Politics
Mahmoud Khalil says he’s a ‘political prisoner’ in 1st statement since arrest – National TenX News
Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian activist who was detained by U.S. immigration authorities 11 days ago, is speaking out from a detention centre in Jena, Louisiana for the first time since his arrest.
In a statement to the Guardian, Khalil said he was “a political prisoner … bearing witness to the quiet injustices underway against a great many people precluded from the protections of the law.”
In his remarks, which you can read in full, Khalil accused the Trump administration of targeting him “as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent,” adding that “visa-holders, green-card carriers and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political beliefs.”
Khalil, who is a permanent U.S. resident and married to Noor Abdalla, an American citizen, was detained in New York on March 8 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the role he played in last spring’s pro-Palestinian protests on the grounds of Columbia University.
Khalil says the agents who arrested him “refused to provide a warrant” before threatening deportation and to revoke his green card.
“At that moment, my only concern was for Noor’s safety,” he said. “I had no idea if she would be taken too, since the agents had threatened to arrest her for not leaving my side.”
Following his arrest, Khalil was transferred to a holding facility in New Jersey before being flown to Louisiana, where he remains.
On Tuesday, from his cell, Khalil detailed his experiences in detention and queried the fundamentals of U.S. law.
“Who has the right to have rights?” he asked. “It is certainly not the humans crowded into the cells here. It isn’t the Senegalese man I met who has been deprived of his liberty for a year, his legal situation in limbo and his family an ocean away. It isn’t the 21-year-old detainee I met, who stepped foot in this country at age nine, only to be deported without so much as a hearing,” he continued.
“Justice escapes the contours of this nation’s immigration facilities,” Khalil added.
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He went on to condemn American foreign policy, Columbia University’s cowering to federal pressure to reprimand student protesters and Israel’s recent breaking of a fragile ceasefire.
“My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night,” he said, adding that it is “our moral imperative to persist in the struggle for their complete freedom.”
In the days following Khalil’s detainment, calls for his release grew. Hundreds of protesters gathered in New York City demanding his freedom.
People gather outside of a New York City court to protest the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil on March 12, 2025. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images).
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
On March 10, efforts to deport Khalil were blocked by federal Judge Jesse Furman, who requested lawyers for both parties put forward further arguments.
On Friday, legal representatives for the government requested that Khalil’s case be dismissed or transferred to Louisiana.
On Wednesday, Furman rejected government lawyers’ requests to move his case to Louisiana and ordered Khalil to remain in the United States for now.
Furman moved Khalil’s case from New York to New Jersey, arguing that he did not have jurisdiction to oversee it because Khalil was being held in New Jersey when his lawyers first disputed his arrest over his involvement in last year’s demonstrations.
Khalil did not participate in the encampments at the university over fears of losing his student visa, but he frequently spoke to the press and was tasked with upholding the interests of student activists during discussions with the university regarding conditions to end the protests.
Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil (centre) talks to the press during a press briefing organized by Pro-Palestinian protesters who set up a new encampment at Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus in New York City on June 1, 2024. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images).
Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
During this time, he maintained a commitment to preserving both the interests of Jewish people and Palestinians.
Following an uptick of antisemitism on campus, Khalil told CNN last spring, “I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand-by-hand and you cannot achieve one without the other.”
A year on, Khalil’s detainment marks the first in a nationwide hunt for university students who participate in demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas conflict, which have been further complicated by government pressure on educational institutions to stifle student activism.
In a recent Truth Social post, U.S. President Donald Trump referred to those who align themselves with the Palestinian cause as “terrorist sympathizers,” declaring that they no longer had the right to remain in the U.S., adding that his administration would “find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”
Meanwhile, the government is slashing funding to American universities who do not strip back their diversity, equity and inclusion programming.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education released a list of 45 universities under investigation for their “use of racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities.”
On Wednesday, the Trump administration paused $175 million in government grants to the University of Pennsylvania over its policy regarding the participation of transgender athletes.
Similarly, on Friday, Johns Hopkins University announced thousands of layoffs across 44 countries and the winding down of its USAID grant-related activities in Baltimore and internationally after it lost $800 million in public health funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
— With files from Reuters
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Politics
UK refuses to invite Israeli government officials to London arms fair over the war in Gaza – National TenX News
The U.K. has barred Israeli government officials from attending the country’s biggest arms fair over growing concern about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The decision does not cover representatives of Israeli defense contractors, who will be allowed to attend the DSEI UK exhibition, scheduled for Sept. 9-12 in London. The event was formerly known as Defense and Security Equipment International.
“The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong,” the British government said in a statement. “As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.”
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The decision comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer in July announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to end the crisis in Gaza, agrees to a ceasefire with Hamas and commits to a long-term peace agreement. Britain previously barred sales to Israel of any arms that could be used in the nearly 23-month war in Gaza.
Israel’s Defense Ministry said the decision was based on politics and “serves extremists.”
“These restrictions amount to a deliberate and regrettable act of discrimination against Israel’s representatives,” the ministry said.
The Israeli ministry said it would withdraw from the exhibition and will not establish a national pavilion.
Pro-Palestinian and anti-war groups have announced plans to for protests during DSEI, which will take place at the Excel center in east London.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Politics
Israel soon will halt or slow aid to northern Gaza as military offensive grows – National TenX News
Israel will soon halt or slow humanitarian aid into parts of northern Gaza as it expands its military offensive against Hamas, an official said Saturday, a day after Gaza City was declared a combat zone.
The decision was likely to bring more condemnation of Israel’s government as frustration grows in the country and abroad over dire conditions for both Palestinians and remaining hostages in Gaza after nearly 23 months of war.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, told The Associated Press that Israel will stop airdrops over Gaza City in the coming days and reduce the number of aid trucks arriving in the north as it prepares to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people south.
