"Who is Mahmoud Khalil?", the recently released Palestinian activist asks protesters at the first rally he is addressing since his release. Khalil says, "Who is Mahmoud Khalil? Mahmoud Khalil is a human rights defender, a freedom fighter, a refugee, a father, a husband and above all, Mahmoud Khalil is... Palestinian. A Palestinian who refused to remain silent while watching a genocide in Palestine, committed by the genocidal state of Israel, funded by the US government, invested (in) by Columbia University." Drop Siteshow more

Mahmoud Khalil addresses his first rally after being released from ICE detention, addresses protesters in New York. Details below. @DropSiteNews

"Welcome home, Mahmoud Khalil" chants the crowd at Khalil's first rally since his release from ICE detention on Friday. @DropSiteNews

Dr. Noor Abdalla, Khalil’s wife, says, “He (Mahmoud) is free now, but we are not done. Because this is bigger than one man, one family or one moment. Mahmoud's release is a victory, but it is not justice. Justice is accountability, justice is no more families ripped apart. To every official who signed off on his detention, you may have taken time from us, but you did not take our spirit. You tried to silence him, but look around you…his voice is stronger now than it has ever been." Abdalla was addressing the friends, supporters and well-wishers of her husband Mahmoud Khalil, as the large crowd gathered on the steps outside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in uptown Manhattan cheered her on. Khalil and Abdalla’s newborn child Deen turned all of 2 months old yesterday, on the day he was reunited with his father. @DropSiteNews

In a stinging rebuke of Columbia University’s lack of support for him, Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia graduate who was arrested by immigration agents from inside his university housing building in March, says that the Columbia administration hasn’t cared to call, that he wasn't surprised by them not writing a letter of support in his case, and that they even refused permission for a rally to welcome him at the university gates today. Columbia has not provided a letter of support for Khalil in court, unlike Tufts University, which did that for their student Rümeysa Öztürk. "Maybe if there was a financial gain from doing that, they (Columbia) would have done it. This is what Columbia cares about - they care about their money," says Khalil in response to my question. @DropSiteNews

@ryangrim @DropSiteNews Khalil is a dirty “Palestinian” alien protected by anti-Semites in our judiciary