Since taking power on January 20, the Trump administration has engaged in an all-out assault on First Amendment rights and due process. It is attacking judges in the U.S. that have issued rulings that cite serious constitutional concerns. It has embarked on a sweeping campaign to force colleges and universities to hand over private records of students that have engaged in protests against the U.S.-facilitated Israeli war against the Palestinians of Gaza. It announced a sweeping program to deport students because of their activism, including those with Legal Permanent Residency status, or Green Cards—as in the case of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil.The position of this administration is that the First Amendment does not really apply to criticism of Israel or of zionism. Trump’s administration is trying to circumvent the Constitution and to criminalize clearly protected speech in the service of a genocidal government whose weapons and political support overwhelmingly come from the U.S.The tactics the Trump administration is employing are firmly in line with a longstanding German policy of putting support for Israel, no matter how heinous its crimes, above the basic free speech rights of its citizens. At the heart of Germany’s policies is a doctrine referred to as Staatsräson, or Reason of State. In Germany it is official policy that the defense of the Israeli state is a non-negotiable principle of the nation.In a wide-ranging discussion, Alexander Gorski, a Berlin-based criminal defense and migration lawyer, speaks with Jeremy Scahill about out how Germany has weaponized the concept of antisemitism to stifle dissent and to suppress speech. Gorski, who is representing defendants in high-profile deportation cases in Germany, is a partner with the European Legal Support Center. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Israel's genocidal war on Gaza resumed in full force on March 18 with a full scale aerial and ground assault killing over 1,000 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, while its total siege and reimposed policy of forced starvation is close to entering its second month. In one of the most horrific attacks, Israeli troops executed fifteen medics and emergency workers conducting rescue operations in southern Gaza and buried their bodies in a mass grave. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is engaged in one of the heaviest bombing campaigns of Yemen in U.S. history, continuing an aerial assault that began on March 15, primarily in the capital of Sana’a and Saada, a Houthi stronghold in the north, that has killed over 60 people. President Trump has also threatened to bomb Iran unless it reaches a new agreement with the U.S. over its nuclear program. Back at home, the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices is ramping up, with mass deportations of students, while elite universities, like Columbia and Harvard, capitulate to White House threats to cut off federal funding.Drop Site journalists Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, Murtaza Hussain, and Sharif Abdel Kouddous discuss all of this and more in an in-depth live broadcast. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

This month, the Trump administration’s crackdown on free speech related to Israel-Palestine dramatically escalated when Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Columbia University student organizer Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil is currently detained in an ICE jail in Louisiana, facing potential deportation. Khalil’s arrest is part of a broader crackdown now unfolding, with more arrests by the Trump administration sending a chilling message to others speaking out about the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on Gaza.After years of complaints by conservatives about “safe spaces,” “cancel culture,” and attacks on free speech, the Trump administration is now engaging in brute legal measures and accusations of discrimination on campus to silence free speech entirely.To discuss this topic, Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Jenin Younes, a civil liberties attorney and expert in First Amendment issues.Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

It has been 11 days since Department of Homeland Security agents working under the direction of the Trump White House detained Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, handcuffing him in the lobby of his apartment building. Khalil is a legal U.S. permanent resident and green card holder, and his wife, who is eight months pregnant, is a U.S. citizen. DHS quickly shipped him to Louisiana—a significantly less favorable jurisdiction. On Wednesday, a federal judge rebuked the Trump administration, ruling it could not move Khalil's case to Louisiana and sending it back to New Jersey.One of the central tactics the Trump administration is deploying in its crusade against speech opposing Israel’s wars has been to cancel or withhold federal funding to Columbia and dozens of other colleges and universities. On March 7, the Trump administration announced it had canceled approximately $400M in federal grants to Columbia saying it had failed to “protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment.” The next day, Khalil was arrested.After his detention, Khalil and several other anonymous students filed a federal lawsuit to block Columbia University and Barnard College from handing over private disciplinary records to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. On Wednesday, Khalil’s legal team is filing an amended complaint, expanding that suit to name Attorney General Pam Bondi, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and others.Jeremy Scahill speaks to Amy Greer, Khalil's attorney, about new developments in his case and the expansion of their lawsuit to more members of the Trump administration. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

