Jewish protesters flood Trump Tower's lobby to demand Mahmoud Khalil's
release
[March 14, 2025]
By CEDAR ATTANASIO
NEW YORK (AP) — Demonstrators from a Jewish group filled the lobby of
Trump Tower on Thursday to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud
Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who helped lead protests against
Israel at Columbia University.
The demonstrators from Jewish Voice for Peace wore red shirts reading
“Jews say stop arming Israel” and held up banners as they chanted “Bring
Mahmoud home now!" on the lower level of the Fifth Avenue building's
public atrium.
After warning the protesters to leave, police said they arrested 98
people who stayed on various charges, including trespassing, obstruction
and resisting arrest.
Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent U.S. resident who is married to an
American citizen and who has not been charged with breaking any laws,
was arrested outside his New York City apartment Saturday and faces
deportation. He is being held at an immigration detention center in
Louisiana.
President Donald Trump has said Khalil’s arrest was the first “of many
to come” and vowed on social media to deport students who he said engage
in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.” The White
House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the
Trump Tower demonstration.
Among those who took part in Thursday's protest was actor Debra Winger,
who was not arrested. She accused the Trump administration of having “no
interest in Jewish safety” and “co-opting antisemitism.”
“I’m just standing up for my rights, and I’m standing up for Mahmoud
Khalil, who has been abducted illegally and taken to an undisclosed
location," Winger told The Associated Press, referring to how Khalil's
attorney didn't know his whereabouts immediately following his arrest.
"Does that sound like America to you?”
Founded in 1996, Jewish Voice for Peace describes itself as a grassroots
movement of American Jews seeking to “end U.S. support for Israel’s
oppression of Palestinians.” It is one of a number of Jewish groups
around the world advocating for the rights of Palestinians.
Protester Sophie Edelhart, a Barnard graduate who studies Yiddish as
part of a PhD program in Canada, said the building — with its golden
escalator that Trump rode before announcing his 2016 presidential run —
was a symbolic target.
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New York Police officers arrest a demonstrator from the group,
Jewish Voice for Peace, who protested inside Trump Tower in support
of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, Thursday, March 13,
2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Trump Tower serves as headquarters for the Trump Organization and is
where the president stays when he is in New York. The skyscraper
often attracts demonstrations, both against and in support of its
namesake, though protests inside are less common. The multi-story
atrium is accessible to the public and connects visitors to eateries
including the Trump Grill.
Khalil’s supporters say his arrest is an attack on free speech and
have staged protests elsewhere in the city and around the country,
including outside a Manhattan courthouse during a brief hearing on
his case Wednesday.
Columbia University was a focal point of the pro-Palestinian protest
movement that swept across U.S. college campuses last year and led
to more than 2,000 arrests.
On Thursday the school announced that it expelled or suspended some
students who took over a campus building during pro-Palestinian
protests last spring. The Trump administration has said it is
revoking at least $400 million in funding from programs affiliated
with Columbia, including medical research grants, as punishment for
not doing enough to curtail protest activity that the president
considers antisemitic.
Also Thursday, lawyers for Khalil and other students identified by
pseudonyms filed a lawsuit seeking to block a congressional
committee from obtaining the disciplinary records of students at
Columbia and Barnard College, a women's institution affiliated with
Columbia.
Khalil, whose wife is pregnant with their first child, finished his
requirements for a Columbia master’s degree in December.
___
Associated Press reporters Michael Hill in Albany and Michelle L.
Price, Michael R. Sisak and Joseph B. Frederick contributed.
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