Leader of protests at Columbia University appears to justify 7 October massacre
Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested by the Trump administration for his role in the Columbia demonstrations before being released in June, appeared on Ezra Klein's podcast
Anti-Israel campus leader Mahmoud Khalil has been criticised for apparent attempts to justify the 7 October Hamas terror attacks in a recent podcast interview with New York Times columnist Ezra Klein.
Widely criticised for his role in anti-Israel protests at NYC’s Columbia University, Khalil, 30, called Black Shabbat a “desperate” moment in which Palestinians “had to reach” in order to have their voices heard, adding: “Unfortunately, we couldn’t avoid such a moment.”
Born to Palestinian parents in a Syria refugee camp, later becoming a permanent US resident, the former graduate student was released from federal custody in June by a New Jersey judge.
Khalil had been arrested in March with threats of deportation over his participation in the 2024 demonstrations. He was the lead negotiator for Columbia United Apartheid Divest, a group sympathising with terror organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah, and which has called for “the end of Western civilization” on social media.
The Trump administration claimed the demonstrations posed a threat to US foreign policy interests.
In the interview, Khalil also appeared to link the 7 October attack to an agreement that would have normalised relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“It was clear that the Saudi-Israel deal is very imminent, and Palestinians wouldn’t have any path to statehood and self-determination. So they had to do that, according to their calculations — which, it’s obvious, were not right.”
He told Klein that the terror attack was “to break the cycle” of Palestinians “not being heard” by Israel, calling it “a desperate attempt to tell the world that the Palestinians are here, that Palestinians are part of the equation. To me, it felt frightening that we had to reach this moment in the Palestinian struggle.”
He went on to claim: “Having lived in the Middle East most of my life, unfortunately, the only Jew you hear about is the one who’s trying to kill you” and described the reports of antisemitism at Columbia as “manufactured hysteria.”
An outraged Elise Stefanik, U.S. representative for New York’s 21st congressional district, called for Khalil to be deported, telling the New York Post: “He is a chief pro-Hamas terrorist agitator who contributed to the antisemitic encampments at Columbia, the rioting and violent takeover of Hamilton Hall, and the harassment and physical assault of Jewish students.”
In a statement to the Post, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said: “Mahmoud Khalil has not been shy about his support for Hamas – a brutal terrorist organisation that violently attacks innocent men, women, and children. And no matter how much Khalil may try to justify the horrific October 7 terror attack perpetrated by Hamas, there is no justification. Hamas is a despicable terrorist organisation, full stop.”
Hamas is still holding 50 hostages in Gaza, of whom only 20 are believed to still be alive.
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