MSNBC is still trying to turn Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation case into something where they frame themselves as Pastor Martin Niemoller warning that the Trump Administration won’t stop with anti-Israel activists. On Saturday’s Velshi, guest host Melissa Murray welcomed Khalil’s attorney, Raher Azmy, to warn, “They will” go after others.
Murray falsely claim, “So, regardless of where you fall on the Gaza question, this is really concerning just generally for the rule of law. This is someone who is exercising First Amendment rights and has been detained and hasn't had an opportunity to exercise his due process rights to challenge his deportation, his detention.”
The entire reason Azmy is on the show is because Khalil is challenging his deportation, but such basic details aside, Murray then asked, “What does this mean for ordinary citizens, lawful green card holders, and all of us generally?”
Azmy replied, “Yeah, I mean, under the government's pretty chilling authoritarian logic, one could be arrested, detained, and deported if you're not a U.S. citizen simply because you disagree with the foreign policy objectives of the United States. And as Mahmoud suggests, that is not in no way limited to Palestine. That's just the tip of the spear. But it's a power they want to claim to go after other activists as well. And they will.”
Conveniently ignored in all of this is that Khalil’s group does not believe that Israel should exist. As for the U.S., it is difficult to argue that the group isn’t a bunch of secessionists when it lumps in Hawaii in the list of places they claim need to be decolonized. It is also true that Khalil was at protests that distributed Hamas and Hezbollah literature despite them being U.S.-designated terrorist organizations. Additionally, calling for the destruction of Israel is, according to Barack Obama’s State Department, anti-Semitic. Khalil’s beliefs are clearly a threat to the U.S. and its values. It is not as if he is simply disagreeing with the wisdom of parts of U.S. foreign policy that are unique to Trump.
Here is a transcript for the April 5 show:
MSNBC Velshi
4/5/2025
11:30 AM ET
MELISSA MURRAY: So, regardless of where you fall on the Gaza question, this is really concerning just generally for the rule of law. This is someone who is exercising First Amendment rights and has been detained and hasn't had an opportunity to exercise his due process rights to challenge his deportation, his detention. What does this mean for ordinary citizens, lawful green card holders, and all of us generally?
RAHER AZMY: Yeah, I mean, under the government's pretty chilling authoritarian logic, one could be arrested, detained, and deported if you're not a U.S. citizen simply because you disagree with the foreign policy objectives of the United States. And as Mahmoud suggests, that is not in no way limited to Palestine. That's just the tip of the spear. But it's a power they want to claim to go after other activists as well. And they will.
