Trump is among the most pro-Israeli US presidents in recent history [Getty/file photo]
US President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order later on Wednesday deporting foreign university students who have taken part in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s atrocities in the Gaza Strip under an “antisemitism” executive order, the White House and US media report.
The executive order will instruct the Justice Department to “aggressively prosecute terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews”.
“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump said in the fact sheet.
“I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,” Trump added.
The order, however, requires federal agency and department leaders to identify civil and criminal authorities available to identify what Trump claims is “antisemitic”, as well as to provide the White House with recommendations within 60 days and outlines plans for the Justice Department to investigate so-called “pro-Hamas graffiti and intimidation”.
In May last year, Trump vowed to “crush” pro-Palestinian demonstrations across US campuses, during the height of nationwide and global protests against Israel’s military onslaught of the Gaza Strip.
Trump had also pledged to expel students on visas who express pro-Palestinian views, accusing them of being part of a “radical revolution”. Trump made the comments in front of donors in what was interpreted as a move to bolster his presidential campaign.
In the meeting, Trump praised the NYPD for clearing out a Gaza encampment at Columbia University and urged other cities’ police departments to do the same.
US university campuses, like many across the globe, were swept with protests expressing solidarity with people in Gaza, who were being relentlessly bombarded by Israeli forces.
More than 47,417 Palestinians were killed in the onslaught, and more bodies continue to be recovered.
Students also protested against their universities’ economic, academic or cultural ties with Israel, demanding that such links be severed.
Trump is seen as one of the most pro-Israeli presidents in recent US history. The far-right US president is close with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while he also appointed a number of pro-Israeli members to his cabinet, including Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to the country, who backs Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
The controversial Republican president also floated the idea of “clearing out” Palestinians from Gaza to the neighbouring countries of Jordan and Egypt on Sunday, provoking the anger of Palestinians and words of condemnation from several Arab countries.
Earlier this week, Trump claimed to have discussed the idea with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, saying that he hoped the Egyptian president “would accept some of them,” in reference to Palestinians from Gaza.
“We’ve given them a lot of aid, and I’m confident he’ll help us as well. He’s an old friend of mine in a very tough part of the world.”
Trump also likened the Gaza Strip, battered by more than 15 months of war, a “demolition site”.
The Republican, however, had succeeded in helping to reach a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip earlier this month, which has been ongoing for at least 10 days and has seen a halt to the war and the release of several Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners.
