'We had to reach this moment': Campus activist Mahmoud Khalil accused of justifying Oct 7 attacks; Trump allies say ‘deport him now'
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Elected officials say Khalil's remarks strengthen the Trump administration's ongoing efforts to deport him.
Speaking on New York Times journalist Ezra Klein's podcast, Khalil, 30, described the attacks as 'a desperate moment' in the Palestinian struggle. 'To me, it felt frightening that we had to reach this moment in the Palestinian struggle,' he said, as quoted by The New York Post.
He added the attack aimed 'to break the cycle' of Palestinians 'not being heard' by Israel and called it 'a desperate attempt to tell the world that the Palestinians are here, that Palestinians are part of the equation.'
The October 7 assault by Hamas killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and led to 251 hostages being taken into Gaza. About 50 remain in captivity, with roughly 20 believed to still be alive.
The White House strongly condemned Khalil's comments. 'Mahmoud Khalil has not been shy about his support for Hamas – a brutal terrorist organisation that violently attacks innocent men, women, and children,' said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a statement to The New York Post.
'And no matter how much Khalil may try to justify the horrific October 7 terror attack perpetrated by Hamas, there is no justification.
Hamas is a despicable terrorist organisation, full stop.'
Republican lawmakers swiftly called for Khalil's removal from the country. 'Mahmoud Khalil must be immediately deported,' said Rep Elise Stefanik of New York. 'He is a chief pro-Hamas terrorist agitator who contributed to the antisemitic encampments at Columbia.'
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Khalil's attorney, Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, pushed back on the criticism. 'This is a grotesque and willful distortion of what Mahmoud actually said,' Azmy said. 'Mahmoud repeated several times that he unequivocally opposes the killing of civilians, including on October 7, which is grounded in his faith in international human rights law.'
Khalil, who was born in a Syrian refugee camp to Palestinian parents, obtained his green card in 2024.
He was arrested in March at his Columbia University-owned apartment and released from federal custody in June by a New Jersey judge. The Trump administration has sought to deport him under a Cold War-era law, citing threats to US foreign policy interests.
While at Columbia, Khalil led Columbia United Apartheid Divest- a group that has expressed support for terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and posted calls for 'the end of Western civilisation' on social media.
Efforts to deport Khalil have recently hit legal roadblocks. In late July, the third circuit court of appeals rejected the administration's attempt to place him back in custody while the case proceeded and denied a request to overturn a lower court ruling protecting him from deportation based on First Amendment-protected speech.
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