NEW YORK (RNS) — Around 150 activists occupied the Trump Tower lobby Thursday (March 13) to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist arrested Saturday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over his involvement in pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University.
Around noon, protesters in the hotel atrium unraveled banners reading “Fight Nazis not students,” “Jews say Free Mahmoud & Free Palestine” and “Jews say do not comply.” For an hour, they called for Khalil’s release and for a ceasefire in Gaza. Around 1 p.m., dozens of New York Police Department Strategic Response Group officers filled the building’s lobby and arrested 98 protesters, who were then led in a procession on Madison Avenue to get into NYPD buses.
The sit-in, held beneath the golden escalator where Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign in 2015, was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish organization. The protest was the latest in a series of rallies denouncing Khalil’s arrest as a grave violation of freedom of speech by the Trump administration.
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A 2024 Columbia University graduate, Khalil was arrested Saturday evening in his university-owned apartment and taken to a processing center in Louisiana. Khalil, 30, had his green card revoked and faces possible deportation. Monday evening, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman temporarily blocked efforts to deport Khalil, whose wife, an American citizen, is eight months pregnant.
Demonstrators organized by Jewish Voice for Peace protest inside Trump Tower in support of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, March 13, 2025, in New York. (RNS photo/Fiona André)
Last spring, Khalil was at the forefront of the pro-Palestinian student movement. He led negotiations between the school’s administration and Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the student coalition that convened the pro-Palestinian encampment last spring.
Among the crowd standing in the hotel lobby was actress Debra Winger, who said she felt responsible to denounce the administration’s weaponization of antisemitism.
“I’m a Jew, and I don’t like antisemitism being used as a cover for a regime, a fascist regime. I will not have them do this in my name. I cannot sit down,” she said, wearing a red T-shirt with the words “Not in my name.”
The protesters occupied the Trump Tower’s lobby for an hour, chanting: “We want justice! You say: How? Bring Mahmoud home now!” and “Come for one, face us all,” and “No more money for Israel’s crimes.” When the protesters first entered the lobby, many uncovered red T-shirts reading “Jews say stop arming Israel.”
Award-winning screenwriter James Schamus, a Jewish faculty member at Columbia University, said it was important as a member of the Jewish community to express solidarity with Khalil.
“I’m so proud of my fellow New York Jews and their allies for showing up, standing up, demanding the freedom for Mahmoud Khalil and also the protection for all of us,” said Schamus.
New York Police officers arrest a demonstrator from inside Trump Tower, March 13, 2025, in New York. (RNS photo/Fiona André)
The administration’s targeting of the Columbia community has sown terror on campus, Schamus said. Days before Khalil’s arrest, the Trump administration cut $400 million in federal funding to the university over what the administration said was a failure to tackle antisemitism.
During the protests, many slogans referred to Elon Musk, an adviser for the Trump administration and the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, denouncing a recent salute he made after a speech, which many viewed as a Nazi gesture.
Tal Frieden, a 27-year-old JVP member, said Musk’s presence in Trump’s circles exposed the administration’s insincere commitment to fight antisemitism.
“The Trump regime is using antisemitism as a guise to pursue its fascist agenda. If Trump cared anything about antisemitism, he wouldn’t put white nationalists like Elon Musk in the White House,” he said.
Khalil’s arrest, Frieden said, was the latest instance of the Trump administration targeting pro-Palestinian student protesters and an attempt to sow fear within the movement. “If they come for students today, it could be any of us tomorrow. So we’re here fighting to free Mahmoud Khalil and to defend our right to protest and freedom of speech,” said Frieden.
Frieden, whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors while others of his relatives died in Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto, said his involvement with JVP and efforts to denounce the situation in Gaza is a way to give justice to his family’s story.
Also among the protesters were New York City Council member Alexa Aviles, writer Molly Crabapple, actor Arliss Howard, actor Indya Moore, director Laura Poitras and actor Morgan Spector.