(Religion News) Advocates raised concerns about what they see as the Trump administration’s efforts to criminalize pro-Palestinian activism at the Arab Convention in Dearborn, Michigan, last weekend. The arrest of Marwan Marouf, a Dallas Muslim community leader placed in United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention last week, was seen by some as a wake-up call.
During an ArabCon panel, Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ San Francisco Bay Area chapter, said Muslim and Arab American activists and organizations could be disproportionately affected by recent legislation constraining criticism of Israel. One speaker cited anti-boycott, divestment and sanctions policies and antisemitism awareness acts, which tend to consider much criticism of Israel as antisemitism, passed in dozens of states.
