Betar USA Makes NYTimes Page One

Mel Laytner notes that Betar USA is mentioned on the front page of the New York Times:

"A senior Homeland Security official testified in court on Wednesday that his department had relied in part on an anonymously compiled list to identify foreign academics for investigation."

Betar is mentioned in passing twice, but Canary Mission gets all of the play:

A senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official testified in federal court on Wednesday that his office had used opaque pro-Israel blacklisting websites to help target international student activists for investigation and possible deportation.

The admission by Peter Hatch, the assistant director of the Homeland Security Investigations department within ICE, appeared to be the first time that an administration official had acknowledged taking cues from the shadowy groups behind the sites, including Canary Mission, which has been accused of doxxing individuals engaged in pro-Palestinian activism.

...But in March, Mr. Hatch testified, he formed a “tiger team,” or a specialized task force, to respond to abrupt orders that he rush analysis on thousands of people whose names and identities had been published by Canary Mission.

“It was a list that made accusations or asserted a lot of information like, these protesters are involved in violent activities, are condoning or supporting violence, possibly even terrorist organizations,” Mr. Hatch said, referring to what his team had gleaned from the organization’s website.

...Pressed for specifics by a lawyer representing one of the academic groups, Mr. Hatch said his office was “getting names and leads from many different sources” and had no formal relationship with Canary Mission.

But he said the team relied on both Canary Mission profiles and a similar list created by another anonymous pro-Israel group, Betar, to provide the names for its investigation, without a firm understanding of the methodology through which individuals came to be included on either record.

...Over two days of testimony, she recalled seeing students become subdued after their personal information and photos were listed on the Canary Mission and Betar sites, over what she said was nonviolent protest and squarely political speech.

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