Azumat Khan, a professor at Columbia University, mentioned on Sunday that Mahmoud Khalil, the leader of campus anti-Israel protests, is a well-respected figure in the university community after being apprehended by immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) agents in early March.
“Consider what’s happening when people cover Mahmoud Khalil, this university, the community in Colombia,” Khan stated to MSNBC host Ayman Mocheldin. “It’s incredibly challenging for them.”
Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia and a permanent U.S. legal resident, has been held by federal immigration officials and is facing potential deportation due to his alleged support for Hamas, following the Trump administration’s initiative against anti-Israel demonstrations.
Palestinian protester Mahmoud Khalil advocates for Colombia alongside Opaed
Azumat Khan, a Columbia University professor, stated that Mahmoud Khalil, the anti-Israel organizer, is a highly regarded member of the campus community following his ICE detention. (MSNBC)
When questioned whether Columbia students are worried about arrest or public backlash after Khalil, who is also a reporter for the New York Times, they expressed there was “just good reason” for the fear.
“For instance, some students who have created significant reports for the same sites tracking Mahmoud Khalil have only aimed at that report,” the professor noted, mentioning an organization that reports on student protests at Columbia.
“The Canary Mission, for example, has been monitoring student journalists who reported,” Khan commented. “You look at the page and recognize that they were merely documenting at the protests without participating. Yet, they are listed on some of these sites. This was ongoing early this past November and December.
ICE deportee Crosshair University declines funding, financial support for undocumented immigrants: financial aid for GOP officials
Mahmoud Khalil is reported to have significantly influenced protests against Israel at Columbia University. (Ted Shaffrey, file)
Khalil penned an OP-ED following his detention, attributing part of Columbia University’s situation to his arrest.
Op-Ed I denounce the constructs that “facilitated my abduction.” He subsequently draws parallels between President Donald Trump’s crackdown on anti-Israel demonstrators and Columbia’s own apathy toward Palestinians, referencing other students who were “captured by the state.”
He also criticized those manufacturing “public hysteria regarding anti-Semitism” without addressing the numerous Palestinians who have perished from bombs funded by U.S. dollars.
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Contributions to this report were made by Anders Hagstrom and Alec Schemmel of Fox News.
