عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Trump Orders Planning for ‘Iron Dome’ Missile Shield for US 

An Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system is seen in position near Ashdod, Israel May 13, 2023. (Reuters)
An Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system is seen in position near Ashdod, Israel May 13, 2023. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Trump Orders Planning for ‘Iron Dome’ Missile Shield for US 

An Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system is seen in position near Ashdod, Israel May 13, 2023. (Reuters)
An Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system is seen in position near Ashdod, Israel May 13, 2023. (Reuters)

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order to start planning for an "Iron Dome" air defense system for the United States, like the one that Israel has used to intercept thousands of rockets.

Trump ordered the defense secretary to submit within 60 days an implementation plan for the "next-generation missile defense shield" designed to guard against ballistic, hypersonic and advanced cruise missiles, including by the development of space-based interceptors.

During the 2024 election campaign Trump repeatedly promised to build a version of Israel's Iron Dome system for the United States.

However, he ignored the fact that the system is designed for short-range threats, making it ill-suited to defending against intercontinental missiles that are the main danger to the United States.

"Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex," Monday's executive order said, citing unnamed adversaries' development of missile launch capabilities.

Trump had earlier told a Republican congressional retreat in Miami that the system would be built in the United States.

Israel has used its "Iron Dome" system to shoot down rockets fired by its regional foes Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon during the war sparked by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

"They knock down just about every one of them," Trump said at the Miami meeting. "So I think the United States is entitled to that."

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Trump Administration to Cancel Student Visas of Pro-Palestinian Protesters

The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)
The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)
TT
TT

Trump Administration to Cancel Student Visas of Pro-Palestinian Protesters

The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)
The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday to combat antisemitism and pledge to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests, a White House official said.

A fact sheet on the order promises "immediate action" by the Justice Department to prosecute "terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews" and marshal all federal resources to combat what it called "the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets" since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

"To all the resident aliens who joined in the protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you," Trump said in the fact sheet.

"I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before."

The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses, with civil rights groups documenting rising antisemitic, anti-Arab and Islamophobic incidents.

The order will require agency and department leaders to provide the White House with recommendations within 60 days on all criminal and civil authorities that could be used to fight antisemitism, and would demand "the removal of resident aliens who violate our laws."

The fact sheet said protesters engaged in pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, blocked Jewish students from attending classes and assaulted worshippers at synagogues, as well as vandalizing US monuments and statues.

Many pro-Palestinian protesters denied supporting Hamas or engaging in antisemitic acts, and said they were demonstrating against Israel's military assault on Gaza, where health authorities say more than 47,000 people have been killed.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a large Muslim advocacy group, accused the Trump administration of an assault on "free speech and Palestinian humanity under the guise of combating antisemitism," and described Wednesday's order as "dishonest, overbroad and unenforceable."

During his 2024 election campaign, Trump promised to deport those he called "pro-Hamas" students in the United States on visas.

On his first day in office, he signed an executive order that rights groups say lays the groundwork for the reinstatement of a ban on travelers from predominantly Muslim or Arab countries, and offers wider authorities to use ideological exclusion to deny visa requests and remove individuals already in the country.