests does not seem to bother the president and his team.
Some have expressed concerns over potential violations of the First Amendment, arguing that those simply advocating for the Palestinians could be unfairly criminalized.
Ben Wizner of the ACLU said:
“The courts have made clear that the First Amendment protects all manner of controversial advocacy, including advocacy of violence, so long as the speaker isn’t actively inciting imminent harm.”
Edward Ahmed Mitchell of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) compared the protests to Black Americans fighting for civil rights:
“Just as Americans who peacefully marched, protested and lobbied against segregation, the Vietnam War and South African apartheid were not deterred when government agencies spied upon, smeared, arrested and brutalized them.”
Why do these people always use the struggles of Black people to push their agenda?
But I digress.
Here’s the thing, these protests have been occurring on college campuses and on city streets ever since the war in Gaza started on October 7, 2023. There have been plenty of individuals who are simply exercising their Constitutionally protected right to freely express their views about Israel and the Palestinians.
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However, there have also been many activists who have targeted Jewish Americans in violent assaults while actively promoting Hamas and other terrorist organizations that not only want to eradicate the Jewish presence in Israel but also carry out violence in the United States. From what the report suggests, these are the people Trump and Republicans plan to target, not those who are not engaging in violence.
There is a huge difference between Constitutionally protected speech and making threats, harassing people, or defacing property. Those who defend these thugs know this, but since they agree with the cause, they abhor the notion that the government would step in to stop them. Unfortunately for them, they won’t have much say in the matter.