Since the start of his second term, President Donald Trump has taken advantage of the ongoing war in Gaza to push his anti-education agenda. Recently, his administration was handed a win when an immigration court ruled that prominent pro-Palestinian protester and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil could be deported for participating in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities.” In the spirit of political opportunism, political organizations have sprung on the chance to seek the removal of other political activists deemed undesirable in the United States. One such organization which has targeted students and faculty across U.S. colleges, including NYU, is Betar US, which posted a student deportation list on its website.
The website, topped with the header “Pro Hamas Students,” prominently features the face or school of the students in question, along with their name and the text “Betar is working on deporting [them] and here is why,” accompanied by their justification. These can range from more overtly advocacy related infractions, like for co-organizing divestment protests and pro-Palestinian teach-ins to much more innocuous indiscretions. One student from Stanford University was targeted for “co-signing a U.S. policy critique letter,” another for a noise violation, another for posting “Gaza criticism,” while others earmarked for minor misdemeanors or traffic violations — even just being labeled “anti-American” or “radical.” Perhaps even more chillingly, the website also includes some faces and names in red rather than blue, indicating the activists who’ve already been detained for their part in protests. All of this from an organization who purports to defend Zionist advocates from being doxxed for their views.
The wide range of offenses, as well as the trivial, trumped-up nature of most of them indicates these students aren’t being targeted for their actions, but their beliefs. The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown reflects Betar’s reputation as a relentlessly activist youth organization, dedicated to furthering expansionist and pro-Israeli aims in the United States and across the world.
Previously, the group gained notoriety at NYU for their clashes with pro-Palestinian activists. One incident, which Betar denied being involved in, involved an individual spray painting the words, “Betar was here” on the Study of the Ancient World building, as well as more broadly threatening participating demonstrators. Most outrageously was when Betar’s instagram page posted a message offering “beepers for the intifada,” in reference to the Israeli intelligence operation which detonated the pagers and walkie talkies of Hezbollah officials and killed innocent civilians — decried by the U.N. human rights chief as a war crime.
Betar was created as a youth paramilitary organization as an extension of the revisionist zionist movement founded by Vladimir “Ze’ev” Jabotinsky — a radical militant Zionist who both collaborated with notorious fascist Benito Mussolini and was openly compared to Hitler by Israel’s first prime minister for his fascist tendencies, commitment to nationalist principles and denigration of a prominent Israeli labor union. Betar’s website and Instagram page practically idolize Jabotinsky, embracing his extremist ideals as the perfect antithesis to “armchair Zionism.”
According to its website, Betar members often take a membership oath at a young age which they “vow to follow their entire life.” For starters, the group believes that “only Eretz Israel” is capable of alleviating the Jewish diaspora and “[solving] the problem of the Jewish people.” While this initially sounds vague and somewhat harmless, it becomes a little more concerning when one considers that Eretz Israel doesn’t refer to the nation of Israel as it exists — rather, it refers to the “greater Israel” encompassing the entirety of Israel’s biblical territory at its largest. Depending on the person, this can range from Israel as it exists now plus the occupied West Bank of the Jordan River, Golan Heights in Syria and Sinai Peninsula. To others, it represents land from the Euphrates to the Nile. To Jabotinsky, however, this meant a “Jewish majority” on both sides of the Jordan River. Based on the belief that the sum total of the problems facing the Jewish people have to do with being a perpetual minority wherever they’re forced to settle, the idea is that the re-establishment of “greater Israel” is the solution to the Jewish diaspora.
Reportedly, “the basic principle distinguishing Betar from other movements,” is Had-ness or Monism, which in their interpretation is the total dedication to the creation of a Jewish state with all other goals being secondary. Wholehearted commitment to the expansion of Israel is paired with the need for military preparedness amongst the Jewish people referred to as Magen, as well as the value of Tziyut or obedience, and a strong aversion to what they call “armchair Zionism.” Betar prides itself on being such an activist organization, claiming to fight for the broader good of the Jewish people with their actions by promoting with total commitment the expansion and solidification of Eretz Israel.
Betar is unapologetic about its political aspirations, both at home with its quickness to deportation and abroad with its commitment to Israeli expansionist policy. Its continued presence on NYU’s campus is a danger to free political expression and students who stand for anything other than Betar’s staunchly held nationalist beliefs. Betar, like many nationalist organizations, is not inherently evil or anything so melodramatic — though it is a group which sees preparedness for violence in support of Israeli expansion, as well as any resistance to Palestinian advocacy, as an admirable trait. Given the rise of anti-Arab sentiments across the country, as evidenced by the on-campus hate crime in the multi-faith prayer room at NYU, this is the type of organization that needs to be closely monitored by NYU in the future.
WSN’s Opinion section strives to publish ideas worth discussing. The views presented in the Opinion section are solely the views of the writer.
Contact Noah Zaldivar at [email protected].
