OBL: Recapping Day 11 of Bills Training Camp | Buffalo Bills

A longtime columnist is leaving the Washington Post after a clash with the newspaper's publisher over an op-ed she wrote criticizing owner Jeff Bezos' changes to the opinion pages.

Columnist and associate editor Ruth Marcus announced her departure Monday, saying she can no longer stay at the paper where she's worked for four decades after she said chief executive and publisher Will Lewis spiked her column that was critical of Bezos' mandate to the opinion section, reported NPR.

"Jeff's announcement that the opinion section will henceforth not publish views that deviate from the pillars of individual liberties and free markets threatens to break the trust of readers that columnists are writing what they believe, not what the owner has deemed acceptable," Marcus wrote in her resignation letter.

More than 75,000 digital subscribers canceled within 48 hours after Bezos imposed the changes last month, and opinions editor David Shipley stepped down over the order.

ALSO READ: 'A lot of damage control' at the White House after Musk blow-up: MSNBC's Lemire

"Will's decision to not … run the column that I wrote respectfully dissenting from Jeff's edict – something that I have not experienced in almost two decades of column-writing –underscores that the traditional freedom of columnists to select the topics they wish to address and say what they think has been dangerously eroded," Marcus wrote.

Bezos blocked the newspaper from endorsing Kamala Harris for president, which caused 300,000 digital subscribers to cancel within days, and the Amazon executive has moved closer to Donald Trump since the election.

"I love the Post," Marcus wrote in her resignation letter. "It breaks my heart to conclude that I must leave. I have the deepest affection and admiration for my colleagues and will miss them every day. And I wish you both the best as you steer this storied and critical institution through troubled times."

A leader of protests at Columbia University against Israel's war in Gaza was arrested by immigration officers, a campus union said Sunday, after US President Donald Trump vowed to deport foreign pro-Palestinian student demonstrators.

Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent faces in the campus's protest movement that erupted in response to Israel's conduct of the war, was arrested Saturday, the Student Workers of Columbia union said.

"On Saturday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian recent Columbia graduate and lead negotiator for last spring's Gaza solidarity encampment," the union said in a statement.

US campuses including Columbia's in New York were rocked by student protests against Israel's war in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. The demonstrations ignited accusations of anti-Semitism.

Protests, some of which turned violent and saw campus buildings occupied and lectures disrupted, pitted students protesting Israel's conduct against pro-Israel campaigners, many of whom were Jewish.

Khalil, who remains in immigration enforcement detention, held permanent residency at the time of his arrest prompting thousands of people to sign a petition calling for his release, the union statement added.

"We are also aware of multiple reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents accessing or attempting to access Columbia campus buildings on Friday and Saturday, including undergraduate dorms," the union said.

Columbia did not directly address Khalil's arrest in response to inquiries, but in a statement said "there have been reports of ICE in the streets around campus."

"Columbia has and will continue to follow the law. Consistent with our longstanding practice and the practice of cities and institutions throughout the country, law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including University buildings," Columbia said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump railed against the student protest movement linked to the conflict in Gaza, and vowed to deport foreign students who had demonstrated.

He also threatened to cut off federal funding for institutions that he said were not doing enough to combat anti-Semitism.

His administration announced Friday it was cutting $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University, accusing it of failing to protect Jewish students from harassment.

gw/bfm

© Agence France-Presse