Mahmoud Khalil
Syrian-born Mahmoud Khalil emerged as a leader of Columbia's 2024 anti-Israel encampment, an unauthorized protest that left Jewish students facing harassment, intimidation, and barriers to campus spaces. Detained by immigration agents in March 2025 over alleged immigration violations, he became a national flashpoint in the battle over antisemitic campus activism and deportation. Released after 104 days, he shockingly returned to Columbia just last week to promote his memoir, No Land to Stand On. His legal battle has since reached the U.S. Supreme Court; Khalil petitioned the justices to review his case, though the Court has not yet agreed to hear it.
His return demands a closer look at the dangers of his rhetoric and its implications for Jewish students. Khalil has rejected the right to Jewish self-determination and defended the slogan "Globalize the intifada," which many Jewish groups view as a call for violence against Jews. This is about more than one activist; it is about the growing normalization of antisemitism and the safety of Jewish students. When intimidation becomes normalized on campus, silence is not an option.
Mahmoud Khalil uses the guise of "anti-Zionism" to advance antisemitic rhetoric, dismissing legitimate concerns about antisemitism and framing the October 7 massacre in ways that aim to rationalize Hamas' atrocities.
Examples of his troubling rhetoric include:
- Claiming that Zionism is "racist."
- Accusing Israel of worsening antisemitism.
- Declining to condemn Hamas claiming the question "was unfairly directed toward Palestinian activists."
- Asserting there was a "manufactured hysteria" about antisemitism at Columbia.
- Characterizing the 10/7 massacre as "inevitable."
- Stating: "Israel's problem was never our speech. It's our existence. The whole Zionist system is complicit in our continued Nakba."
- Posting, "Fantasizing about a beheading and thinking it's a normal thing to post, sadly very normal Zionist behavior."
Mahmoud Khalil's X post saying "fantasizing about a beheading" is "very normal Zionist behavior."
When antisemitism is repackaged as activism, Jewish students are put in harm's way. When the October 7 massacre is framed as inevitable, the atrocities committed against Jews are excused. And when warnings about antisemitism are dismissed as hysteria, those sounding the alarm are silenced.
Mahmoud Khalil's return to the Columbia spotlight underscores how rhetoric amplified on campus can have consequences far beyond university walls. Why does rhetoric that marginalizes Jewish students and diminishes violence against them continue to be given a pass?
StopAntisemitism is urging U.S. Supreme Court Justices to uphold the government's authority and deport Mahmoud Khalil back to Algeria. We need your help - SIGN THE PETITION HERE.