Mahmoud Khalil Joins Pro-Palestine Rally in New York Hours After Release: “I Refused to Remain Silent While Watching a Genocide in Palestine”
New York (Quds News Network)- Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, freed from ICE detention on Friday, led a rally in New York on Sunday, pledging to continue protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza and renewing his opposition to both Columbia University and the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism.
A federal judge ruled on Friday that Khalil was not a flight risk or threat to his community and could be released as his immigration proceedings continue. He arrived back in New York on Saturday after being released.
“It’s overwhelmingly unlikely that a lawful permanent resident would be held on the remaining charge here,” Judge Farbiarz said. He added that there had been an “effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner” for his protests.
Khalil was a prominent figure during the anti-genocide pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University in the spring of 2024, and his 8 March arrest by ICE agents sparked widesprrad condemntaons and demonstrations in New York and Washington DC.
“If they threaten me with detention, even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine,” Khalil said shortly after landing in New Jersey on Saturday. “I just want to go back and continue the work I was already doing, advocating for Palestinian rights, a speech that should actually be celebrated rather than punished.”
Just a few blocks from Columbia and reunited with wife Noor Abdalla, Khalil thanked his supporters, legal team and “to salute the courage of all students at Columbia and across the nation who had continued to protest”.
“Who is Mahmoud Khalil?” he asked as he spoke to the media and supporters on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
“Mahmoud Khalil is a human rights defender. Mahmoud Khalil is a freedom fighter. Mahmoud Khalil is a refugee. Mahmoud Khalil is a father and husband. And, above all, Mahmoud Khalil is Palestinian,” he said.
Khalil made clear that following his release from detention he would battle what he called the “shameful trustees at Columbia that are currently attempting to expel 15 more students and to suspend tens of others, basically conceding their future, their degrees and labor because they are not afraid to stand for Palestine”.
The university, he added, “would do anything and everything it can to ensure that the words “free Palestine” are not uttered anywhere near it. “But while we are here, Free, Free Palestine.” The crowd followed in a chant.
Khalil went on to accuse Columbia of attempting to prevent the rally at its gates “just so we cannot remind them that they fund the killing in Gaza”.
BREAKING: Mahmoud Khalil welcomed back home to NYC! A PEOPLE’S VICTORY!
We celebrate his return and demand justice for him, along with all Palestinian prisoners held by the Israeli regime, and all those targeted by ICE. pic.twitter.com/5HNWAhdC6n
— Party for Socialism and Liberation (@pslnational) June 22, 2025
Mahmoud Khalil's homecoming address:
"The administration has tried its best to portray me as someone violent.
Who is Mahmoud Khalil?
Mahmoud Khalil is a human rights defender, a freedom fighter, a father & husband, a refugee and above all else Mahmoud Khalil is Palestinian." pic.twitter.com/YqZzngAnsW
— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) June 22, 2025
After the news conference, he joined hundreds of supporters in a pro-Palestine march, where protesters wore keffiyehs, waved Palestinian flags, chanted anti-genocide slogans, and demonstrated against Columbia’s crackdown on pro-Palestine activists and students.
🚨‼️BREAKING: Mahmoud Khalil marches to the gates of Columbia University—just moments after a powerful welcome home rally surrounded by friends, family, and community members who stood by him and continue to stand with Palestine. pic.twitter.com/9n84FNb4yy
— The People's Forum (@PeoplesForumNYC) June 22, 2025
