Khalil met with lawmakers on Tuesday to discuss Israel-Hamas conflict
Mahmoud Khalil refused to condemn Hamas on Tuesday and instead lashed out at CNN for asking him to, calling that line of questioning “disingenuous and absurd.”
“Just to be clear here, do you specifically condemn Hamas, a designated terrorist organization in the United States, not just for their action on Oct. 7?” CNN’s Pamela Brown asked Khalil.
“I condemn the killing of all civilians. Full stop. I don’t want to get into it,” Khalil told the Situation Room cohost. When Brown asked again, Khalil said, “I hate this selective outrage of condemnation, because this wouldn’t lead to a constructive conversation.”
“To me, it‘s always, as I said, disingenuous and absurd to ask such questions when literally 62,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel,” he continued. “And that‘s why I wouldn‘t really engage much into such questions on condemnation or not. Because selective condemnation wouldn‘t get us anywhere. It’s just like hypocrite [sic] to be honest.”
Khalil met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to discuss the Israel-Hamas conflict. Rep. Summer Lee (D., Pa.) posted a photo with Khalil, saying they had a “productive meeting” and that “we must continue fighting back.”
Khalil was a leader in anti-Semitic protests at Columbia University, serving as a negotiator during spring 2024 encampments. Video footage placed him at an illegal protest at Barnard College, during which agitators disseminated Hamas propaganda. He was arrested days later, after the Trump administration revoked his visa and green card as part of its crackdown on student visa holders who support terror groups.
The Syrian native and Algerian national, who worked for the Hamas-tied United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees during the Oct. 7 attack, was released in June after more than three months, though deportation proceedings are ongoing.
On Tuesday, Khalil said he “did not misrepresent anything.”
“The Trump administration wanted to find anything against me, so they can‘t deport me,” he said. “They had to literally go through every application I ever applied in this country to find these bogus claims that I willfully misrepresented my green card application. But it‘s absolutely retaliation, and I did not misrepresent anything.”
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