NEW YORK (RNS) — Spherical 150 activists occupied the Trump Tower lobby Thursday (March 13) to demand the unencumber of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist arrested Saturday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over his involvement in authentic-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University.
Spherical midday, protesters in the resort atrium unraveled banners discovering out “Wrestle Nazis no longer college students,” “Jews say Free Mahmoud & Free Palestine” and “Jews say enact no longer comply.” For an hour, they called for Khalil’s unencumber and for a ceasefire in Gaza. Spherical 1 p.m., dozens of Contemporary York Police Department Strategic Response Crew officers filled the building’s lobby and arrested 98 protesters, who had been then led in a procession on Madison Avenue to gain into NYPD buses.
The sit down-in, held beneath the golden escalator where Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign in 2015, became as soon as organized by Jewish Roar for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish group. The verbalize became as soon as essentially the most recent in a series of rallies denouncing Khalil’s arrest as a grave violation of freedom of speech by the Trump administration.
RELATED: Arrest of Palestinian Columbia activist divides American Jews
A 2024 Columbia University graduate, Khalil became as soon as arrested Saturday evening in his college-owned rental and brought to a processing center in Louisiana. Khalil, 30, had his green card revoked and faces imaginable deportation. Monday evening, U.S. District Settle Jesse M. Furman temporarily blocked efforts to deport Khalil, whose wife, an American citizen, is eight months pregnant.
Demonstrators organized by Jewish Roar for Peace verbalize internal Trump Tower in enhance of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, March 13, 2025, in Contemporary York. (RNS photo/Fiona André)
Closing spring, Khalil became as soon as on the forefront of the authentic-Palestinian student movement. He led negotiations between the college’s administration and Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the coed coalition that convened the authentic-Palestinian encampment last spring.
Among the many crowd standing in the resort lobby became as soon as actress Debra Winger, who mentioned she felt accountable to denounce the administration’s weaponization of antisemitism.
“I’m a Jew, and I don’t esteem antisemitism being aged as a quilt for a regime, a fascist regime. I will no longer trust them enact this in my name. I will no longer sit down down,” she mentioned, carrying a purple T-shirt with the words “Not in my name.”
The protesters occupied the Trump Tower’s lobby for an hour, chanting: “We need justice! You say: How? Verbalize Mahmoud dwelling now!” and “Come for one, face us all,” and “No more cash for Israel’s crimes.” When the protesters first entered the lobby, many uncovered purple T-shirts discovering out “Jews say stop arming Israel.”
Award-winning screenwriter James Schamus, a Jewish college member at Columbia University, mentioned it became as soon as crucial as a member of the Jewish neighborhood to particular team spirit with Khalil.
“I’m so proud of my fellow Contemporary York Jews and their allies for exhibiting up, standing up, tense the freedom for Mahmoud Khalil and likewise the security for all of us,” mentioned Schamus.
Contemporary York Law enforcement officers arrest a demonstrator from internal Trump Tower, March 13, 2025, in Contemporary York. (RNS photo/Fiona André)
The administration’s concentrated on of the Columbia neighborhood has sown fear on campus, Schamus mentioned. Days ahead of Khalil’s arrest, the Trump administration decrease $400 million in federal funding to the college over what the administration mentioned became as soon as a failure to deal with antisemitism.
All over the protests, many slogans referred to Elon Musk, an adviser for the Trump administration and the head of the Department of Executive Efficiency, denouncing a newest salute he made after a speech, which many viewed as a Nazi gesture.
Tal Frieden, a 27-300 and sixty five days-dilapidated JVP member, mentioned Musk’s presence in Trump’s circles exposed the administration’s insincere dedication to wrestle antisemitism.
“The Trump regime is the spend of antisemitism as a guise to pursue its fascist agenda. If Trump cared the relaxation about antisemitism, he wouldn’t put white nationalists esteem Elon Musk in the White Dwelling,” he mentioned.
Khalil’s arrest, Frieden mentioned, became as soon as essentially the most recent instance of the Trump administration concentrated on authentic-Palestinian student protesters and an are attempting to sow wretchedness within the movement. “In the event that they reach for varsity students on the novel time, it’s some distance also any of us the next day. So we’re right here combating to free Mahmoud Khalil and to protect our ethical to verbalize and freedom of speech,” mentioned Frieden.
Frieden, whose grandparents had been Holocaust survivors while others of his family died in Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto, mentioned his involvement with JVP and efforts to denounce the narrate of affairs in Gaza is a technique to provide justice to his family’s myth.
Also amongst the protesters had been Contemporary York Metropolis Council member Alexa Aviles, creator Molly Crabapple, actor Arliss Howard, actor Indya Moore, director Laura Poitras and actor Morgan Spector.
by 
