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Fifth Column

Anti-Israel US activist Mahmoud Khalil files lawsuit alleging ‘conspiracy’ against him

2026-07-15

[IsraelTimes] Khalil claims pro-Israel groups plotted with Trump administration to prosecute him and pro-Palestinian activists to shield Jewish state from criticism

Mahmoud Khalil,

…30-something, the Damascus-born Palestinian (with dual Algerian citizenship through his mother, whose family were revolutionaries back home) got a Masters in Paleo Protest from Columbia, applying his training as Apartheid Divest’s frontman supporting Hamas since 10/8/2023, which overlapped his work as a UNWRA political affairs officer. Since his arrest by ICE he’s been represented by 19 attorneys, including the ACLU and CUNY law prof Ramzi Kassem, himself once a Paleo student activist at Columbia. As a Beirut undergrad Mr. Khalil worked as a popular, MI-6 vetted local staffer for the British embassy leading soft power projects, on one of which he worked with his future wife — hijabi Leb-American dentist Noor Abdalla, suggesting either Muslim Brotherhood or Hezbollah connections. No doubt it was for her sake he went to Columbia instead of Oxford. One of these days we’ll finally get to deport him

the Columbia University pro-Paleostinian protest leader, filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that US President Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
’s administration had colluded with several pro-Israel groups to prosecute him for his advocacy.

The lawsuit is "about exposing the network of organizations, political actors and institutions that work together to criminalize solidarity with Paleostine," Khalil, who became the face of Trump’s crackdown on anti-Israel and allegedly antisemitic pro-Paleostinian activism when he was arrested by immigration officers in March 2025, said at a presser at New York City Hall.

"For decades, the state of Israel and the Zionist organizations in this country that operate on behalf of Israel have understood that their conduct cannot survive honest scrutiny," he said. "So rather than defend or change their conduct, they resorted to making scrutiny itself impossible. They brand criticism of a government as hatred of a people. They rebrand documented atrocities as debates."

Khalil was arrested by federal immigration authorities in June 2025, with the Trump administration saying he was a threat to US interests and had committed fraud on his green card application. He was held in detention for several months until his court-ordered release, and has been battling deportation in court since.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Manhattan federal court, alleges that the government’s actions violate the Ku Klux Klan Act, an 1871 anti-conspiracy law intended to restrict government coordination with vigilante groups. The act was also used to prosecute the 2017 Charlottesville march’s organizers for planning to incite racist violence.

The complaint alleges there had been a "conspiracy" among private pro-Israel entities, including the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar USA, and senior Trump administration officials to target and prosecute pro-Paleostinian activists. The lawsuit names US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, former DHS secretary Kristi Noem and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

"After the October 7 [2023] attacks and the beginning of the Israeli genocide, these entities were appalled and scared about the burgeoning Paleostine rights movement occurring on campus and the cratering support for [the] Israeli government’s genocide in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
," Baher Azmy, the legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the complaint on behalf of Khalil, claimed during the presser.

He continued: "Because they could not defend their support for the Israeli government’s actions... they sought to do what cowards and bullies do, which is to repress, to punish speech that they disliked."

Inquiries from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency to the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar USA were not immediately returned.

The lawsuit comes after Betar USA, a turban pro-Israel group, agreed to halt its operations in New York after reaching a settlement with state Attorney General Letitia James, whose office found that the group had committed a "campaign of violence, harassment and intimidation against Arab, Moslem and Jewish New Yorkers."

Azmy claimed that Project Esther, a 2024 plan for combatting antisemitism written by the conservative Heritage Foundation that outlined many policies undertaken by the Trump administration last year, had created a "blueprint for the conspiracy."

He alleged that Betar and Canary Mission then worked to identify and "nominate" campus pro-Paleostinian activists for the Trump administration to target.

"It’s not like the State Department was using any reasoned judgment or deliberation," Azmy charged. "They were taking these nominations and, within a day or two, sending DHS and ICE officials to arrest Mahmoud and others and send them to faraway prisons, and so today we’re here demanding accountability."

Khalil was an organizer with Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), an alliance of campus groups that led the disruptive protests on the Ivy League campus after the start of the Gaza war. The group is no longer recognized by the university.

