Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil returned, on Tuesday, to Columbia University in New York, for the first time since his arrest in 2025 as part of the US President Donald Trump administration's campaign against pro-Palestinian activists, and considers his return to campus a "victory" over the attempts to exclude him and silence Palestinian voices.
Khalil (31 years old), in statements to the French news agency during an event to launch his new memoir in the presence of about 100 people, said that the university management sought to "erase" him and silence Palestinian voices, while criticizing its authorization for the police to disperse student demonstrations against Israel's war in Gaza in 2024.
He accused the university of failing to protect him from harassment that preceded his arrest and detention for three months without criminal charges against him, before his release in June 2025.
Khalil's return drew fire from Jewish groups on social media, while Columbia University reaffirmed its commitment to freedom of academic debate.
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