Did The Bulwark pass my test?

I gave them a B+

Recently, I said that the case of Mahmoud Khalil posed a test for The Bulwark: what will The Bulwark's stance be on this matter? Will they fully condemn this act of fascism? Or is fascism OK when it's people you loathe?

Since then, The Bulwark has posted two think pieces on the subject. One by JVL, the other by Mona Charen.

In short: both JVL and Mona Charen condemned this fascism and so, “passed my test”.

In another post, before JVL’s and Charen’s responses, I predicted the following:
“Mona will be all for [this act of fascism] for this group, but not other groups, JVL will be against it in theory, but for it in this case, and everyone else will be wishy-washy, or talk about “this is a dangerous sign”, or “if they can go after green card holders they can come after you”¹.

In both of these predictions I was wrong, both JVL and Mona Charen were against this act of fascism, even though it was against a person they clearly despise, and in other posts, they have made multiple genocidal statements about.

So why do I only grade The Bulwark a B+?

Because of the unsubstantiated language they use about Khalil. The juxtaposition of supporting the rule of law, but misrepresenting the victim of this violation of the rule of law, loses them points, because it gives ammunition to those who support fascism.

Neither JVL nor Mona Charen could find a single statement or act by Khalil himself that they could condemn. JVL handled this quandary by claiming he could “[pick] up what Khalil was laying down. The guy’s entire identity was wrapped up in hating Israel”. Again, JVL supplies no evidence for this claim, and so I have to dismiss it as unsupported bigotry.

Charen, on the other hand, went with statements attributed to Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) by the Jerusalem Post - but that article does not source a single original source document either, and friends, I LOOKED for the original quotes. If you can find them, let me know.

Charen then used those unsubstantiated statements to condemn Khalil. Those claims include:

• “[Mahmoud Khalil] seems to hold grotesque opinions”, “Khalil’s views are execrable …”, “… he’s obnoxious and on the left”, “Mahmoud Khalil’s despicable views”, but Charen does not cite a single opinion or view of his. Not one.

• “… celebrating the suffering and deaths of Israelis …”, again Charen provides no evidence for this claim. In my research, neither Mahmoud Khalil nor CUDA ever made this claim.

• “CUAD has supported acts of domestic terrorism in the United States, praising Casey Goonan, an arsonist who carried out attacks on a federal building and the University of California in 2024”. Charen provides no link to this quote, I could not find it, and just for the record, even if CUDA did praise Goonan, that is most certainly not “support for domestic terrorism”.

This unsupported smearing of Khalil goes on and on, and seeing as neither JVL nor Charen quoted a single statement by Mahmoud Khalil, I decided to see if I could find some really grotesque, execrable, obnoxious views of his, and friends, you’ll be shocked what I found:

• On 07/10/2023 Mahmoud Khalil said “Bring down buildings!! Bomb without distinction!! Stop with this impotence. You have ability. There is worldwide legitimacy! Flatten Israel. Without mercy! This time, there is no room for

  mercy!” Oh, wait, my bad, that was Israeli Knesset member Revital Gottlieb speaking about Gaza.

• On 08/10/2023 Mahmoud Khalil said “Nakba to the enemy now! This day is our Pearl Harbor. We will still learn the lessons. Right now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 48. A Nakba in Israel and a Nakba for anyone who dares to join!” Oh wait, my bad, that was Israeli Knesset Ariel Kallner, speaking about Gaza.

• On 10/10/2023 Mahmoud Khalil said "A fire storm should wash over Israel". Oh wait, that was Israeli Politician Moshe Feiglen speaking about Gaza.

• Also on 10/10/2023 Mahmoud Khalil said “Erase Israel. Nothing else will satisfy us. It is not acceptable that we maintain a Zionist authority next to Palestine. Do not leave a child there, expel all the remaining ones at the end, so that they will not have a resurrection”. Oh wait, my bad, that was Deputy Speaker of Knesset Nissim Vaturi speaking about Gaza.

Hopefully you get my point. I could go on. Hundreds of such comments can be found in a database of genocidal intent.

Nothing that Mahmoud Khalil, nor any member of CUDA, has ever made such genocidal statements of intent.

But I have not heard either JVL, nor Mona Charen, decry a single one of these people nor their statements. Instead, they are honored and welcomed to the United States and granted an audience with Presidents and Senators.

So yeah - The Bulwark gets a B+ for support for the law, but loses points for their deep hypocrisy and smearing of what seems to be a good, family man.

1. The only thing I was right about was Mona Charen said “We defend his rights because if his are not secure, neither are ours”.