CUAD has praised ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful "resistance" by Paleostinians, including, explicitly, the October 7, 2023, Hamas
Hamas

..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
onslaught, in which gunnies killed some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages. The group hosted pro-Hamas figures on campus, called for the "total eradication of Western civilization," and distributed Hamas propaganda at a campus library.

Khalil served as a spokesperson for the group in its negotiations with the Columbia administration.

Since his release from detention, Khalil has justified the Hamas attack on Israel and dismissed concerns about antisemitism at Columbia.

In September, he called for the "collapse" of the "Zionist genocidal project and the ideology of supremacy that it’s built on."

Link

Fifth Column

US court ruling jeopardizes freedom for anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil

2026-01-16

[IsraelTimes] Attorney for Columbia University protest leader criticizes ‘hypertechnical’ nature of 2-1 decision that found judge who ordered his client be freed did not have jurisdiction

A US federal appeals panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that released former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil

…30-something Mahmoud Khalil, the Damascus-born Palestinian (with dual Algerian citizenship through his mother, whose family were revolutionaries back home) got a Masters in Paleo Protest from Columbia, applying his training as Apartheid Divest’s frontman supporting Hamas since 10/8/2023, which overlapped his work as a UNWRA political affairs officer. Since his arrest by ICE he’s been represented by 19 attorneys, including the ACLU and CUNY law prof Ramzi Kassem, himself once a Paleo student activist at Columbia. As a Beirut undergrad Mr. Khalil worked as a popular, MI-6 vetted local staffer for the British embassy leading soft power projects, on one of which he worked with his future wife — hijabi Leb-American dentist Noor Abdalla, suggesting either Muslim Brotherhood or Hezbollah connections. No doubt it was for her sake he went to Columbia instead of Oxford…

from an immigration jail, bringing the US government a step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Paleostinian anti-Israel activist.

The three-judge panel of the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t rule on the key issue in Khalil’s case: whether the White House’s effort to throw Khalil out of the US over his campus activism and criticism of Israel is unconstitutional.

But in its 2-1 decision, the panel ruled a federal judge in New Jersey didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the matter at this time. Federal law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts first, before Khalil can challenge the decision, they wrote.

"That scheme ensures that petitioners get just one bite at the apple — not zero or two," the panel wrote. "But it also means that some petitioners, like Khalil, will have to wait to seek relief for allegedly unlawful government conduct."

The law bars Khalil "from attacking his detention and removal in a habeas petition," the panel added.

It was not clear whether the US government would seek to detain Khalil, a legal permanent resident, again while his legal challenges continue.

Thursday’s decision marked a major win for the White House’s sweeping campaign to detain and deport noncitizens who joined protests against Israel.

In a statement distributed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Khalil said the appeals ruling was "deeply disappointing, but it does not break our resolve."

He added: "The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Paleostine and to justice and accountability. I will continue to fight, through every legal avenue and with every ounce of determination, until my rights, and the rights of others like me, are fully protected."

Baher Azmy, an attorney for Khalil, called the ruling disappointing and "contrary to rulings of other federal courts." He noted the panel’s finding concerned a "hypertechnical jurisdictional matter," rather than the legality of the US government’s policy.

"Our legal options are by no means concluded, and we will fight with every available avenue," he added, saying Khalil would remain free pending the full resolution of all appeals, which could take months or longer.

Khalil’s lawyers can request that the active judges on the 3rd Circuit hear an appeal, or they can go to the US Supreme Court.

Khalil, 30, was the head of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition of anti-Israel campus activists, while he was a graduate student at Columbia.

After the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
war was sparked by the Hamas
Hamas

..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, CUAD led disruptive protests at Columbia as the campus became an epicenter of anti-Israel activism. Israelis and Jews at Columbia, and a university antisemitism task force, reported widespread antisemitism during the turmoil.

CUAD has endorsed violence, called for "the total eradication of Western civilization," backed the October 7 attack, applauded US-designated terror groups, distributed Hamas propaganda at a university library and supported an activist imprisoned for assaulting Jewish Columbia students.

Khalil, an Algerian citizen born to a Paleostinian family in a refugee camp in Syria, became a high-profile figure after his arrest in March as part of the US government’s crackdown on anti-Israel activism and antisemitism on college campuses.

The government has justified the arrest under a seldom-used statute that allows for the expulsion of noncitizens whose beliefs are deemed to pose a threat to US foreign policy interests. He has also been accused of failing to disclose information on his green card application.

