Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian activist who led protests at Columbia University and was jailed by the Trump administration, says his relationship with Zohran Mamdani started after Mamdani was “the first to call for my release.”
“Mamdani was the first to call for my release, to actually go in the street and call for accountability [for] what happened to me. So this is how the relationship started. For him to be an advocate on my behalf, I appreciated that very, very highly, especially in a time where a lot of people did not,” he told NY1’s Bernadette Hogan.
Khalil also spoke about the Trump administration’s attempt to deport him and Mamdani being the first Muslim mayor in New York City.