They Detained a Journalist at Our Airport

Georgia-based journalist Musa Springer was detained at the Tampa International Airport by CBP officers while returning home following a trip to Cuba, under the supposition they may be a terrorist. On April 15th, Springer filed a motion against the federal government to have their personal property—their computer and cell phone—returned to them. They were merely passing through here, held only for the nature of their work and their politics. Their own account of what occurred can be read here.

By contrast, last month, Shai Davidai, the Israeli-American Columbia professor responsible for the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, made appearances in Tampa Bay, sponsored by the Jewish National Fund. While I personally intended to attend his talks—to document them and aid in disruption—plans fell through and I thus cannot provide a direct account of what occurred.

What I can tell you, what you may already know, and what I have had to extract from local sources incredibly partial to Davidai, is that Davidai was barred from campus amid the pro-Palestine protests of 2024 for harassing students, has since gained favor among Zionists, is, from my observations, gaining substantial favor in the Tampa area, and is facilitating public discussions about “hate,” about students “supporting Hamas” and promoting “antisemitism.” Those who opposed Davidai at these events are, in local publications, painted singularly as unreasonable, violent, and impossibly difficult to discourse with. Per the Jewish Press of Tampa Bay, here is a description of anti-Zionist engagement at Davidai’s March 27th appearance:

At Hillel Academy [a local Jewish school], a protestor confronted Davidai a couple of minutes into his presentation, and was later escorted out by police. “Shai engaged with him and tried to have a conversation,” Silver said. “He gave Shai a couple seconds to talk, then Shai offered the person time to share his side. But he only wanted to spew misinformation. Anytime Shai tried to talk, he kept yelling, ‘You’re a liar.’”

I’ll grant it to the reporter that the protestor told Davidai he was a liar. Of course, their words are removed from the larger context of what Davidai was saying at the time; we only know from this depiction that the protestor was, in some sense, reactive, unreasonable, and required police intervention, and so, for the purposes of this article, whatever their behavior was a reaction to is irrelevant. The cops, the agreeable attendees, and Davidai are by contrast posed as the reasonable, respectful, rational actors here.

But, then, why should someone who blatantly lies about the reality of the “conflict,” as a mere war against terrorists, of simply safeguarding Jewish lives, identity, and autonomy, be granted anything, when this is patently untrue? We know why, and it is naive to ask, but, really: why?

To implicitly, if not explicitly, promote the widespread death and suffering of a civilian population and the destruction of their homes and hospitals, a population which has been subjugated for decades, and has lived in a colonial apartheid state for decades, is fine. To play an active role in the arrest of those who express dissent through speech, press, and protest—supposedly, rights codified in law—that is fine. To act as Davidai does, that is fine.

You oppose Davidai, you are carted away by the police.

People like Davidai, they deserve a platform at our educational institutions, in our public forums. People like this, who benefit from and are in favor of an active genocide. People like this, they are who should speak to our youth about silencing, about being subject to violence.

You dissent against US complicity in this violence, dissent against the complicity of our universities, you are detained, arrested.

Should you disagree with these principles, and especially should you appear to be of non-European descent, you will be pat-down in our airport and have your personal belongings seized and withheld from you indefinitely. Should you identify obvious lies for what they are, we will forcibly remove you from the discussion.

You will have your rights violated. That’s the American way, that’s the Floridian way, that’s how this system operates.

Why?

Well, that was a lot of nothing about the person I intended it to be about. I will say, you can follow the progression of Musa’s case here.