Jewish organisations have blasted the Trump administration’s use of the world shalom as a taunt [TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images]
Activists, politicians and civil society groups have expressed outrage over the adoption of the Hebrew greeting “shalom” as a taunt against a detained pro-Palestinian student from Columbia University, amid fears of a Jewish association with an authoritarian crackdown by the Trump administration.
US President Donald Trump initially used the word in a threatening statement released on his social media site Truth Social on 5 March directed towards Gaza, saying: “‘Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye – you can choose.”
However, since its use in the statement, the White House has begun using the word as a taunt in a variety of contexts, including in a post on X against Columbia University on 7 March.
It was further used as a taunt towards Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who was detained by immigration officials on Saturday night over his pro-Palestinian activity on campus.
Some of the posts on X have seen the official White House account post a picture of Khalil with the emboldened words “Shalom Mahmoud”, as well as being used in other posts about his arrest.
The word has also been used by the House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority, posting on X “Shalom Mahmoud” alongside a statement from Donald Trump’s Truth Social account labelling Khalil as a “pro-Hamas student”, with his arrest set to be the first of many.
Blasted for associating Judaism with ‘authoritarian’ policy
However, the appropriation of the word shalom, along with the arrest, has been blasted on social media, with The Economist’s Middle East correspondent saying on X that “nothing signals respect for Judaism like the White House mocking Judaism by using ‘shalom’ as a taunt.”
This has been echoed among the Jewish community, with Israelis for Peace NYC issuing a statement on X affirming that “Shalom means peace, not authoritarianism, and authoritarianism protects no one. Free Mahmoud Khalil.” it added.
Likewise, Talia Ringer, assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said on X: “This is a good example of pinning one minority group against another.”
“Jews here are being used as scapegoats so that any anger can be redirected towards us rather than towards this admin,” she said, adding that it “should be understood as antisemitic in addition to anti-Arab [and] anti-Palestinian.”
Meanwhile, Senior Israel Analyst with the International Crisis Group Mairav Zonszein, in reference to a White House post about Khalil, said on X: “The ‘Shalom’ part is a perfect encapsulation of how antisemitism/Judaism/Israel is weaponised against Muslims/Arabs to cover up for their own antisemitism.”
Fears of a ‘fascist’ crackdown
Meanwhile, there has also been an extensive backlash against the proposed deportation of Khalil, a move that many have compared with authoritarianism and fascism.
US-based Jewish Voice for Peace demanded the release of Khalil, labelling the arrest on X as “further proof that we are on the brink of a full takeover by a repressive, authoritarian regime.”
While noting that many of its members are “descendants of people who resisted European Fascism”, the organisation said that “this is how fascism works, and the only defence is to refuse to be divided or silent. History has shown us that we cannot stand idly by – and we will not.”
Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said on X that “any Jew who thinks this is going to start & stop with a few Palestinian activists is fooling themself. Our community is not an excuse to upend democracy & the rule of law.”
Meanwhile, Democrats have rallied around Khalil’s case, with congresswoman Rashida Tlaib taking to X to call the move a “test case”.
“If they can illegally abduct him and shred his legal rights, they will never stop. Anyone this lawless administration disagrees with can be targeted,” she added.
Senator Peter Welch echoed Tlaib’s comments on X, saying “If Trump starts illegally revoking green cards from people because he doesn’t like their speech, we’re on the path to full-blown authoritarianism.”
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a call to people across the political aisle, saying on X that “anyone – left, right, or centre – who has highlighted the importance of constitutional rights + free speech should be sounding the alarm now.”
