Shai Davidai
@ShaiDavidai
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I don’t know what Mohsen Mahdawi (the
@Columbia
student detained by ICE earlier today) was arrested for—and like anyone else, he deserves due process.
But before you turn him into a folk hero, here are a few facts:
1. Before moving to the U.S., Mohsen studied Computer Engineering at Birzeit University—a campus long tied to terrorism and anti-Western extremism.
2. In college, Mohsen wrote a poem praising Dalal Mughrabi—the terrorist who murdered 38 Israelis, including 13 children, in the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre. This was the worst massacre of Jews in Israel until the October 7 Massacre.
3. Expressing his anger at Israel, Mohsen once stated that “stones and Molotovs weren’t enough” to satisfy his thirst for revenge.
4. Mohsen proudly noted on social media that his cousin is a high-ranking member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
5. Despite multiple chances to do so, Mohsen refused to condemn Hamas for the October 7 massacre, calling them merely “a product of the occupation.”
6. Mohsen led pro-Hamas protests under the “By Any Means Necessary” banner—standing beside
@NerdeenKiswani
who has openly called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.”
7. In a pro-Hamas protest at in January 2024, Mohsen declared that “there is nothing more honorable than dying for a noble cause.”
8. Despite all of this, and even though he denied any allegations of rape and torture by Hamas, I invited Mohsen in December 2023 (and then again in April 2024) to help start a moderate, pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian, anti-Hamas organization on campus. He declined.
I hope justice is served in his case.
But let’s be real about who this guy is.
He wasn’t a US citizen, the article doesn’t indicate exactly what his status is but if he has some form of resident alien status, it’s still conditional. It’s conditional based on what the executive and state department’s determination as to the person’s presence in the US vs threat to national security interests. That’s certainly not the same as due process for a US citizen.
Similarly, those in the military also have free speech restrictions that prohibit speaking out against their superior officers and commanders. They enter into an agreement voluntarily with US military that limits some speech and are subject to those rules under military law.
We have to get over this false notion that mere physical presence in the US automatically accords any person full constitutional rights.