The more things change, the more they stay the same: Columbia University’s Trump-imposed reforms include a new masking policy that requires protesters to show their face or hand over ID. Students returned from spring break on Monday and put the new rule to the test.
Dozens of activists, our Jessica Costescu and Jessica Schwalb report, donned masks to protest the policy changes. They mocked Columbia's medical exemption for masks before doing so, with one anti-Israel group telling members, "PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR COMMUNITY. … We recommend wearing a KN95, KF-94, or N95 mask for the most protection." Then they marched around campus unimpeded.
The demonstration remained relatively tame by Columbia standards. Still, it calls into question the school's desire and willingness to enforce the new rules. When will Columbia security officials actually ask masked demonstrators to identify themselves? We asked Columbia, and a school spokeswoman said this: "University Delegates and public safety are monitoring for violations of our policy, and any violations will be met with consequences."
There appears to be confusion between Columbia and the Trump administration on this front. Over the weekend, interim Columbia president Katrina Armstrong told angry faculty members there was "no mask ban," according to the Wall Street Journal. On Monday, the administration released a statement saying Columbia had agreed to enforce "a strict anti-masking policy that includes appropriate enforcement mechanisms for violations, including removal from campus or detention for trespassing."
Journalist or terrorist? A series of Israeli airstrikes on Monday killed two Gazan men, Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour. Shabat is a well-known figure—though he moonlighted as an Al Jazeera reporter, documents discovered in Gaza and declassified in October exposed him as part of a Hamas battalion. Mansour, for his part, worked for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's media arm, Filastin Al-Youm. The IDF raided the network's West Bank headquarters nearly a decade ago for "calling for terrorist attacks against the State of Israel and its citizens."
Fox News viewers did not get that information. Instead, they got this report from chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst: "New developments out of Gaza today, where two Palestinian journalists, Mohammed Mansour and Hossam Shabat, were killed by the Israelis. Last year, 124 journalists were killed around the world, two-thirds of them in Gaza."
Yingst himself did not cover the IDF's document drop in October, but Fox's LiveNow network did in a report titled, "Israel-Hamas war: IDF exposes Al Jazeera journalists as Hamas terrorists." Neither Fox nor Yingst responded to our questions about why they excluded information on Shabat and Mansour's terrorist ties or why their reports contradicted each other.
READ MORE: Fox News Accuses Israel of Killing 'Two Palestinian Journalists.' Both Have Terror Affiliations.
Details, details: Foreign nationals are required to list their employment history when they apply for a green card. Mahmoud Khalil received one last year and left some gaps in his application.
The Columbia protest leader, according to federal prosecutors, did not disclose two jobs on his application: One with the UNRWA and another with the Syria office at the British embassy in Beirut. Khalil worked as an UNRWA political affairs officer at the time of Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which agency employees participated in.
Green card applicants who conceal "group memberships" that would threaten their residency status are considered guilty of fraud. The Department of Justice argued in its filing that Khalil's "misrepresentation" provides "an independence basis to justify removal." To secure Khalil's deportation, prosecutors will need to prove that the omissions were willful. Stay tuned for updates.
READ MORE: Mahmoud Khalil Omitted Work for Terror-Tied UNRWA From Green Card Application, Prosecutors Say
Away from the Beacon:
- Gold bars are a girl's best friend: The corruption trial targeting Bob Menendez's wife, Nadine, kicked off on Monday, with federal prosecutors arguing she was "willing to to put her hands on bribes a United States senator could not be seen touching." A true partner in crime!
- Democrats are in a "dark, deep hole," party strategists and pollsters told Axios. One operative, Ali Mortell, said this: "Millennials were one of the most progressive generations, and it's looking like Gen Z is about to be one of the most conservative." Inshallah.
- FACT CHECK: Is Massachusetts really releasing illegal immigrants charged with violent crimes back into the community, as Tom Homan said last month? Yes, reports CBS's Boston affiliate. "Take Jose Fernando-Perez, who was arrested by ICE" on rape charges in February. "WBZ called the court and found that he posted a $7,500 bail and was released with an order to stay in his home in October, 2022."