Israel on Friday ended recently imposed daytime pauses in fighting to allow aid delivery, describing Gaza City as a Hamas stronghold and alleging that a tunnel network remains in use, despite previous large-scale raids. The United Nations and partners have said the pauses, airdrops and other measures fell far short of the 600 trucks of aid needed daily in Gaza.
A ‘massive population movement’ coming
AP video footage showed several large explosions across Gaza overnight. Israel’s military Saturday evening said it had struck a key Hamas member in the area of Gaza City, with no details.
In recent days, Israel’s military has increased strikes on the outskirts of Gaza City, where famine was recently documented and declared by global food security experts.
By Saturday there had been no airdrops for several days across Gaza, a break from almost daily ones. Israel’s army didn’t respond to a request for comment or say how it would provide aid to Palestinians during another major shift in Gaza’s population of over 2 million people.
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“Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care,” Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement.
It’s impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City can be done in a safe and dignified way, she said.
Hundreds of residents have begun leaving Gaza City, piling their remaining possessions onto pickup trucks or donkey carts. Many have been forced to leave their homes more than once.
Killed while seeking food
Israeli gunfire killed four people trying to get aid in central Gaza, according to health officials at Al-Awda Hospital, were the bodies were taken.
An Israeli strike on a bakery in Gaza City’s Nasr neighborhood killed 12 people including six women and three children, the Shifa Hospital director told the AP, and a strike on the Rimal neighborhood killed seven.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said another 10 people died as a result of starvation and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, including three children. It said at least 332 Palestinians have died from malnutrition-related causes during the war, including 124 children.
At least 63,371 Palestinians have died in Gaza during the war, said the ministry, which does not say how many are fighters or civilians but says around half have been women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
“There is no food and even water is not available. When it is available, it is not safe to drink,” said Amer Zayed, as he waited for food from a charity kitchen in Deir al-Balah on Friday.
“The suffering gets worse when there are more displaced people,” he added.
Israelis rally again to demand a ceasefire deal
Israelis waited to hear the identity of the remains of a hostage that Israel on Friday said had been recovered in Gaza. It also said it recovered the remains of hostage Ilan Weiss.
Forty-eight hostages now remain in Gaza of the over 250 seized in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Israel had believed 20 are still alive.
Their loved ones fear the expanding military offensive will put them in even more danger, and they were rallying again Saturday to demand a ceasefire deal to bring everyone home.
“Netanyahu, if another living hostage comes back in a bag, it will not only be the hostages and their families who pay the price. You will bear responsibility for premeditated murder,” Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder, said in Tel Aviv.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
The Trump administration said Friday it was denying and revoking U.S. visas from members of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
That comes ahead of next month’s United Nations General Assembly, where Canada and several other countries have said they intend to officially recognize a Palestinian state.
The U.S. State Department cited the groups’ efforts to secure statehood recognition at the UN, along with their appeals to the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice to investigate alleged Israeli crimes in Gaza, as reasons for the decision by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks,” the department said in a statement.
“The Trump Administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
The statement did not name the officials being denied entry. It was not immediately clear if the list included Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was expected to travel to New York for the UN gathering.
The Palestinians’ ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters at the UN headquarters that they were checking exactly what the U.S. move means “and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly.”
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Representatives assigned to the Palestinian Authority mission at the UN, led by Mansour, will be granted waivers so they can continue their New York-based operations, the U.S. statement said.
Mansour said Abbas still intends to lead the delegation to the high-level meetings and is expected to address the General Assembly — as he has done for many years — and to attend a meeting on the afternoon of Sept. 22 on a two-state solution co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.
U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to New York and address the general assembly on Sept. 23, the White House said on Thursday.
Canada, Britain, Australia and France in recent weeks have announced or signalled their intention to recognize a Palestinian state during the meeting.
The countries have said their recognition is conditional on the Palestinian Authority — which has limited self-rule over parts of the occupied West Bank and has for years been positioning itself as a legitimate government alternative to Hamas in Gaza — undergoing reforms and new elections.
Abbas has signalled he will co-operate with the Western nations’ demands.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization is an internationally recognized coalition that represents Palestinian people in its occupied territories and abroad.
The Trump administration has staunchly backed Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. The U.S. has also refused to condemn expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Canada and other allies have said undermine two-state solution efforts.
Rubio hosted Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar in Washington on Wednesday “to reaffirm our two nations’ close cooperation,” the U.S. secretary said in a post on X.
Saar, asked after the meeting what the plan was for a Palestinian state, said there would not be any.
The Israeli minister on Friday thanked Rubio for holding the PA and PLO “accountable for rewarding terrorism, incitement and efforts to use legal warfare against Israel” in a social media statement.
Officials with the Palestinian Authority reject that they’ve undermined peace prospects.
Under the 1947 UN “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism and foreign policy reasons.
Hamas earlier this month said it had accepted a U.S.-backed proposal on a ceasefire in Gaza that would see the release of some hostages in exchange for talks with Israel that would end the conflict and see the return of all remaining hostages.
But Israel has said it will only accept the full return of all the hostages and has pressed ahead with a plan to occupy Gaza City, which international monitors like the UN have warned could worsen a famine already afflicting the Palestinian territory.
Rubio last week announced sanctions against multiple International Criminal Court judges and prosecutors involved in the court’s investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza and the issuing of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
—With files from Reuters
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
UK refuses to invite Israeli government officials to London arms fair over the war in Gaza – National TenX News
Israel soon will halt or slow aid to northern Gaza as military offensive grows – National TenX News
U.S. scraps Palestinian officials’ visas ahead of UN General Assembly – National TenX News
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