Mohsen Mahdawi: Trump administration is trying to imprison me, but I am a Palestinian who is not afraid

Palestinian Mohsen Mahdawi, a permanent resident of the United States whom the Trump administration is seeking to strip of his residency and deport, addressed a message to the president's administration in a statement to The New Arab, affirming that he "is not afraid of prison because he is a Palestinian steadfast on his rights".

"I still have two cases in the courts, one of which the judiciary ruled in my favour two weeks ago, and the government can appeal, and in the other case, the government is trying to put me in prison. But this does not intimidate me, and I am not afraid, because we are a steadfast Palestinian people, and we know that freedom has a price, and the price requires confrontation and courage," Mahdawi said. 

He added that his message to President Trump and his administration "is clear, which is that we are people of right and the truth is clear, and people of right are not afraid. I spoke about the right of Palestinian children to peace, justice and freedom, and therefore I will continue my path and speak about the suffering of Palestinians and their right to live in peace free from the hateful occupation".

The Trump administration has been trying to deport Mahdawi since last year and detained him during a hearing approving his acquisition of US citizenship because he protested against the genocide in Gaza.

Mahdawi delivered a speech at a protest event against Trump in front of Congress, timed to coincide with the State of the Union address, this morning in Doha time, after US Representative Becca Balint, who descends from a family of Holocaust survivors, accompanied him to the event platform, in which members of Congress participated.

"You are the people of America; you are the real people. It is an honour for me, the Palestinian refugee and grandson of Nakba survivors, to stand here carrying the torch of peace and justice with Representative Becca Balint, who is also from a family of Holocaust survivors, a Jewish woman," Mahdawi said.

Mahdawi delivered a humanitarian speech, in which he evoked the image of the child who suffered under Israeli occupation and witnessed the collection of the remains of members of his family and friends.

"At the age of eight, I buried my brother, and at 11, my close friend was shot and killed before my eyes. At 12, an Israeli raid killed several people, and I collected their remains with my hands, scraped skin from the walls, and gathered fingers from the ground to place them in plastic bags in honour of their lives," he described.

He added that he came to the United States about 12 years ago, not only carrying the experience of living under occupation in a refugee camp but also "carrying with him the spirit of this child who was deeply wounded by trauma". 

Mahdawi said he found security and safety in America, and that the American people hosted him and helped him heal from his childhood trauma. He added that he "learned in the United States that the human being is not the enemy, but the enemy is the system that trades in fear, ignorance and division; the fear that divides Republicans and Democrats, the fear that divides citizens and immigrants, the fear that creates monsters and sows division in America."

Citing the famous words of Martin Luther King, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," Mahdawi linked the measures used by the Trump administration to the Palestinian struggle.

"This is what we are witnessing now; the injustice caused by this administration, tearing apart communities, intimidation, spreading fear and terror, and ignoring the constitution, and it's attacking us because we exercise our rights under the First Amendment and freedom of expression," he said. "This is injustice, and the struggle for justice in America and saving this democracy has a close connection to the struggle for justice in Palestine and for the Palestinian people."

Mahdawi recounted details of the Trump administration's attempt to suppress his freedom.

"About a year ago, during the citizenship interview, the Trump administration detained me not because I violated a law but because I spoke the truth... my truth," he described. "The truth is that I do not want to see children in Palestine or Israel or America or anywhere else suffer as I suffered in my childhood."

"During the citizenship interview, after they asked me if I was ready to take the oath of allegiance to protect this country and defend its constitution, they were the ones who betrayed [the constitution] and arrested me and put handcuffs on my hands and threw me in prison, thinking they would make an example of me and that they would intimidate me, but they were wrong, because our struggle is just. Our struggle in America and for Palestinians and everywhere is a struggle for humanity," he said.

"If we believe in justice, no force can intimidate us. The tools of this administration are to frighten and intimidate us until we lose vision. Still, if we unite and work together from a place of love, not from a place of fear, they will not be able to," Mahdawi added.

He revealed that, after his release following 16 days of detention, his message to Trump and his administration was: "You will not intimidate me.”

Mahdawi repeated phrases that the audience engaged with and repeated after him, directing them to the Trump administration, saying, "We are the people… we are not afraid of you, because the love in our hearts is much stronger than the darkness that blinds you."

Article translated from Arabic by Afrah Almatwari. To read the original, click here.