'Mahmoud Khalil is no Mother Teresa - but there are laws in America'

Haaretz Jewish World editor Judy Maltz joins this episode of the Haaretz Podcast to discuss the crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists in America. According to Maltz, the Trump administration’s targeting of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil for deportation as punishment for leading disruptive anti-Israel protests is “pulling the American Jewish community apart.”

Khalil is “no Mother Teresa or Righteous Among the Nations” and is “probably pro-Hamas,” said Maltz, but there is “no evidence” Khalil has committed crimes that justify deportation. 

“It’s a very complicated place to be a liberal Jew today in America,” she noted. “Whose side are you on? Do you come out against attempts to combat antisemitism on campus? What are you supposed to do?”

Also on the podcast, Haaretz columnist and Israeli intelligence expert Yossi Melman explains why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to wait until this week to fire the head of the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security service, and why it is so worrying.

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