- Nearly 100 people were arrested after protesters gathered at Trump Tower in Manhattan on Thursday to denounce the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist detained by ICE due to his involvement in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University.
- The protest, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, began shortly after noon when demonstrators wearing red shirts with slogans like “Not in our Name” and “Jews Say Stop Arming Israel” filled the Tower’s iconic golden atrium.
- They chanted “Free Mahmoud Khalil” and displayed banners reading “Never Again for Anyone”, “Jews Say Do Not Comply”, and “Come For One, Face Us All”, among others.
- According to the New York Police Department, ninety-eight people were later arrested, and 50 were removed from the lobby in zip ties and placed into waiting police vehicles. The NYPD reported no injuries or property damage.
- An organizer livestreamed the protest from the balcony overlooking the Trump Tower atrium.
- “As Jews, we’re here today, mere hours before the holiday of Purim begins – a holiday where we honor Esther who used her voice to speak out and demand that the king not commit genocide,” the woman said in the video. “Today we are using her same courage to speak out.”
- As the NYPD moved in to arrest the demonstrators, they sat down in unison and began chanting, “Free Palestine,” and “the whole world is watching.”
- The protest follows Khalil’s detention by federal agents at his New York home after the Trump administration revoked his green card. In a Monday post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “If you support terrorism …. your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here.”
- It also coincides with Columbia University’s announcement that it has expelled, suspended, or temporarily revoked the degrees of students who barricaded themselves in Hamilton Hall in April 2024.
- Last spring, the student coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest demanded the university cut financial ties with Israel and called for a ceasefire in Gaza. After the university missed its deadline to reach an agreement on divestment, students and non-affiliated individuals entered Columbia’s Hamilton Hall and barricaded themselves inside. The university requested police assistance to remove the protesters, and over 110 people were arrested, according to the NYPD.
- The number of students suspended or expelled for their involvement in the barricade remains unclear. A university spokesperson stated they cannot confirm the figures “due to student privacy obligations.”
- Khalil’s case, which appears to be the first of its kind, sets a precedent for potential actions as the Trump administration increases its targeting of foreign students and pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses.
- “The Trump administration has made no secret of its opposition to those protests and has repeatedly threatened to weaponize immigration law to punish noncitizens who have participated,” Khalil’s lawyers said in an amended habeas corpus petition filed Thursday night, naming President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as respondents.
- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday on behalf of Khalil and seven other students against Columbia University and Barnard College for allegedly agreeing to disclose thousands of private student records to the House Education and Workforce Committee under threat of losing “billions” in federal funding.
- On February 13, the House Education and Workforce Committee sent a letter demanding that Columbia University and Barnard College provide all student disciplinary records related to 11 incidents, the lawsuit states. A February 27 email from Columbia University indicated it would provide the records demanded by the committee, according to the suit.
- CAIR argued that disclosing students’ records could expose them to harassment, doxxing, safety threats, and reputational harm.
- Khalil’s attorney has stated that the US government “retaliated” against her client “for speaking up in defense of Palestinians” and that he was detained for exercising his right to free speech.
- Khalil is currently detained at an ICE facility in Louisiana. On Wednesday, a judge ruled that he would remain in custody while his case continues. His wife, Noor Abdalla, who is eight months pregnant and a US citizen, is awaiting his release. Khalil’s lawyers said Thursday they are seeking bail pending adjudication of the habeas corpus petition.
- A Palestinian refugee who grew up in Syria, Khalil was attending graduate school at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. After students began protesting at the university, Khalil was chosen to represent a coalition of student groups in discussions with the school’s administrators.
- He told CNN last spring that he felt compelled to speak out on behalf of his people.
- “I always say that we are the lucky ones that made it here to speak for our people who are under oppression in Palestine and across the refugee camps and the Palestinian cities,” Khalil said.
- Juliette Kayyem, a CNN senior national security analyst, said the protest at Trump Tower mirrors those targeting Elon Musk’s Tesla dealerships in recent days and highlights the challenges the Trump administration faces in balancing government and private interests.
- “They are dealing with, I think in some ways, the consequences of that merger of monetization and policy and the First Amendment,” Kayyem told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Thursday.
- Sonya Meyerson-Knox, communications director for Jewish Voice for Peace, said the group of 300 demonstrators planned the protest inside Trump Tower a day and a half ago.
- She told CNN they felt compelled to protest Khalil’s arrest because “we know our history and we are here to say ‘never again.’”
- “I am here in adherence to what my ancestors taught me because I have been taught what happens when authoritarian regimes start scapegoating people,” Meyerson-Knox said. “And I know that if we don’t speak up today, we will not be able to speak up.”
Protest at Trump Tower Over Palestinian Activist’s Arrest Leads to Nearly 100 Arrests
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