Hundreds in New York protest in support of detained Columbia anti-Israel activist

Hundreds in New York City protest in support of a Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader detained by immigration agents.

The protesters from an array of progressive and anti-Israel groups fill Federal Square in lower Manhattan. They carry signs with the image of Mahmoud Khalil, who graduated from the university last year, calling for his release.

One sign says “Stop Jewish fascism,” and another shows Trump doing a “sieg heil” salute in front of a swastika. A speaker compares the Trump administration to the Nazi SS.

Others chant, “We want justice, you say how? ICE off our campus now,” and, “I believe that Palestine will win.”

“Trump thinks he can strip our rights to attack our movement,” a speaker tells the crowd. “To that we say, ‘You are wrong, we will not be silenced, we will continue to organize and we will continue to struggle until the complete liberation of Palestine.’”

“They make figures like Hamas and ‘terrorists’ into enemies,” another speaker says. “There are actual terrorists in the United States, but they are not Mahmoud Khalil,” he says. “The terror comes from the capitalists and their pawns.”

The protest draws a larger and more ideologically diverse crowd than recent anti-Israel protests, though many in the crowd are wearing keffiyehs and holding Palestinian flags. Speakers and signs tie Khalil’s detention to issues including affordable housing, law enforcement, and constitutional rights.