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Why Some Progressives, Jews, and Others Support Mahmoud Khalil
A pro-Palestine protester holds a sign that reads: “Faculty for justice in Palestine” during a protest urging Columbia University to cut ties with Israel. November 15, 2023 in New York City. Photo: Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects free speech. But misusing the First Amendment as a defense weapon for propaganda and activities supporting illegal endeavors enabled pro-Palestinian protesters to ignite disruptive, and at times violent, protests on many university campuses, most notably on the Columbia/Barnard campus.
Progressive and left-wing activists, including some liberal Jews, expressed little or no concern for threats against Jews, and the protestors’ support for Hamas, which committed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. These voices were also silent when confronted with the fact that Hamas aims to kill every single Jew in Israel.
Yet many of those same voices were outraged when Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of these protests, was arrested on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
His lawyer said that Khalil was “identified, targeted and detained” because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights, which he says constitutes protected free speech.
But Khalil is not just advocating for “Palestinian rights.” He is active in Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), an organization that supports Hamas and Hezbollah. He organized an event where literature that said it was produced by the “Hamas Media Office” was distributed, according to The New York Times.
The New York Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, and New York Attorney Letitia James, just to name some of Khalil’s defenders, denounced the arrest of Khalil as a serious attack on free speech — but none of them had any concerns about antisemitism, the chilling effect on free speech by disruption of certain classes and events at Columbia, and the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students and faculty. All of this constitutes the denial of civil rights to Jewish students and faculty.
It should be obvious to anybody that aiding terrorist organizations is illegal. CUAD’s participation in attacks on Jews, the occupation of university buildings, and the destruction of property — along with its clear support of Hamas — makes it clear that aid is being given to Hamas. Whether or not that falls under the legal code’s definition of aid, Khalil’s CUAD leadership should be a sufficient reason for deportation.
Why Columbia tolerates CUAD’s presence and activities on its campus is inexplicable. Engulfed in chaos since October 7, Columbia had done almost nothing to stop it until Federal grants and funding were suspended.
What is perhaps even more mysterious is why Khalil is able to arouse sympathy and support among liberal and leftist activists, including Jews. Some are perhaps not aware what free speech means within the First Amendment framework. Some may support him because of strong antipathy towards Trump. It gets murkier when it comes to Jewish supporters, but many of those are Jews who have no real connection to their faith, but use it as a means to justify their (and others’) hatred of Israel.
While thinking about why Khalil’s case aroused so much support and sympathy, I reminded myself of Luigi Mangione, the alleged murderer of the UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione commanded and is still commanding huge support.
There are some commonalities between these groups: some supporters claim to be peaceful, but support violence (against health care CEOs or Jews); many in both camps are anti-American, at least to some degree; and many are just getting caught up in social media trends and mass hysteria.
Perhaps the case of Khalil is not so strange; perhaps some members of our tribe are strange. The “peaceful” Jewish camp for Khalil is gaining steam. A child of Holocaust survivors wrote in The Forward that she is terrified for Khalil, and is reminded of life in Romania where she grew up. I myself grew up in a communist country and I think her fears and concerns are not substantiated. Many in the media are blaming Jews for “targeting Khalil” before his arrest.
Are we back in the ghetto where we wait to be slaughtered – is it OK to be killed rather than to defend ourselves, letting Hamas to murder and rape, and Khalil and company to rave? Or is it possible that the same people, who are convinced that peace at any price should be maintained, yearn for battle ready heroes/antiheroes, be it Luigi Mangione or Mahmoud Khalil?
Dr. Jaroslava Halper has been a professor of pathology at The University of Georgia in Athens, GA for many years. She escaped from communist Prague because of antisemitism, and lack of freedom and free speech. The gradual increase of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in certain circles in her second homeland, and the devastating October 7 massacre by Hamas, led her to realize that more active engagement is necessary to combat antisemitism, including anti-Zionism.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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