Donald Trump takes a jab at anti-Israel student protests across US colleges

During a Sunday rally in Democratic-heavy NJ, former US President Donald Trump promised to “immediately deport” foreign students participating in anti-Israel protests amid recent chaotic campus demonstrations affecting academia in the country.

“If you come here from another country and try to bring Jihadism or anti-Americanism or antisemitism to campuses, we will deport you. You will be out of that school,” Trump noted during the rally as the brutal Israel-Hamas fighting rages on.

The infamous Gaza crisis erupted on October 7 as Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israeli cities, killing some 1,200 people and taking others hostages. But Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza have already claimed more than 35,000 lives, as per the enclave’s authorities.

Serious anti-Israel protests get Republicans furious

In response to protests erupting on college campuses shortly after the October assualt, House Republicans sent a letter to the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security demanding that foreign students participating in rallies in support of Hamas be deported.

The letter highlighted the Republicans’ concerns over “recent reports of demonstrations on US soil, including student demonstrations, in support of Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation, following … attacks by Hamas on our closest ally in the Middle East, Israel.”

Signed by over a dozen House Republicans, the letter demanded that the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security probe if non-immigrant visa holders “have been rendered ineligible as a result of ‘endorsing or espousing’ terrorist activity by Hamas?”

Several prominent GOP lawmakers have long insisted on the expulsion of foreign students involved in the aforementioned inflammatory behaviour. Nonetheless, Donald Trump during the Sunday rally also slammed President Joe Biden for abandoning Israel.

US withholding aid to Israel?

The incumbent leader has announced the withholding of shipping armaments to Israel as it conducts its military operation in the tightly packed Gaza Strip to eradicate Hamas. Trump raised concerns over the move as the audience booed.

“It was shocking to hear it. Even while there are still American hostages being held by Hamas … crooked Joe’s actions is one of the worst betrayals of an American ally in the history of our country,” the former leader said in NJ.

Joe Biden recently called an Israel Defence Forces invasion of Rafah, the last major stronghold of Hamas, a “red line” for his administration. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked him and stressed his nation’s readiness to pursue Hamas’s eradication.

The Trump rally on Sunday, along the Jersey Shore, is estimated to have lured a crowd of 80,000 to 100,000, according to Axios. Trump said the audience size is sufficient to compete with concerts of major music stars, many of whom criticise him openly.