Khalil was held in jug until he secured a court-ordered release in June. He has waged a legal battle against deportation since then, as authorities continued to seek his removal from the US.

During his release, Khalil also resumed his activism, appearing at protests and in the media. He has recently defended the Hamas invasion of Israel, denied any antisemitism at Columbia, met with Sen. Bernie Sanders

...The ~~only~~ first openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords. He ran for the 2016 nomination for president, to be cheated out of it by Hillary Clinton, then went back to being an Independent socialist, waiting for 2020 to roll around...
, called for the "collapse" of the "Zionist genocidal project," and applauded anti-Zionist Jews.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Three Abu Ghraib detainees are awarded $42million for torture they experienced 2 decades ago

2024-11-14

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Three former detainees at Abu Ghraib prison have awarded $42million for the torture they faced two decades ago.

The decision from eight person jury came after they found Virginia-based military contractor CACI responsible for the mistreatment of the men at the notorious Iraqi prison.

A different jury earlier this year couldn't agree on whether Reston, Virginia-based CACI should be held liable for the work of its civilian interrogators who worked alongside the U.S. Army at Abu Ghraib in 2003 and 2004.

Yesterday's ruling in Alexandria, Va, will see Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and Asa´ad Al-Zubae each receive $3million in compensatory damages and $11 million each in punitive damages.

The three testified that they were subjected to beatings, sexual abuse, forced nudity and other cruel treatment at the prison.

Whilst they did not allege that CACI's interrogators explicitly inflicted the abuse themselves, but argued CACI was complicit because its interrogators conspired with military police to 'soften up' detainees for questioning with harsh treatment.

CACI issued a statement expressing its disappointment in the verdict and its intention to appeal.

'For nearly two decades, CACI has been wrongly subjected to long-term, negative affiliation with the unfortunate and reckless actions of a group of military police at Abu Ghraib prison from 2003 through 2004,' the company said. 'To be clear: no CACI employee has ever been charged - criminally, civilly, or administratively - in this matter. CACI employees did not take part in nor were any of our employees responsible for these disturbing events.'

Baher Azmy, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the lawsuit on the plaintiffs' behalf, called the verdict 'an important measure of Justice and accountability' and praised the three plaintiffs for their resilience.

The $42 million fully matches the amount sought by the plaintiffs, Azmy said. It's also more than the $31 million that the plaintiffs said CACI was paid to supply interrogators to Abu Ghraib.

'Today is a big day for me and for justice,' said Al-Ejaili, a journalist, in a written statement. 'I´ve waited a long time for this day. This victory isn´t only for the three plaintiffs in this case against a corporation. This victory is a shining light for everyone who has been oppressed and a strong warning to any company or contractor practicing different forms of torture and abuse.'

Al-Ejaili traveled to the U.S. for both trials to testify in person. The other two plaintiffs testified by video from Iraq.

The trial and subsequent retrial were the first time a U.S. jury heard claims brought by Abu Ghraib survivors in the 20 years since photos of detainee mistreatment - accompanied by smiling U.S. soldiers inflicting the abuse - shocked the world during the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

None of the three plaintiffs were in any of the notorious photos shown in news reports around the world, but they described treatment very similar to what was depicted.

Al Shimari described sexual assaults and beatings during his two months at the prison. He also said he was electrically shocked and dragged around the prison by a rope tied around his neck. Al-Ejaili said he was subjected to stress positions that caused him to vomit black liquid. He was also deprived of sleep, forced to wear womens underwear and threatened with dogs.

CACI had argued it wasn´t complicit in the detainees´ abuse. It said its employees had minimal interaction with the three plaintiffs in the case, and CACI questioned parts of the plaintiffs' stories, saying that military records contradict some of their claims and suggesting they shaded their stories to support a case against the contractor. Fundamentally, though, CACI argued that any liability for their mistreatment belonged to the government.

As in the first trial, the jury struggled to decide whether CACI or the Army should be held responsible for any misconduct by CACI interrogators. The jury asked questions in its deliberations in both cases about whether the contractor or the Army bore liability.

In the first trial, which ended with a mistrial and hung jury, multiple jurors told The Associated Press that a majority wanted to hold CACI liable.

