GCG \u2013 Grace-Colored Glasses \u2013 took a long hiatus from Patheos. The genocide in Gaza was breaking me in pieces. The last thing I wanted to do, after six or eight hours writing about Palestine and Israel for If Americans Knew<\/a>, was to spend more time writing about this horrifying situation in my husband\u2019s homeland. I couldn\u2019t write about anything else \u2013 I couldn\u2019t even think<\/em> about anything else.<\/p>\n Now, not only is Palestine blowing up, but so is the rest of the world, and silence is no longer an option.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t mean just for me \u2013 I mean for all of us, progressive people of faith. We all need to become informed, and help our loved ones do the same. And then together, we need to make some noise. We need to stop being spectators.<\/em><\/p>\n If the genocide in Gaza wasn\u2019t enough to get you riled up, Trump 2.0 should be.<\/p>\n So Grace-Colored Glasses is back.<\/p>\n Because I\u2019ve been researching and writing about the Palestine-Israel situation for years (and have family living in Gaza), I can offer an informed perspective on current events there. Being immersed in the Middle East has taught me a thing or two about politics and the world, so I have a few thoughts to share on other current events topics too.<\/p>\n I\u2019m going to keep posts short and sweet and to the point. My hope is to equip readers so they can help others understand the injustices taking place today, and join with the voices that are raised to make a difference<\/em>.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s today\u2019s thought:<\/p>\n Have you been following the story of Mahmoud Khalil? If not, I encourage you to take a crash course by skimming this article<\/a>. In a nutshell, he\u2019s the poster child for free speech in America. Mahmoud was hauled away by ICE because when he was a grad student at Columbia, he participated in protests against the US policy of sending weapons to Israel. He is now waiting (behind bars) to see whether he will be afforded due process, or be deported without a trial. His American wife is eight months pregnant with their first child.<\/p>\n They say Mahmoud has ties with a terrorist organization, but in reality, he just doesn\u2019t want the US to be complicit in genocide.<\/p>\n (NOTE:<\/span><\/i> Most experts<\/a><\/em> in the<\/span><\/i> field<\/span><\/i><\/a> have<\/span><\/i> declared<\/span><\/i><\/a> that Israel\u2019s<\/span><\/i> actions<\/span><\/i><\/a> do in<\/span><\/i> fact<\/span><\/i><\/a> constitute<\/span><\/i> genocide<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Several<\/span><\/i> pro-Israel groups and individuals disagree, but none have addressed the charges in any meaningful way.)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The Intercept<\/a> states:<\/p>\n There is no going back from this point: President Donald Trump\u2019s administration is trying to deport a man solely for his First Amendment-protected activity, without due process. By all existing legal standards, this is illegal and unconstitutional: a violation of First Amendment protections, and the Fifth Amendment-protected right to due process. <\/em><\/p>\n If Khalil\u2019s green card is revoked and he is deported, no one can have any confidence in legal and constitutional protections as a line of defense against arbitrary state violence and punishment. Khalil\u2019s arrest marks an extraordinary fascist escalation.<\/em><\/p>\n According to a New York Times<\/a> report,<\/p>\n Days after immigration officers arrested a prominent pro-Palestinian campus activist, administrators at Columbia University gathered students and faculty from the journalism school and issued a warning.<\/em><\/p>\n Students who were not U.S. citizens should avoid publishing work on Gaza, Ukraine and protests related to their former classmate\u2019s arrest, urged Stuart Karle, a First Amendment lawyer and adjunct professor. With about two months to go before graduation, their academic accomplishments \u2014 or even their freedom \u2014 could be at risk if they attracted the ire of the Trump administration.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIf you have a social media page, make sure it is not filled with commentary on the Middle East,\u201d he told the gathering in Pulitzer Hall. When a Palestinian student objected, the journalism school\u2019s dean,\u00a0Jelani Cobb, was more direct about the school\u2019s inability to defend international students from federal prosecution.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNobody can protect you,\u201d Mr. Cobb said. \u201cThese are dangerous times.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n NOBODY CAN PROTECT YOU. Not the university administration, not the police, not the courts. Exercise your \u201cright\u201d to free speech at your own peril.<\/p>\n NOTE: the university administration could<\/em> protect the students, but had decided as a policy not to (here\u2019s why<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Under President Biden, the First Amendment was also under fire<\/a> when it came to Israel. Trump has just taken it further, threatening to deport anyone whose speech has a pro-Palestine ring to it.<\/p>\n Of course, he dresses up the threat with words like \u201cterrorist\u201d and \u201cHamas supporter,\u201d but all it boils down to is protest against a policy of the current US administration.<\/p>\n Trump is also threatening other free speech choices made by mainstream media. If you\u2019ve been paying attention, you\u2019ve seen that the words \u201cGulf of Mexico\u201d can land a media outlet in the doghouse<\/a>. Any reporter making a comment that Trump or his spokesperson doesn\u2019t like can find her\/himself on the receiving end of public shaming<\/a>\/trash talking<\/a>\/name-calling<\/a>.<\/p>\n Soon, if we let this play out, anyone who disagrees with the powers that be will be at risk.<\/p>\n Our greatest weapon is Truth, so we need to know the truth<\/em> (rumor has it that it will set us free).<\/p>\n Don\u2019t count on corporate media to tell you the truth though \u2013 those folks were beaten into submission long ago.<\/a> Alternative news media is the only way to get at the truth.<\/p>\n Here are some tips<\/a> for finding a reliable source when it comes to the issue of Palestine \u2013 and it\u2019s not hard to see that this is THE pivotal issue of our time.<\/p>\n If you want to just cut to the chase, here are my top recommendations for accurate reporting on Palestine and Israel (unsolicited endorsements):<\/p>\n Al-Jazeera English<\/a><\/p>\n Middle East Eye<\/a><\/p>\n Mondoweiss<\/a><\/p>\n If Americans Knew<\/a> (full disclosure: I work here \u2013 but I\u2019m not paid for clicks)<\/p>\n If you want to simply keep tabs the situation in Gaza, skim my daily updates<\/a>.<\/span> In just a few minutes, you can check out the most important, factual<\/em> news each day, instead of going to a bunch of websites that may or may not tell the truth. (You can subscribe to If Americans Knew for free, or find the daily updates on social media.)<\/p>\n Bottom line for today, if the powers that be don\u2019t want us to know something, you can be sure it\u2019s something we need to know. If they don\u2019t want us to say<\/em> something, it\u2019s something that needs to be said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Stay on your toes!<\/p>\n I invite you to subscribe to my<\/span><\/i> newsletter<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span>. I write about the Palestine-Israel issue regularly, and other issues relevant to progressives or those considering becoming progressive. If you would like to comment on this post, please pop over to my<\/span><\/i> Facebook page<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span>.<\/span> All of my posts are there and open to constructive comment. I welcome your thoughts.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n RECOMMENDED READING:<\/strong><\/p>\n FEATURED IMAGE: by Jackson Simmer via Unsplash<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GCG \u2013 Grace-Colored Glasses \u2013 took a long hiatus from Patheos. The genocide in Gaza was breaking me in pieces. The last thing I wanted to do, after six or eight hours writing about Palestine and Israel for If Americans Knew, was to spend more time writing about this horrifying situation in my husband\u2019s homeland. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4414,"featured_media":9889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1178,1528,1531],"class_list":["post-9884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-first-amendment","tag-free-speech","tag-mahmoud-khalil"],"yoast_head":"\n\n