Trump v. the censors, European soccer ostracizes Israel and other commentary

President-elect Donald Trump’s “first major policy statement since his landslide victory outlines his plan to restore free speech,” cheer the Washington Times’ editors.Trump “said he intends to sign an executive order on Jan.

20 banning federal employees from doing anything that impedes lawful speech,” like “the FBI, Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security worked closely with social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to remove content.” He’s vowed to “identify and fire anyone who participated” and to “pull the plug on government funding for nonprofits and universities that contribute in any way to the ‘authoritarian project’ to blacklist citizens.” This shows “Trump knows how to get things done this time.Democrats won’t know what hit them.”Ahead of “this week’s big international soccer match in Paris” between the French and Israeli national teams, “Israel’s national security council has warned Israelis against attending the game,” groans Commentary’s Seth Mandel.

It “raises wider questions about the attempts to exclude Israelis from international sports competitions.” A European football “policy has been in effect since soon after Hamas’s Oct.7, 2023, massacre,” under which “fans of Israel’s national team and its premier club team must travel out of the country to attend any of their games.” Since “some teams’ home cities” are “refusing to host” Israeli teams for security reasons, “it’s far from unthinkable that teams will start refusing to play” Israeli teams altogether.

“The easiest solution would be for anti-Zionist protesters to just, you know, not be violent,” but we should expect continued escalation.”As Team Trump looks to reverse “pernicious” Biden policies, its “environmental-justice agenda belongs high on the list,” argues City Journal’s James B.Meigs.

It’s “a Trojan horse designed to smuggle unpopular progressive s...