Who is Mahmoud Khalil? Columbia University Palestinian activist arrested in US

Mahmoud Khalil, the human face of pro-Palestinian protests at young house of york’s Columbia University, was arrested last week by the agents of the Trump administration. Donald Trump, who based his presidential campaign on ‘free speech’, termed the protests as antisemitic and “anti America”, reported news agency Associated Press.

Donald Trump also said that Mahmoud Khalil's arrest is “one of many” as he plans to strengthen the crackdown on student activists who protested in favour of Palestine last year across the USA.

Mahmoud is a legal US resident and is married to an American, however, he now faces a potential threat of deportation, said an AP report.

Mahmoud Khalil was born and brought up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, reported Reuters. He has been in the US since 2022 when he first arrived on a student visa, however, he got permanent residency in the US last year.

Before coming to the US, Mahmoud has worked as a social worker in Syria. He finished his high school in Syria and was going to study aviation engineering there. However, the country’s civil war hindered his plans, Mahmoud said in an essay he wrote in 2017 for an international education charity, reported AP.

“Where would I be if, like countless other Syrian refugees before me, I could not get a scholarship, could not work, or, worst of all, could not leave Syria in the depths of the ongoing war?” he had written in the essay.

He then left for Beirut and started working with a non-profit that helps Syrian children with education. He also attended a Lebanese university and earned a bachelor degree in computer science.

It was in 2016, when Mahmoud was working with the non-profit, that he met his wife, Noor Abdalla, when she joined a volunteer programme at the non-profit. They became friends and then dated long-distance for seven years, said a Reuters report. They got married in New York in 2023.

Mahmoud also worked as a programme manager at the Syria Office in the British embassy in Beirut, reads his profile page on the Society for International Development website. There, he led the Syria Chevening Program, the prestigious UK government international scholarship scheme.

Former British diplomat Andrew Waller, who worked with Mahmoud at the Embassy told AP, “You couldn’t meet a kinder or nicer person to work with. He’s thoughtful. He’s intelligent. He’s conscientious.”

Mahmoud finished his master's degree studies from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in December. He has yet to receive his degree.

Currently, Mahmoud is expecting a child with his wife, who is a 28-year-old dentist in New York, said the Reuters report. They’re expecting their child in April.

"I think it would be very devastating for me and for him to meet his first child behind a glass screen…I've always been so excited to have my first baby with the person I love," Reuters reported Abdalla as saying.

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