CACI, as one of its defenses, argued it shouldn´t be liable for any misdeeds by its employees if they were under the control and direction of the Army. under a legal principle known as the 'borrowed servants' doctrine.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that CACI was responsible for its own employees' misdeeds. They said provisions in CACI´s contract with the Army, as well as the Army Field Manual, make clear that CACI is responsible for overseeing its own workers.

The lawsuit was first filed in 2008 but was delayed by 15 years of legal wrangling and multiple attempts by CACI to have the case dismissed.

Lawyers for the three plaintiffs argued that CACI was liable for their mistreatment even if they couldn't prove that CACI´s interrogators were the ones who directly inflicted the abuse.

Evidence included reports from two retired Army generals, who documented the abuse and concluded that multiple CACI interrogators were complicit in the abuse.

Those reports concluded that one of the interrogators, Steven Stefanowicz, lied to investigators about his conduct and that he likely instructed soldiers to mistreat detainees and used dogs to intimidate detainees during interrogations.

Stefanowicz testified for CACI at trial through a recorded video deposition and denied mistreating detainees.

CACI introduced a different report that concluded contractors like CACI did a 'satisfactory' job of complying with military procedures.

That all sounds like CACI plans to appeal the ruling.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Former Terror Detainee Recalls Captivity - Where else, on 60 Minutes

2008-03-28

A German resident held by the U.S. for almost five years tells 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley that Americans tortured him in many ways - including hanging him from the ceiling for five days early in his captivity when he was in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Even after determining he was not a terrorist, Murat Kurnaz says the torture continued. Kurnaz tells his story for the first time on American television this Sunday, March 30, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. Kurnaz, an ethnic Turk born and raised in Germany, went to Pakistan in late 2001 at age 19 to study Islam and wound up in Pakistani police custody. It was three months after 9/11, and Kurnaz says the U.S. was offering bounties for suspicious foreigners. Kurnaz says he was "sold" to the Americans for $3,000 and brought to Kandahar as terrorist suspect.

They all go to Pakistain to "study Islam." And three months after 9-11 was December, 2001, when the Qaeda thugs swarmed out of Afghanistan in the wake of Tora Bora.

He claims American troops tortured him in Afghanistan by holding his head underwater, administering electric shocks to the soles of his feet, and hanging him suspended from the ceiling of an aircraft hangar and kept alive by doctors. "Every five or six hours they came and pulled me back down and the doctor came," he recalls. "He looked into my eyes. He checked my heart and when he said 'okay,' then they pulled me back up," he tells Pelley.

"The abuses Mr. Kurnaz alleges are not only unsubstantiated and implausible, they are simply outlandish."

The U.S. Pentagon responding by e-mail says, "We treat all detainees humanely and all credible claims are investigated thoroughly. The abuses Mr. Kurnaz alleges are not only unsubstantiated and implausible, they are simply outlandish."

Kurnaz, who has told his story to European investigators, says "[It] doesnt matter whatever they will say. The truth will not change this is the truth." Kurnaz says he was questioned in Afghanistan about Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and the Taliban. He answered truthfully, he says, and told them repeatedly to call the German government and verify who he was. But they continued to torture him, he says. "They used to beat me when my head was underwaterthey beat me into my stomach.I had to inhale the water," he tells Pelley.

He says he was then brought to Guantanamo as one of the first "enemy combatants." His treatment there, he says, included repeated beatings at the hands of soldiers in riot gear, sleep-deprivation and solitary confinement. "It's dark inside, no lights and they can punish you in isolation by coldness orheat. They have special air conditioners. Very strong. They can turn it very cold or very hot."

"They have special machines that can turn you into a newt or back into a maggot!"

After a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2004, Kurnaz was visited by an American lawyer, who successfully sued the U.S. government to release his classified file. That file contained information from the FBI, German Intelligence and even the U.S. military pointing to his innocence. But after a series of Kafkaesque military tribunals and review boards, he remained in Guantanamo for another three-and-a-half years.

Kurnaz' lawyer, Baher Azmy, says there may be many more cases like Kurnazs at the offshore prison. "In Guantanamo, no detainee has ever been able to genuinely present evidence before a neutral judge and so as absurd as Murat Kurnaz's case is, I assure you, there are many, many dozens just as tenuous," Azmy tells Pelley.

Link

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