REPORT: ICE Arrests Columbia Student Activist Who Endorsed Oct. 7 Attack

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From the Washington Free Beacon: ICE officials detained a Columbia University graduate student who led a coalition of anti-Israel groups and endorsed the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.

Mohsen Mahdawi had his green card revoked by the Trump administration and was taken into custody on Monday in Burlington, Vt., where he was scheduled to take a citizenship test. Mahdawi’s attorney told the Intercept that Mahdawi was detained for his “Palestinian identity” and that he had come “to this country hoping to be free to speak about the atrocities he has witnessed.”

A public ICE database on Monday afternoon listed Mahdawi, who was born in Jordan, as being in custody.

But Mahdawi, a graduate philosophy student in Columbia’s School of General Studies, has also said he “can empathize” with Hamas over the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 slaughter and has publicly called for the destruction of Israel. Last year, he honored a commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a U.S.-designated terror group that participated in the attack alongside Hamas.

Most recently, Mahdawi served as co-president of Columbia’s Palestinian Students Union, a coalition of anti-Israel student groups, including Columbia’s suspended Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace chapters. The union has organized protests calling for Columbia’s divestment from Israel alongside Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the student organization behind the illegal encampments that plagued the school last spring and led to the violent storming of a campus building, Hamilton Hall.

READ MORE from the Free Beacon.

CBS 60 Minutes interviewed Mahdawi in December 2023. He was asked about his initial reaction when he heard about the deadly Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas against Israel.

Mahdawi did not voice any horror over what was done to the Israelis, but instead said, “I started praying, knowing that there will be a huge level of revenge from the Israelis, and I was praying that this would not be the result, because it would be disastrous.”

Politico reporter Kyle Cheney announced that a judge in Vermont has already blocked Mohsen Mahdawi from being deported or transferred outside of the state.

Judge William Kenneth Sessions III, 78, is serving as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont. He was nominated by Bill Clinton and confirmed by the Senate in August 1995.

Far-left Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal denounced Mahdawi’s arrest, declaring on X, “To arrest someone under the guise of a citizenship interview that they have waited 10 years for is beyond cruel. This is a further attack on free speech — and it won’t stop on our college campuses.”

Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) also blasted the arrest, declaring, “Mohsen Mahdawi of White River Junction, Vermont was illegally detained by ICE during what was supposed to be the final step in his citizenship process. Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the US, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention.”

On October 2, 2024, Mahdawi shared photos of family members on his Instagram page and wrote:

In this picture, you see my uncle Thayer, and my cousins Maysarah, Hekmat, Mohammad, Ameen, Thayer, and Waleed. They are more than just faces—they are echoes of lives once full, vibrant, and deeply loved. Their lives were taken from us by the Israeli Zi0nists violence in the West Bank (occupied Palestinian territories). All of them were born, raised, and killed in refugee camps. Yet their resilience, dreams, and love remain a part of me. They were not just my family but my roots, my companions, my strength.

Since the creation of Israel, it murdered over 90,000 Palestinians. But they were never numbers. My family’s lives—each with stories of hopes, dreams, and love—are now part of that staggering loss. They were taken by Israeli soldiers, some during the Second Intifada, others after October 7th. This post isn’t about their deaths but about remembering their humanity, their essence, their love for freedom from the tyranny of the Israeli occupation, the dehumanizing domination, and the ugly reality of the apartheid.

In another Instagram post on October 3, 2024, he bragged about threats he made to Columbia University if they suspended the Palestinian protesters. He wrote:

The university threatened to suspend the clubs that called for the protest and ignored the promises it gave my organization (Dar) to sanction the protest (all documented). For us, the stakes were simple: if the university dared to suspend Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) or Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), we would make our voices heard louder than ever. (Btw, I never was a member of either)

I warned Columbia’s administration: “We will shut this university down if you dare to suspend any organization unjustly; because our voices are much louder and more powerful than the money they receive to silence us.”

Video footage of Mahdawi’s arrest is circulating on social media:

Actor Michael Rapaport cheered the arrest, writing, “AND another one. Homey thinks he’s cool? We’re gonna see how cool you are Homey. ICE has reportedly arrested Columbia University pro-Hamas protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi.”

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