Protesters descended upon Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan Thursday demanding the release of pro-Hamas activist Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student and antisemitic agitator who terrorized the campus and its Jewish students with demonstrations, sit-ins, and intimidation.
Khalil was nabbed by ICE on Saturday and the Trump administration has ordered he be repatriated to his home country, Syria. This of course has set off the anti-Israel zealots.
They came with their usual terrorist-supporting slogans and chants, but a number of them will be chanting soon from jail cells as there were multiple arrests:
The protesters, many dressed in red, held signs reading "Free Mahmoud, Free Palestine" and "Fight Nazis Not Students."
The protesters were also chanting the common "Free, free Palestine" slogan.
After occupying the lobby area – the same area where President Donald Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign – the NYPD began detaining several of them and hauled multiple demonstrators out of the building in zip ties. ICE agents arrested Khalil at his university-owned apartment on the city’s Upper West Side on Saturday. Agents told him they were revoking his green card and student visa, according to Khalil's attorneys.
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The organizers behind this latest crazed protest claim they’re actually Jewish:
The Jewish Voice for Peace said it helped organize the protest. The group’s X account says its aim is to organize Jews "toward Palestinian liberation and Judaism beyond Zionism.
"As Jews, we are taking over the Trump Tower to register our mass refusal," the group wrote.
"We will not stand by as this fascist regime attempts to criminalize Palestinians and all those calling for an end to the Israeli government’s US-funded genocide of the Palestinian people. And we will never stop fighting for a free Palestine. If you come for one, you face us all. Free Mahmoud, free Palestine!"
Protests have erupted all week in Manhattan following Khalil's detainment. He is being held in Louisiana while a federal judge blocked the Trump administration's efforts to deport him before his case is heard.
As the above post notes, why aren’t these people protesting for the release of the Hamas hostages? It’s hard to wrap one’s mind around: who wakes up in the morning and thinks to themselves, "I know what I’ll do today! I’ll go protest in support of that guy who openly supports terrorism. Maybe I’ll bring along a 'free Luigi Mangione' poster for good measure."
I’d like to think they will be held accountable for their actions, but they’re in NYC, so that isn’t likely. But maybe, as Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) mentioned above, a certain building owner will have something to say about it.