This article was originally published by Mikor Rishon in February 2026.
Columbia University’s post-Oct. 7 “protest” was a coercive campus disruption targeting Jews. Columbia itself documented a pattern of slurs, threats, antisemitic tropes, exclusion, and even physical assaults suffered by Jewish students. The U.S. government found the University violated Jewish student’s civil rights through its deliberate indifference to their harassment. Mahmoud Kahlil was the lead organizer, negotiator and spokesperson for these “protesters.”
On September 12, 2025, an immigration court found that Khalil procured his visa through fraudulent misrepresentations and ordered his deportation. Khalil sued in federal court to stop the deportation. Last week, the court correctly affirmed the immigration court ruling.
NY City Mayor Zohran Mamdani responded by ignoring that legal reality and instead amplified Khalil’s “oppressed victim” narrative. Casting Khalil as a peaceful activist “silenced” because of his views, Mamdami called Khalil “a New Yorker” who “deserves to stay.” That’s a clever soundbite. It’s also a lie.
Khalil isn’t in trouble because he holds unpopular views. He will be deported because he fraudulently obtained immigration status. The court found that Khalil intentionally failed to disclose his affiliation with UNRWA, his continued employment in Beirut beyond 2022, and his membership in Columbia University Apartheid Divest. Khalil deceptively withheld these material facts.
As Mandami knows, the Columbia protest movement Khalil led was a coercive campaign that left Jewish students unsafe and unwelcome on campus. Jews were pressured, harassed, and pushed out of normal academic life. Khalil deployed intimidation and disruption of Jews to deflect the horrors of October 7 and cast Hamas as the victim.
Mamdani is again showing New York and the rest of the world who he really is—and Jews should believe him. He’s not a “mayor for everyone.” He’s a politician comfortable defending the people who make Jews unsafe in New York. His smarmy evasions about genocidal slogans like “from the river to the sea” and “globalize the intifada” matter. His silence when Jews are harassed outside synagogues matters. Mandami’s conduct messages that if you target Jews and call it activism, the mayor will protect you. That should scare everyone. Mandami’s words in favor of Khalil are not mere rhetoric. They are permission to perpetuate more and worse Jew hatred.