BRAZEN ACT: Mamdani faces fierce backlash after hosting Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil for dinner

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From KOMO News: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing backlash for hosting Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student arrested by ICE, and his family for Ramadan dinner at the mayoral mansion over the weekend.

Mamdani shared a photo on social media on Monday of the dinner, stating he and his wife, Rama, invited Khalil, his wife, Noor, and their son to Gracie Mansion to break fast together.

It also marked one year since the Palestinian activist was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at his New York City apartment in front of his pregnant wife.

The Trump administration has tried to deport Khalil, a Syrian-born Muslim activist, who had appeared to voice his support for the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks, and was one of the top organizers behind many of the violent, anti-Israel college campus protests.

After arresting Khalil last year on allegations of committing fraud on his green card application, DHS held him in a detention center for 100 days, but a federal judge came to his rescue and ordered him to be released in June 2025.  However, his immigration case remains in limbo, as a federal appeals court ruled in January 2026 that the judge who freed him lack authority to do so.

Mamdani, who has repeatedly defeated Khalil, defiantly posted a photo on social media Monday night, along with a glowing report on the Muslim activist. He wrote:

For Mahmoud Khalil, this past year has been marked by profound hardship—and by profound courage.

A year ago, Mahmoud was walking home through our city after sharing an iftar with his wife Noor when he was detained by federal agents, flown to Louisiana, and then held in an ICE facility for months. In that time, he was forced to miss the birth of his first child. All of this for exercising his First Amendment rights in protesting the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

And yet, even in the face of that cruelty, there has also been beauty. New Yorkers raising their voices in solidarity. A city refusing to look away. Mahmoud won his freedom, and a father was finally reunited with his child.

Last night, as we marked the one year anniversary of his detention, Rama and I were honored to welcome Mahmoud, Noor, and their son Deen to Gracie Mansion to break our fast together.

Mahmoud is a New Yorker, and he belongs in New York City.

Mamdani is being BLASTED over his post. Below is just a sampling of the outrage that is pouring in.

Ilya Shapiro: “He’s not a New Yorker, he’s an Algerian-Syrian who lied to get a visa into this country and supports terrorists—in violation of the terms of that visa even if it hadn’t been fraudulently obtained. He should’ve been deported a long time ago; hopefully justice will still prevail.”

Leeroy Johnson (ViralNewsNYC): “This is a slap in the face, too, all New Yorkers including NYPD officers.”

Rabbi Steven Burg: “This is incredibly offensive to the Jewish community as Mahmoud Khalil spent the last almost 3 years aggressively harassing Jewish students on campus. Whether you agree with his deportation or not, his behavior was abhorrent and he should not be celebrated by the Mayor.”

Journalist Laura Loomer wrote:

Outrageous. Let’s recap this last week for first Muslim Mayor of NYC:

  • Mamdami’s wife was exposed for liking posts that celebrated the October 7th Hamas terrorist attacks and posts that called the rape of innocent Israeli women a “rape hoax”.
  • Pro-ISIS Muslim Mamdami supporters threw a bomb at anti-Islam protestors in NYC.
  • Mamdani refused to condemn the act of Islamic terror in NYC.
  • Mamdani refused to call the act of Islamic terror an act of Islamic terror.
  • Mamdani broke his Ramadan fast with Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Hamas student who was ordered to be deported by the Trump admin for supporting Islamic terrorism on US soil.

@NYCMayor @ZohranKMamdani is a national security threat, and yes, he is a jihadist. President Trump never should have said Mamdani isn’t a jihadi. He is.

Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers, wrote: “I’m extremely offended by this photo as a Jewish New Yorker. This man harassed Jewish students and is antisemitic! How could you think this photo would ok to post on government socials?? As a Jewish community advocate I want an apology immediately!!!”

NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Republican, blasted Mamdani, writing, “Just a casual dinner at Gracie with the lovely, private citizen, shy wifey whose fingers could not keep up with liking posts about the MASSACRE of Jews, and the RING LEADER & CHIEF “NEGOTIATOR” of Columbia’s antisemitic encampments where Jewish students were harassed and intimidated, and where they literally glorified convicted terrorists.”

Vernikov then posted a photo of who Mamdani SHOULD have honored with a dinner – the NYPD officer who leaped over a barricade to take down the Muslim terrorist who threw a bomb at conservatives outside the mayor’s residence on Saturday.

Joel Petlin: “Mayor Mamdani’s dinner guest is neither “courageous” or a “New Yorker.” He deserves to be deported for violating 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(B) of US immigration law.”

Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) had one word: “DEPORT”

Nadav Pollak: “At the same week we learned his wife watched gleefully while Hamas was butchering Israelis, the Mayor hosted Khalil who just days after Oct 7, a massacre he refused to condemn, led protests against Israel and Jews that supported Israel. And he’s proud of it of course. Disgusting.”


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