Released Columbia protester allegedly claimed to build guns to 'kill Jews'
A pro-Palestine student activist from Columbia University, Mohsen Mahdawi, has been accused of bragging about killing Jews in Palestine in 2015, according to a court filing.
Despite the allegations, the Trump administration was unsuccessful in its attempt to keep Mahdawi in custody.
A pro-Palestine student activist at Columbia University, Mohsen Mahdawi, has been accused of bragging about killing Jews in Palestine in 2015, according to a court filing from the end of April.
Despite the allegations, the Trump administration was unsuccessful in its attempt to keep Mahdawi in custody.
The allegation is contained within U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford’s April 30 opinion on Mahdawi’s motion for release.
In the alleged incident, Mahdawi visited a Vermont gun shop in the summer of 2016, expressing interest in purchasing a “sniper rifle and an automatic weapon.”
Mahdawi said, according to the government’s allegation, that he “had considerable firearm experience and used to build modified 9mm submachine guns to kill Jews while he was in Palestine.”
There also appears to be corroborating evidence for Mahdawi making statements about “killing Jews.”
“The store owner gave the police the name of a fellow gun enthusiast who stated that he had a similar conversation with Mr. Mahdawi at the ‘Precision Museum’ in Windsor where the enthusiast served as a volunteer tour leader,” Judge Crawford’s opinion states. “During that conversation, Mr. Mahdawi allegedly told the enthusiast, ‘I like to kill Jews.’”
According to Crawford’s opinion, the government also pointed in its brief “to an incident in January 2019 when Mr. Mahdawi was stopped at the border and found to be carrying drugs.”
Mahdawi had been detained for two weeks, as reported by NPR. In his opinion, Judge Crawford wrote that Mahdawi had received “great harm” for a person “charged with no crime.”
“And I am saying it, clear and loud,” Mahdawi said on April 30 following his release. “To President Trump and his cabinet, I’m not afraid of you.”
Last month, Campus Reform reported about ICE’s arrest of Mahdawi, a green card holder and outspoken pro-Palestine activist from Columbia University, while he was applying for U.S. citizenship.
[RELATED: Trump administration revokes visas from 37 Johns Hopkins students for pro-Hamas activism]
Mahdawi, who co-founded the Palestinian Student Union and had criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, is one of several student protesters who faced potential immigration consequences amid a broader crackdown on allegedly pro-Hamas individuals.
In April, anti-Israel activists at Columbia had to cancel an encampment they had planned to erect on the university’s Morningside Heights campus after the administration threatened to arrest them.
“We have been made aware of possible plans to establish encampments on Columbia’s campuses,” an email from the administration read. “We want to clearly communicate that camping and encampments on Columbia’s campuses are prohibited by university policy.”
Campus Reform has contacted Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.