Palestinian protester Mahmoud Khalil excoriates Columbia in op-ed

Anti-Israel organizer Mahmoud Khalil ripped the administration of Columbia University in an op-ed published in the school’s newspaper on Friday.

The op-ed, titled simply “A letter to Columbia,” accuses the institution of “laying the groundwork for my abduction.”  He goes on to compare President Donald Trump’s crackdown on anti-Israel protesters to Columbia’s own apathy toward Palestinians, listing other students who have been “snatched by the state.”

“The situation is oddly reminiscent of when I fled the brutality of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria and sought refuge in Lebanon,” Khalil wrote. “The logic used by the federal government to target myself and my peers is a direct extension of Columbia’s repression playbook concerning Palestine.”

He went on to accuse Columbia administrators of manufacturing “public hysteria about antisemitism without once mentioning the tens of thousands of Palestinians murdered under bombs made of your dollars.”

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He also targeted some fellow students at Columbia who he says helped to create a false sense that antisemitism was spreading across the campus. He also pointed to efforts by certain students to unmask anti-Israel protesters, though he did not name any individuals.

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“Especially in light of the dual degree program with Tel Aviv University, I can’t help but think that if I were in Palestine, some of these students would be the ones stopping me at checkpoints, raiding my university, piloting the drones surveilling my community, or killing my neighbors in their homes. While students were building solidarity at Columbia, some pro-Israel students were participating in the genocide as military personnel during their school breaks, only to return to campus and claim victimhood in the classroom,” he argued.

“To members of Columbia’s faculty who pat themselves on the back for their progressive leanings but are content to limit their participation to performative statements: What will it take for you to resist the destruction of your University? Are your positions worth more than the lives of your students and the integrity of your work?” he added.

The message comes weeks after ICE agents detained Khalil in New York City in early March. The Department of Homeland Security alleged that he “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”

Last week, several Columbia University students chained themselves to a gate outside the school’s St. Paul’s Chapel in protest against Khalil’s arrest.

The students demanded that the institution release the names of the trustees “who gave Mahmoud Khalil’s name to ICE.” The Columbia Palestine Solidarity Committee wrote on X that “We will not leave until our demand is met.”

The school denies that any of its administrators requested ICE’s presence on campus.