Mahmoud Khalil returned to Columbia University on Sunday to reignite the Palestinian protest stronghold just days after a judge ordered his release from an immigration detention facility. He stepped onto campus, Palestinian flag in hand, and told supporters: “Well, who is Mahmoud Khalil?… Mahmoud Khalil is a human rights defender. Mahmoud Khalil is a freedom fighter. Mahmoud Khalil is a refugee. Mahmoud Khalil is a father and husband. And above all, Mahmoud Khalil is Palestinian.”
Khalil framed his detention under the Trump administration as an attempt to crush dissent. “The wave of repression… was intended to silence the movement for Palestinian liberation,” he declared, branding the U.S. government “a killing machine in Palestine and across the world.” He added defiantly, “it is our responsibility to end this genocide, no matter the personal cost, no matter the personal cost.”
Footage circulating on social media showed him leading a Palestinian protest chant of “Columbia, Columbia, you can’t hide. You’re supporting genocide,” energizing his base anew. His march marked a turning point—appearing less a spontaneous protest and more the start of a sustained campaign.
The immigration judge, responding to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s memo, originally sided with deportation claims, citing Khalil’s activism as contrary to U.S. foreign policy. But U.S. District Judge Farbiarz set bail and deemed him not a flight risk.
Khalil vowed to continue his anti-Western, anti-Israel activism “as long as I am breathing.”