Mercenary groups were a major part of premodern history, before being largely replaced by standing national armies. But in the past few decades, armed mercenary companies have again become major players in conflicts around the world. The U.S. employed Blackwater mercenaries to carry out operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the United Arab Emirates used paid mercenaries to carry out assassinations in Yemen.But in recent years, the most powerful example of a mercenary group has been Russia’s Wagner Group. Wagner fighters have conducted operations in Syria, the Central African Republic, Ukraine, and other parts of the world, leaving a trail of atrocities. As Drop Site News’s Murtaza Hussain says, Wagner is an example of how war may be organized in a globalized future characterized by weak states and ruthless capitalism.Hussain is joined this week by John Lechner, a journalist and author of “Death Is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare.” Hussain and Lechner discuss the history of mercenaries, the Wagner Group, and the operations they take part in around the world.Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

As Mahmoud Khalil is being held at a notorious ICE detention facility in Louisiana, we learned of another attack on the free speech of a pro-Palestine activist and scholar at another elite American institution. Yale University, whose federal funding is also under threat, has suspended the international law scholar and outspoken defender of Palestinian rights Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi. She served as the Deputy Director of the Law and Political Economy Project at Yale. On March 2, an AI-powered, far-right website called Jewish Onliner published a story accusing Doutaghi of being a member of the pro-Palestine advocacy organization Samidoun. In October 2024, the U.S. government placed Samidoun on a sanctions list, claiming it is a fundraising front for a designated terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Jewish Onliner article characterized Doutaghi as a member of a terrorist organization and of promoting terrorist leaders and activities on social media.Less than 24 hours after that article was published, Doutaghi says she was placed on leave by Yale’s law school, which revoked her email access and banned her from campus. Yale then launched an investigation into her activities. “This is not an individual case. This is about making sure that no one dares to talk, to challenge, the narratives in corporate media, in Western academia so that they maintain the hegemony and the domination of these narrative,” Doutaghi told Drop Site News. “This is not about me. It's not about Mahmoud Khalil. It really isn't about any of the individuals or the specificity of the cases and the individuals involved. It really is a very much coordinated attack on free speech and about how much the government is terrified of not being able to silence the voices that they've been trying to silence for so many years, but also especially in the past year and a half and they're failing to do so.”Yale said on Tuesday it is investigating Doutaghi for ties to “potential unlawful conduct” and claimed: “Such an action is never initiated based on a person’s protected speech.” The Trump administration announced recently that Yale was among 60 schools that could lose federal funding if they do not obey the White House’s orders to crack down on what the administration describes as antisemitic behavior on campuses, a clear attack on first amendment rights.In an exclusive interview with Jeremy Scahill, Doutaghi explains her political views and details the events surrounding Yale’s suspension of her and banning her from the campus. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to Middle East Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha, Qatar for negotiations on extending the Gaza “ceasefire” and exchange of captives deal between Hamas and Israel. These talks come in the midst of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and as Israel has continued to violate the terms of the original agreement signed on January 19. This weekend Israel cut off electricity to the one remaining desalination plant in Gaza, which provided drinking water to some 500,000 Palestinians. Israel claims it is undertaking these actions in an effort to pressure Hamas, effectively admitting to carrying out an act of collective punishment on the civilian population.Israel has maintained that it does not intend to move the ceasefire to a formal second phase, which would include the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and an enduring cessation of military hostilities. Instead, Israel is pushing for a 60-day extension of the ceasefire with no guarantee of its withdrawal or an end to the war. It wants Hamas to release ten living Israeli captives upon signing such a deal. Hamas has said that it is negotiating in good faith and wants the U.S. and regional mediators from Qatar and Egypt to pressure Israel to abide by the original three phase deal. Israel remains irked that the Trump administration’s envoy on hostages Adam Boehler met directly with Hamas.In a wide-ranging discussion, Jeremy Scahill speaks to Dr. Sami Al-Arian, the director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University. In addition to discussing the Gaza negotiations, the strategies of Hamas, the U.S. and Israel, they also talk about the case of Palestinian organizer Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and green card holder who was snatched by federal agents on Saturday night and threatened with deportation.Al-Arian himself was prosecuted by the U.S. government during the George W. Bush administration, though the government failed to win a conviction at trial on the 52 count indictment it brought against him. Facing ongoing threats of prosecution, Al-Arian agreed to a plea deal and to voluntarily leave the U.S. He was deported in 2015. “It's incredible how American values, the American Constitution, American cherished principles have been shredded by this administration and former administrations,” says Al-Arian. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

