The “Department of State Policy Provisions Act,” a bill recently introduced by the Republican Florida representative and Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Brian Mast, slips in a provision that many believe will allow Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revoke Americans’ passports for criticizing Israel.
The provision, titled “Authority to deny or revoke passport to individuals providing material support for terrorism”, gives the Secretary of State the power to “refuse to issue a passport” and “revoke a passport previously issued” to anyone they “determine has knowingly aided, assisted, abetted, or otherwise provided material support to an organization the Secretary has designated as a foreign terrorist organization”.
Civil liberties advocates have warned that this provision can easily be weaponised to suppress speech, especially speech critical of Israel.
As journalist Matt Sledge noted in the Intercept :
In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stripped Turkish doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk’s of her visa based on what a court later found was nothing more than her opinion piece critical of Israel.
Now, a bill introduced by the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is ringing alarm bells for civil liberties advocates who say it would grant Rubio the power to revoke the passports of American citizens on similar grounds.
Director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Seth Stern, warned Sledge that “the bill would open the door to thought policing at the hands of one individual”, noting that “Marco Rubio has claimed the power to designate people terrorist supporters based solely on what they think and say, even if what they say doesn’t include a word about a terrorist organization or terrorism”.
Civil liberties organisations have also warned that the language about revoking passports for those whom Marco Rubio accuses of providing “material support” for terrorism will be used to crack down on critics of Israel.
As Matt Sledge noted:
Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, pro-Israel lawmakers and activists have ratcheted up attempts to expand the scope and use of anti-terror laws.
The Anti-Defamation League and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law suggested in a letter last year that Students for Justice in Palestine was providing “material support” for Hamas through its on-campus activism.
Lawmakers also tried to pass a “nonprofit killer” bill that would allow the Treasury secretary to strip groups of their charitable status if they are deemed a “terrorist-supporting organization”.
As Seth Stern noted, this bill “contains eerily similar language”.
IDF and Israel Lobby Linked Congressman Behind The Bill.
Bolstering concerns that this bill will be used to crack down on Israel critics is the fact that its main sponsor, Brian Mast, is openly loyal to Israel first and deeply tied to the Israel lobby and the IDF.
According to the campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets, the vast majority of Mast’s campaign funds have come from the pro-Israel lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Pictured Above: Brian Mast’s campaign funding via OpenSecrets.
This is only the tip of the iceberg of Brian Mast’s Israel connections.
The Times of Israel has described him as “a zealous pro-Israel Republican who has volunteered with a group that assists the Israeli army”.
The article noted that Mast “volunteered in 2015 with Sar-El, a group that places civilians from abroad in support positions with the Israeli army”.
Furthermore, the Times of Israel wrote that, “Mast wore his Israeli army uniform to Congress in the days after October 7, 2023”.
As Middle East Eye noted, “Congressman Brian Mast entered the halls of Congress wearing an Israeli military uniform, and went on to boast about his service in the foreign nation's military,” quoting him saying, “As the only member to serve with both the United States Army and the Israel Defense Forces, I will always stand with Israel”.
Pictured Above: Brian Mast wearing his IDF uniform in the halls of Congress at the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The Times of Israel quoted him saying, “We cannot let Israel face its enemies alone.”
As the Times of Israel noted, he even repeated the IDF’s openly genocidal slogan that there are “no innocents” in Gaza, quoting him saying, “ I would encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of innocent Palestinian civilians, as is frequently said”.
Jewish Insider described Mast as “an ardent supporter of Israel and one of the most ardent opponents of a two-state solution in the House”.
Jewish Insider also quoted him saying, “There’s very few innocent Palestinian civilians”.
Jewish Insider also reported that he has “pushed legislation to provide Israel with so-called bunker buster bombs”, “pushed to have provisions added to the supplemental aid bill for Israel that would require all aid to be delivered rapidly to Israel,” and “has been an active supporter of anti-Boycott Divestment and Sanctions legislation”.
On his website, Mast boasts that, “I am dedicated to advancing policies to embrace the Israeli people as our friends with my pro-Israel colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I am committed to expanding America’s security assistance to Israel” and writes, “we cannot allow the defense of our ally Israel to be an issue of right versus left. For me, and for all freedom-loving Americans, standing with Israel—for democracy and human rights—will always be an issue of right versus wrong”.
Along with his open devotion to Israel, Mast has openly supported cracking down on critics of Israel.
Matt Sledge notes that he has “publicly voiced his support for ‘kicking terrorist sympathizers out of our country.’ At the time, he was talking about deporting Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian green-card holder who the Trump administration detained and attempted to deport based on what critics of the move said were his pro-Palestine views.”
Furthermore, on his own website, he writes, ‘I will do all I can to put an end to the dangerous Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement,” the activist movement calling to boycott Israeli products and companies that aid Israeli war crimes.
Lessons From The UK.
To look at how Marco Rubio and the Trump administration will weaponize anti-terror legislation to crack down on critics of Israel, one only has to look at the UK and its terrorism act.
The UK terrorism act makes it a criminal offense to say anything supportive of a “proscribed terrorist organization,” something that has been repeatedly weaponized by UK authorities against critics of Israel.
In August of last year, British journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport for “expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organization”, over his reporting critical of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and Israeli/Western wars in the Middle East.
Following the arrest of Medhurst, UK authorities raided the house of the pro-Palestine journalist Sarah Wilkinson for “content that she has posted online” critical of Israel.
During the raid, counterterrorism police “seized her phone, passport, and electronic equipment.”
Wilkinson said that they “literally ransacked the house” and that “an urn in her attic was upturned, scattering her mother’s ashes”.
This was followed in October of last year when UK counter-terrorism police raided the house of investigative journalist Asa Winstanley, in “connection with the journalist’s social media posts”, days after Winstanley put out a lengthy investigation showing Israel killed hundreds of its own people on October 7th using the “Hannibal Directive”.
More recently, the UK has officially proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group, an activist group best known for its disruptions of UK-based facilities of Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer, which the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, has said “provide a critical domestic supply of weaponry, and reinforce Israeli military alliances through arms exports and joint development of military technology” and noted that “for Israeli companies such as Elbit Systems, the ongoing genocide has been a profitable venture”.
After Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organization, the British Israel lobby took credit for the move, with the Israel lobby group “We Believe in Israel” saying “This outcome is the direct result of months of sustained research, strategic advocacy, and evidence-based reporting led by WBII (We Believe in Israel) and our partners”, and the Israel lobby group “Campaign against Antisemitism” saying, “We are pleased that the Home Secretary has listened to our representations over the last week” in reference to the Palestine Action ban.
The ban not only outlawed the activist group but made it a criminal offense to say anything supportive of it.
Since the proscription legislation, hundreds of peaceful protestors have been arrested in the UK under terrorism charges simply for holding signs saying, “I support Palestine Action, I oppose Genocide”.
During one recent protest, the UK's met police boasted that “466 people had been arrested for showing support for Palestine Action”.
During an appeal hearing on the Palestine Action ban, a lawyer representing the UK government said, “We accept, of course, that it is Draconian, and deliberately so”.
With support for Israel dropping to new lows on both sides of the political aisle, a desperate Israel and its agents of influence, such as Brian Mast, are resorting to similar “Draconian” measures to criminalize criticism of Israel in the United States.
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Little Marco. That’s how he should be referred to in perpetuity.
And we need to end the ability for ALL dual citizens to hold public office in America.
Fuck he is disgusting