Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlighted the absurdity of censorship-loving leftists defending anti-Israel activism on free speech grounds.
During the March 16 edition of CBS News’s Face the Nation, Rubio pointed out the hypocrisy of individuals, including the show’s host Margaret Brennan, who defended foreign, violent anti-Semitic protestors on the grounds of free speech — all while promoting so-called experts who admonished Big Tech companies for not censoring Americans enough. These same people “had no problem,” Rubio emphasized, “pressuring social media to censor American political speech.”
Brennan sparked the debate by attempting to frame anti-Israel protestor Mahmoud Khalil — whose green card was revoked by the Trump administration in preparation for deportation — as a victim of censorship.
The White House accused Khalil of posing a “threat to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States” after “mobilizing support for Hamas and spreading antisemitism.” According to the New York Post, Khalil has “been at the forefront of chaotic and at times violent campus protests at Columbia University and Barnard College dating back to at least last spring, which have resulted in injuries, damage to buildings and have struck fear into the hearts of Jewish students and faculty.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “I find it ironic that a lot of these people out there defending alleged 'free speech rights' of these Hamas sympathizers — they had no problem pressuring social media to censor Americans.”
— America (@america) March 16, 2025
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A Jewish student at Columbia University took class action litigation against the university for not addressing “round-the-clock harassment” on campus, according to Columbia Daily Spectator.
Rubio intimated that unlawful behavior is wildly different from online free speech protected by the Constitution. Khalil “was the negotiator …on behalf of people that took over a campus” and “vandalized buildings,” Rubio stated. “That's a crime in and of itself, that they're involved in — [his] being the negotiator, the spokesperson.”
“I find it ironic that a lot of these people out there [are] defending the First Amendment speech, alleged free speech rights of these Hamas [activists],” Rubio began. Then, after quelling a hysterical interruption from Brennan, Rubio added, “[leftists] had no problem, okay, pressuring social media to censor American political speech. So it's, I think it's ironic and hypocritical. But the bottom line is this: if you are in this country to promote Hamas, to promote terrorist organizations, to participate in vandalism [and] to participate in acts of rebellion and riots on campus, we never would have let you in — if we had known that. And now that we know it, you're going to leave.”
Indeed, evidence from the landmark Murthy v. Missouri lawsuit and The Twitter Files, along with admissions by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, exposed government-Big Tech censorship collusion. Almost immediately after taking office in January, Rubio took action to end any State Department programs that funded censorship and pressured tech companies to censor free speech.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
