Senator Bernie Sanders with Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Hamas student activist held in custody for 104 days after the Trump administration moved to cancel his visa. (X)
Mahmoud Khalil, an anti-Israel agitator at Columbia University, met with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders shortly after refusing to condemn Hamas during an interview with CNN.
By World Israel News Staff
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders met on Tuesday with Mahmoud Khalil, an anti-Israel agitator at Columbia University targeted by the Trump administration for deportation over his support of the Hamas terror organization.
Sanders’ official X account uploaded a photograph of the pair during their meeting, along with a statement by the 83-year-old senator denouncing not only the Trump administration for attempting to deport Khalil, but also the Israeli government over the ongoing war against Hamas.
“I met with Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student at Columbia University, who was imprisoned for 104 days by the Trump administration for opposing Netanyahu’s illegal & horrific war in Gaza. Outrageous,” Sanders tweeted.
“We must not allow Trump to destroy the First Amendment & freedom to dissent.”
Just before meeting with Sanders, Khalil appeared on CNN to discuss his $20 million lawsuit against the Trump administration over his detention earlier this year, before a federal judge ordered his release.
During the interview, Khalil accused the Trump administration of “weaponizing” antisemitism, while refusing to condemn the Hamas terror organization.
When asked on air whether he would “specifically condemn Hamas,” Khalil responded: “No.”
“I condemn the killing of all civilians, full stop,” Khalil continued. “I am clear with condemning all civilians. I’m very straight in my position in that part. But it’s disingenuous to ask about condemning Hamas while Palestinians are the ones being starved now by Israel.”
Khalil called criticism of Hamas “selective outrage” and falsely claimed Israel killed 260 Palestinians on the eve of October 7, 2023.
Rejecting the Trump administration’s accusations of his support for terrorism, Khalil said he merely “protested the war in Palestine. That’s what I did. That’s my duty as a Palestinian, as a human being right now, is to ask for the stop of the killing in my home country.”
Taken into custody on March 8, Khalil was accused by federal authorities of undermining US foreign policy through his pro-Hamas activism. Authorities also charged Khalil had withheld or falsified information on his residency application, constituting immigration fraud.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Khalil’s residency permit to be revoked, leading to a months-long legal battle between the Trump administration and Khalil.
In June, a federal judge ordered Khalil to be released, freezing efforts by the administration to expel him from the country.
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