Liberal America’s dilemma: Balancing civil liberties with pro-Palestine protests

Following the invasion of Gaza after October 7, nearly 3,000 people have been arrested or detained at pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses across the United States. A closer look reveals much more disturbing accounts: female professors have been violently thrown to the ground by male policemen, students have drawn blood from rubber bullets; and some were even rushed to the medics with suspected broken bones due to police beatings.

Now, the question is, do you find this phenomenon to be at odds with a liberal democracy like the United States, given that they champion free speech and individual liberty above all other nations? This, however, is hardly surprising. Whenever there has been a national crisis due to war in America, it became illiberal time after time.

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If a liberal democracy is always directly or indirectly involved in wars, both individual rights and rule of law, which form the spirit of a liberal society, have to be taken off the table. The reason is its leaders would want to silence criticism of their state's role in those wars by curtailing both freedom of speech and freedom of the press, even if it requires violating its own constitution. Let's look at some analogous cases where such violations took place.

In the aftermath of 9/11, warrantless surveillance of US citizens was one of the ways the Bush administration tried to combat the perceived threat of terrorism. The FBI and the CIA then conducted warrantless surveillance on many anti-war groups and activists who were vocal critics of the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. They monitored communications without a judge's authorisation and targeted journalists, lawyers, activists, and protestors who were critical of the government's policies.

Moreover, the notorious Guantanamo Bay not only imprisoned children and many innocent people, but also undermined due process as the detainees' efforts to get fair trials were denied. Since the Obama administration understood the mess that the previous administration had created, it had little interest in filling the place with new prisoners. As a result, it decided instead to assassinate the suspects wherever they were found.

So, in the White House, there was a meeting every Tuesday called "Terror Tuesday" where Obama's kill list, the "disposition matrix" would be updated with its next victims. These assassinations took place through the infamous drone strikes which was a targeted killing campaign largely carried out by Obama—started by his predecessor George Bush.

The Obama administration was also responsible for imprisoning many American whistleblowers under the Espionage Act, for exposing its horrifying acts both at home and abroad. Certainly, the US did not care about freedom of speech back then—like the Biden administration is not doing now. Even today, pro-Palestinian voices are getting fired from their jobs, being detained, arrested, beaten and injured by the police.

Of course, the Israel lobby is pushing America to double down on its efforts to make those who are pro-Palestine pay a price, but many American policymakers—mainly belonging to the foreign policy establishment—are pursuing such a strategy by choice. Both Republicans and Democrats are alike on this issue, as the neoconservatives and liberal hawks have a vested interest in making sure that the unconditional support of the US towards Israel stays uncompromised, even if it requires eroding civil liberties at home.

There's a reason why many like to call Israel the 51st state of the US, as these two countries enjoy "the most special relationship in recorded history." The Israel lobby's successful effort to persuade the US Congress to pass a bill that essentially changes the definition of anti-Semitism has been met with criticism from many Israel supporters in America—but it also received praises from top-level US officials.

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While America is also responsible for what's happening in Gaza today, there is little reason to think Palestinians will live happily even if the US stops being complicit in this genocidal campaign. Experts' analyses say that Netanyahu is likely to continue to eliminate as many Palestinians as possible even without US support. There is enormous evidence that other leaders in the past have been able to defy US orders and continued to pursue their own interests despite facing heavy sanctions.

But back to my original point, not only were Bush and Obama involved in violating the US constitution, but so was Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. He suspended habeas corpus, enforced mail censorships and military courts, and arrested suspected traitors. The Biden administration's handling of campus protests is, in fact, an inevitable consequence of its illiberal acts in support of Israel. The more the US is involved in such wars in the future, the more these things will come to light in the digital age.

Sirazum Monir Osmani is an analyst at a prominent start-up.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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