‘Shalom’ becomes new ‘You’re fired’ as Trump takes drastic action at Columbia

In the Trump White House, a Hebrew word with multiple meanings has only one definition

President Trump speaks at a March 2025 press conference.

By Louis Keene March 10, 2025

President Donald Trump’s ultimatum to Hamas came in the form of a Hebrew word as ancient as it is universal.

“‘Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye — you can choose,” Trump wrote March 5 on Instagram.

But as the White House has begun using the word on the domestic front, shalom has increasingly come to recall a more familiar Trumpism: “You’re fired.” The White House dropped a “Shalom Columbia” graphic March 7 when it pulled $400 million in federal funding from the university. And on Monday, after ICE agents arrested recent Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, the White House posted “Shalom Mahmoud” over a black-and-white picture of his face.

The posts, each linked to matters concerning the Jewish community, come amid a wave of norm-shattering executive orders in the first two months of Trump’s second presidency, including one on fighting antisemitism. Khalil was arrested for pro-Palestinian activism; Columbia was punished for its alleged inaction on campus antisemitism.

Trump pledged more student arrests in a post to his Truth Social platform on Monday.

“ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas student on the campus of Columbia University,” the president wrote. “This is the first arrest of many to come.”

The original, Biblical definition of the word shalom is peace, which is how its use as a greeting was developed; “shalom aleichem” — peace unto you — is a common salutation. (And of the three typical meanings of shalom, “goodbye” is almost certainly the least common; l‘hitraot, meaning “see you later,” tends to be used instead.)

The president’s use of Hebrew was received with a mix of elation and apprehension among American Jews, largely split along political lines.

Nioh Berg, whose X profile says she is an Iranian Jew, called Trump’s post on Khalil “incredible.”

“Thanks to Trump, ‘shalom’ is now code for ‘You f—-d up and are about to find out,’” Berg wrote.

Others called Trump’s application of shalom “horrible and gross.”

“I can only react to this image as I am: a Jew,” David Grossman, a Jewish writer, posted in response to the White House. “To make Jewish words and phrases interchangeable with ICE detention is to make Judaism the face of fascism. This has happened in Israel and will happen here if we allow it.”

Meanwhile, pro-Israel accounts on X were anticipating Trump’s next target.

“Countdown to Shalom Harvard,” wrote Shabbos Kestenbaum.

Louis Keene is a reporter for the Forward. His work has also been published in The New York Times, New York magazine and Vice. He is based in Los Angeles.

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