Mahmoud Khalil is a leader of the Columbian anti-Israel encampment and was detained by ICE for Hamas support.
By Shula Rosen
Anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil called for Israel to be held accountable over the war in Gaza during a Yom Kippur Yizkor event in New York City organized by several anti-Zionist Jewish groups.
Khalil, a Columbia student who was detained by ICE for Hamas support, used the platform to accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza.
He said the “Zionist project” and “this particular fascist government in this country” were trying to make people forget “that we are all one. That we are all humans.”
Concluding his speech, Khalil called for an end to the bombing of Gaza, an end to “the engineered famine,” an end to “this country’s money paying for it,” and an end to “the lie any of it was inevitable.”
“May God, through us all, all of us, hold Israel accountable,” he said.
Khalil also prayed that “God remembers Israel is committing genocide.”
NOW: Mahmoud Khalil Speaks at Yom Kippur Yizkor Service for Gaza at Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn NYC
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— ☀️✨ Rachel Speaks Out 🌙💜 (@Rachelspeakout1) September 22, 2026
Rabbis for Ceasefire organized the Yom Kippur event along with Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews For Racial & Economic Justice, IfNotNow and the American Council for Judaism.
As Khalil addressed those gathered, a banner displayed above him read, “Refuse, Remember, Recommit.” A plaque attached to the podium carried the message, “for the sin of genocide we atone.”
The event placed Khalil’s criticism of Israel within a framework that mimicked Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, with the participating Jewish groups sought to detach themselves from the state of Israel and repeated the genocide accusation.
Khalil, a Palestinian-Algerian activist and Columbia University graduate, became an organizer and spokesperson during the university’s 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampments.
He was arrested by ICE agents for Hamas advocacy and detained in Louisiana for 104 days as the Trump administration sought his deportation.
A federal judge ordered his release in June 2025.