Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted controversial anti-Israel activist and accused Hamas sympathizer Mahmoud Khalil, his wife and their young son for dinner at Gracie Mansion for the holy month of Ramadan.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast 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,\u201d Mamdani wrote in a Monday Instagram post<\/a>.<\/p>\n The mayor included a photo of the celebration, showing his wife, Rama Duwaji, holding a plate of food while standing next to a seated Khalil, who was enjoying his meal with a giant smile.<\/p>\n \u201cLast 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,\u201d Mamdani wrote on Instagram. Khalil, a Syrian-born activist and former Columbia University grad student, was arrested by ICE early last year, and faces deportation after the Trump administration accused him of committing fraud on his green card application. James Keivom<\/p>\n Khalil, a Syrian-born activist and former Columbia University grad student, was arrested by ICE early last year, and faces deportation after the Trump administration accused him of committing fraud on his green card application<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Trump administration, which claims Khalil is a Hamas supporter<\/a>, is using a rarely deployed statute that allows for noncitizens to be deported if their beliefs can pose a threat to US foreign policy interests.<\/p>\n Khalil has still made disturbing comments about the Oct. 7, 2023, slaughter of Israelis by Hamas, calling it an unavoidable moment justified by the terror group\u2019s \u201cstruggle.\u201d<\/p>\n For Mamdani, however, Khalil\u2019s year \u201chas been marked by profound hardship\u2014and by profound courage,\u201d he wrote glowingly in his Monday social media post.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd 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,\u201d the mayor continued.<\/p>\n Khalil\u2019s son, the couple\u2019s first child, was born while he was stuck in ICE custody several states away last year. The tot will turn one on April 21. <\/p>\n \u201cMahmoud is a New Yorker, and he belongs in New York City,\u201d Hizzoner declared.<\/p>\n Mamdani has been a vocal defender of Khalil, who spent three months in a Louisiana federal lockup. LP Media<\/p>\n Mamdani has been a vocal defender of Khalil<\/a>, who spent three months in a Louisiana federal lockup before a three-judge panel in New Jersey ruled in June that he should have been allowed to work through the immigration process.<\/p>\n \u201cI see this attack on him as part of a larger attack on the freedom of speech that is especially pronounced when it comes to the use of that speech to stand up for policy to human rights,\u201d the mayor said at an unrelated press conference in January.<\/p>\n Khalil, for his part, sparked controversy late last year<\/a> over his apparent justification of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks \u2014 describing the bloodshed as a \u201cdesperate\u201d moment which Palestinians<\/a> \u201chad to reach\u201d in order to have their voices heard.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, we couldn\u2019t avoid such a moment,\u201d he said in an interview with the New York Times when asked about the attack by the terror group. <\/p>\n \u201cTo me, it felt frightening that we had to reach this moment in the Palestinian struggle,\u201d Khalil added.<\/p>\n The White House was among those to condemn the campus activist\u2019s remarks, saying it was just the latest example of Khalil downplaying Hamas\u2019 monstrous deeds.<\/p>\n Following his release from custody, Khalil also made headlines after he showed up to an anti-Israel rally in the Big Apple and started\u00a0quoting alleged Hamas terrorist and Al Jazeera correspondent, Anas al-Sharif, who was killed in an Israeli missile strike last August. <\/p>\n \u201cThe time is now, the bridges towards liberation start with us,\u201d Khalil bellowed to the crowd as he recalled al-Sharif\u2019s final words.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t
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