 "Demonstrators from the group Jewish Voice for Peace protest inside Trump Tower in support of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil. AP")
At least 100 people were arrested after protesters, mostly progressive Jewish activists, barged into the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City on Thursday. The demonstrators were demanding the release of Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian Columbia University student held by US immigration authorities over his involvement in the pro-Palestinian protests at the university.
Chanted slogans included: “Free Mahmoud, free them all” and: “Fight Nazis, not students.” Others chanted, “We will not comply, Mahmoud, we are on your side” and “Bring Mahmoud home now.” More than 250 people involved in the protests wore red T-shirts bearing the message “Jews say stop arming Israel”. By the afternoon, protests were showing multiple police officers beginning to arrest the demonstrators.
Trump Tower is US President Donald Trump’s signature Fifth Avenue building, which is also seen as the Republican firebrand’s “New York home”. The group behind the demonstration was Jewish Voice for Peace, which describes itself as “the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organisation in the world” and has staged protests at New York landmarks, including Grand Central Station.
Group condemns Khalil’s arrest
The progressive Jewish group released a statement over the matter, condemning Khalil’s arrest. “The detention of Mahmoud is further proof that we are on the brink of a full takeover by a repressive, authoritarian regime."
“As Jews of conscience, we know our history, and we know where this leads. It’s on all of us to stand up now. Many of us are the descendants of people who resisted European fascism, and far too many of our ancestors lost their lives in that struggle. We call on the strength of our ancestors, and we call on our tradition, which teaches us we must never stand idly by.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsInterestingly, actress Debra Winger also participated in the protests and was arrested by the authorities. While speaking to the Associated Press, 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. Does that sound like America to you?” she told the American news outlet.
30-year-old Khalil was the lead organiser of the protests and encampment at Columbia University, which started soon after Israel’s military operation in Gaza. Having completed a master’s degree, Khalil was due to graduate from Columbia in May. He is a green card holder and married to an American citizen, who is currently pregnant with his child.
He is now in custody in Louisiana, without charge but held under a rarely used immigration law provision that allows the US Secretary of State to approve the detention of anyone deemed a threat to US foreign policy. Meanwhile, Jewish Voice for Peace said descendants of Holocaust survivors were among the protesters as well.
Sonya E Meyerson-Knox, director of communications for Jewish Voice for Peace, told NBC News: “My grandmother lost her cousins in the Holocaust. I grew up on these stories. We know what happens when authoritarian regimes begin targeting people, begin abducting them at night, separating their families and scapegoating.”
“And we know that it’s one step from here to losing all right to protest and then further horrors happening, as we have seen too well in our history. We’re calling on everyone to speak up today because, otherwise, we won’t be able to tomorrow,” she added.
With inputs from agencies.