With Phase 1 of the Gaza ceasefire deal set to expire Saturday with no agreement (yet) for its continuation, Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous discuss the recent developments with the negotiations, as well as Egypt’s role in possible Gaza reconstruction and governance paths. A forthcoming Arab League summit is expected to be centered around presenting an alternative plan to Trump’s threats to turn Gaza into a U.S.-owned “Middle East Riviera,” one which would not include the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians of Gaza.Abdel Kouddous has just returned from Lebanon and discusses his reporting from the devastated south of the country in the wake of Israel’s withdrawal. Sharif also speaks with a leading political figure in Hezbollah and member of the Lebanese parliament Dr. Ibrahim al-Moussawi about Trump’s demand that Hezbollah be expelled from the Lebanese government and the pledge by Lebanon’s new president that he will impose a monopoly on the use of arms, which suggests a plan to disarm Hezbollah. They also discuss the future of Hezbollah in the wake of the assassination and funeral of the group’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts.We're a fully reader-supported newsroom, which means our journalism depends on people like you. Find all our reporting at dropsitenews.com, and subscribe to the Drop Site News channel on any podcast platform. If our work matters to you, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution today. Your support keeps us independent and investigating. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

It has been three years since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, killing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying huge portions of the country. Now, the Trump administration has signaled that it wants to end the war in Ukraine, but there are significant questions and deep concerns about Trump’s plans for how to end the fighting.The Trump administration has signaled it wants Ukraine to pay back the U.S. for American financial support of the war. But there are fears now that the U.S. will impose a diplomatic agreement onto Ukraine that results in crushing economic debts, damaging the country, while doing little to permanently ending the conflict.Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Rajan Menon, an expert on Ukraine and a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies.Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe

On Thursday morning in Gaza, Palestinian resistance factions handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross the bodies of four Israeli captives. According to Hamas, all four of the Israeli citizens were killed in Israeli airstrikes.As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued his efforts to sabotage the Gaza ceasefire and exchange of captives deal, Hamas has begun putting out substantive public proposals of its own. Hamas says it is prepared to negotiate a comprehensive deal for Phase 2 that would include the return of all Israeli captives held in Gaza “as one package,” rather than the staggered weekly releases that have marked Phase 1 of the deal. In return, Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups would require Israel to completely withdraw all of its forces from the Gaza Strip and for international mediators, including the U.S., to certify a permanent truce. Hamas also announced it would release all six living Israeli captives slated for exchange in Phase 1 on Saturday, saying it was evidence of the group’s flexibility and willingness to reach a viable deal.On this episode of Drop Site News’s podcast, Palestinian analyst Abdaljawad Omar, an adjunct professor at Birzeit university and a writer based in Ramallah, joins Jeremy Scahill for a wide-ranging discussion on the state of the ongoing negotiations. They also analyze the recent meetings of a range of Palestinian political parties and factions aimed at creating a national unity committee that could administer the Gaza Strip if the ceasefire holds and reconstruction begins. Omar also discusses President Donald Trump’s threat to attempt to forcibly expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to build a U.S.-owned Middle East “Riviera.” Get full access to Drop Site News at www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe