Portside

"Shalom Mahmoud" are not words I'd ever thought I would see from an official White House social media account – certainly not when used to announce the government's arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia University.

Everything about this incident is nightmarish, but the White House's decision to announce his arrest with "Shalom" must not be ignored. The message is abundantly clear: U.S. President Donald Trump wants the world to know that he's pursued this unconscionable act on behalf of Jews.

This is just one piece of this administration's plans to use the false promise of Jewish safety as a smokescreen to carry out their repressive and dangerous agenda. Indeed, the White House has made it terrifyingly clear that this is only the beginning of the administration's assault on activists – all in the name of fighting antisemitism.

But of course, repressive policies and practices, including infringing upon the freedom of speech, the right to protest, and the function of the education system – especially higher education – are priorities for the Trump administration because they serve his authoritarian modus operandi.

American Jews understand that these rights and institutions are critically important for protecting our community, as well as all marginalized groups. In fascist regimes, these rights and institutions were historically first on the chopping block; that the Trump administration should follow suit is no surprise. What is alarming, however, is the U.S. government's positioning of Jewish safety as somehow a goal for this plan.

Khalil is a U.S. permanent resident. He is married to a U.S. citizen, and his wife is due to give birth to their first son in a month. He is also Palestinian and was a leader of the Columbia University protest encampment following Israel's war in Gaza. The entire manner in which the U.S. government has carried out Khalil's arrest appears aimed at using his Palestinian identity and his beliefs to stoke fear and division.

If Trump actually cared about Jewish people or wanted to end antisemitism, he would be upholding our freedoms to speak, study, and stand up for what we believe, not arresting students and tearing them away from their families. It also wouldn't allow MAGA movement leaders and administration officials to actively promote antisemitic and racist conspiracy theories, use antisemitic messages to win elections, or – lest we forget – perform Nazi salutes from its biggest platforms, and then turn around and claim to be enacting unpopular policies on behalf of Jewish people.

Confused? That's the point. This latest episode is a blatant example of how this administration uses "smokescreen antisemitism" to obscure, confuse, and create cover for its despotic plans that harm everyone. Their goal is to generate division and fear to grow their power and wealth, and most importantly, to distract from their own, very real, antisemitism.

They have learned that positioning repressive actions as benefiting Jewish people obfuscates their audience and drives wedges between Jews and their neighbors who might otherwise join together to oppose these actions. And like all expressions of antisemitism, this strategy directly harms Jews.

At Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, the organization I lead, we have devoted much of our organizational time, resources and power toward ending antisemitism – regardless of its source. We do this because we understand how damaging antisemitism is, for Jewish people and for everyone in the United States.

The American Jewish community has a wide range of views on the war in Gaza, and college campuses have been a space of intense conflict, protest, and in some cases incidents of true antisemitism and harassment. Jews in the United States and worldwide are increasingly experiencing antisemitism against the backdrop of the war, and this poses a real threat.

All antisemitism is unacceptable. That includes when antisemitism happens on college campuses and in protests. It also includes the Trump administration's exploitation of Jewish fear, Jewish trauma, and Jewish experience to enact mass deportations, to punish political opponents, and to build a fascist regime.

This is an important moment that will test the American Jewish community's values and resolve. I draw inspiration from the fact that the judge who ruled that Mr. Khalil should not be deported is himself Jewish. We cannot allow ourselves to be used as an excuse to justify the Trump administration's plans to tear families apart – plans which much of the American Jewish community opposes.

Whatever we think about Mahmoud Khalil's beliefs, he is a legal resident of the United States who appears to be acting lawfully within his rights in this country. When a government starts threatening people's legal status because they disagree with the content of their protected free speech, it is unquestionably dangerous to all, Jewish people very much included. It's doubly dangerous when they claim to do so in the name of Jewish safety.

There is no path to safety in an increasingly fascist regime that involves destroying public and higher education, stifling free speech, or hunting down protesters. There is no path to safety that involves banning people because of their race or religion. There is no path to safety that involves tearing immigrant families and communities apart. The only way we can truly end antisemitism is by locking arms across religions and races, across genders and generations, and insisting that freedom and safety is for us all – no exceptions.

If we buy into the false promise of safety for some at the expense of others – even others we may disagree with strongly – we may find ourselves in a United States where we are no longer able to speak up at all.

[Jamie Beran is the CEO of Bend The Arc: Jewish Action, the largest national Jewish organization that works exclusively on U.S. domestic policy.]