What’s behind this latest Trump administration move?

Last year’s procession, held during the first year of the Gaza war, saw ultranationalist Israelis attack a Palestinian journalist in the Old City and call for violence against Palestinians. Four years ago, the march contributed to the outbreak of an 11-day war in Gaza.Turkiye is calling for action – not words. History will judge those who remain silent in the face of genocide.

During the darkest days of World War II, Anne Frank and her family hid in a secret attic in Amsterdam to escape the horrors of Nazi persecution. Her posthumously published diary offered the world a haunting glimpse into the fear and trauma endured by Jewish families at the time.Today, a tragically familiar story is unfolding in Palestine. This time, it is children like Anne Frank – tens of thousands of them – facing death by starvation and relentless bombardment by the Israeli government. They don’t even have an attic to hide in; the buildings around them have been reduced to rubble by indiscriminate Israeli attacks.Eight decades after the Holocaust, another genocide is unfolding – this time with Palestinian children as both victims and witnesses of ethnic cleansing. Each of these children carries a harrowing story the world needs to hear. One day, we may read their accounts in memoirs – if they survive long enough to write them. But the international community must not wait that long. It must confront the suffering of these children now. That is why we gave children in Gaza a platform to ask the world a searing question: “Why are you silent?” – through a documentary that has become one of Turkiye’s most

efforts to expose the brutal reality of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.Many Western states have forfeited their moral authority and hegemonic discourse by acting as accomplices – or enablers – of genocide. Even more tragically, some have sought to justify their positions by invoking a genocide they themselves perpetrated eight decades ago. Those who once stood on the wrong side of history – committing crimes against humanity – are now turning a blind eye to the near-total destruction of another people. Guilt over past atrocities cannot be absolved through complicity in new ones. Conscience cannot be cleansed by choosing fresh shame to cover old disgrace. If the words “never again” are to carry any weight, they must apply not only to the victims of yesterday – but also to the victims of today.

Within days of Israel launching its military assault on Gaza in October 2023, Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly condemned the operation as one amounting to genocide. In the months that followed, Turkiye took concrete steps to oppose the brutal Israeli campaign and halt the unfolding catastrophe in Gaza.

The Turkish government and people have consistently stood against genocide. President Erdogan refused to remain a passive observer of history; instead, he chose to stand at the forefront of humanity’s moral conscience.“The United States, I further can say here, will not tolerate the CCP’s exploitation of US universities or theft of US research, intellectual property or technologies to grow its military power, conduct intelligence collection or repress voices of opposition,” she said.

Despite the dearth of clarity, the eventual shape of the policy will determine just how “disruptive” it could be, according to Cole McFaul, a research analyst at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University.He pointed to “real concerns about research security and about illicit IP [intellectual property] transfer” when it comes to Beijing, noting there have been a handful of documented cases of such activity in recent years.

“My hope is that this is a targeted action based on evidence and an accurate assessment of risk that takes into account the costs and the benefits,” McFaul said.“My worry is that this will lead to broad-based, large-scale revocations of visas for Chinese students operating in STEM subjects,” he said, referencing the abbreviation for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.