BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- Former Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil faces deportation to Algeria or Syria after a judge ruled he misrepresented facts to obtain a green card, failing to disclose a UN internship.
- Khalil, involved in pro-Palestinian activism, has made controversial statements regarding the Hamas attack on Israel, at times downplaying its implications and justifying it as part of the Palestinian struggle.
- He has 30 days to appeal the immigration judge's ruling, which noted his misrepresentation in the application process.
Former Columbia University pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported to either Algeria or Syria, a federal judge ruled recently.
Khalil, who graduated from the university last year and has been heavily involved in pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel activism, has 30 days to appeal the ruling from immigration judge Jamee Comans.
Khalil “willfully misrepresented material fact(s)” in order to obtain a green card, the Columbia Spectator reported. The former graduate student “did not disclose information about an internship he held at the United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees on his I-485 form, an application for permanent residence in the United States,” the Spectator reported.
He had both a visa and a green card, as the Washington Free Beacon has reported.
In recent months, Khalil (pictured) has participated in interviews where he has downplayed or appeared to endorse the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
“Just to be clear here, do you specifically condemn Hamas, a designated terrorist organization in the United States, not just for their action on Oct. 7?” CNN’s Pamela Brown asked Khalil in July.
“I condemn the killing of all civilians, full stop,” Khalil said. Brown asked again, but Khalil kept talking.
“To me, it‘s always, as I said, disingenuous and absurd to ask such questions when literally 62,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel,” he said. “And that‘s why I wouldn‘t really engage much into such questions on condemnation or not. Because selective condemnation wouldn‘t get us anywhere. It’s just like [hypocritical] to be honest.”
Several weeks later he justified the Hamas attack in an interview with Ezra Klein of the New York Times.
“It felt frightening that we had to reach this moment in the Palestinian struggle. I remember I didn’t sleep for a number of days,” Khalil said.
“What do you mean we had to reach this moment? What moment is ‘this,’” Klein asked the activist.
By October 6, the situation had become more “violent,” mentioning deaths of Palestinians.
“So that’s what I mean by like, unfortunately, we couldn’t, we couldn’t avoid such a moment,” Khalil said. “And yet it was absolutely difficult to see,” he said, mentioning “horrific images” but also the “response of Israel.”
He then said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “thrives on the killing of Palestinians” and said the Israeli leader would exploit the terrorist attack “to ethnically cleanse Palestinians.”
Klein asked Khalil if he believed the Hamas attack aimed to create a conflict in the Middle East by baiting Israel into attacking or if he believed it was meant to “break the equilibrium.”
“I think it’s more the latter, like just to break the cycle. To break that Palestinians are not being heard,” Khalil said, as previously reported by The College Fix.
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