Mohsen Mahdawi

Mohsen Mahdawi is a third-generation Palestinian refugee^[6] from the Far'a refugee camp, where he lived until 2014.^[7] Mahdawi said that, in his childhood in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, he saw his best friend—then 12 years old—shot and killed by an Israeli soldier.^[8][9] He also said an Israeli soldier shot him in the leg when he was 15.^[10][11]

In 2014, Mahdawi moved to the United States, and in 2015 he became a legal permanent resident with a green card.^[2] He enrolled at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania in 2018 to study computer science.

Mahdawi transferred to Columbia University's School of General Studies to study philosophy.^[10][12] Two weeks after US District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford ordered his release from ICE detention, Mahdawi attended his graduation in May 2025.^[13][14] He was accepted into a master's program at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs^[2] and began in the fall 2025 semester.^[15]

In April, 2025, he was arrested and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in Colchester, Vermont, where he had been informed he had an interview to obtain U.S. citizenship.^[1][2][3]

Mahdawi is a Buddhist who believes in "non-violence and empathy as a central tenet of his religion".^[12] He served as president of the Columbia University Buddhist Association^[10] and organized a large Vesak festival at the University in collaboration with the Buddhist Council of New York in 2023.^[16] In August 2024, he engaged in a discussion with Buddhist monk Bhikkhu Bodhi,^[16] the president of the Buddhist Association of the United States.^[17]

Following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, Mahdawi led and helped organize pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.^[2] In a December 2023 interview with 60 Minutes, he has said that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and that he wanted a peaceful end to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.^{[12][8][9][3]} Mahdawi and fellow Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil co-founded Dar: the Palestinian Student Society to "celebrate Palestinian culture, history, and identity".^[3]

At a walkout, art installation, and die-in protest held by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) at the steps of Low Memorial Library on November 9, 2023, Mahdawi told his story of growing up in a refugee camp in the Israeli occupied West Bank, of witnessing his 12-year-old best friend killed in front of him by an Israeli soldier, and of being shot in the leg himself at 15 years of age, also by an Israeli soldier.^[18] There were pro-Israel counter-protesters, whom Mahdawi addressed: "Even though you're on the other side, we beg you, we cry, we ask you to see the humanity in us, to join us in our fight for freedom, for justice, for humanity."^[18]

An unidentified person interrupted the protest, approaching and screaming anti-Jewish and anti-Black slurs and profanities, climbing over a chain barrier and reportedly trying "to instigate fights with numerous students".^[18] According to The New York Times, a "student on the outskirts of a Nov. 9 protest had shouted antisemitic curses", but "he was not affiliated with any of the student groups, and was shouted down by the pro-Palestinian protesters",^[19] including Mahdawi,^[20] who denounced the individual directly.^[18] Using the microphone, Mahdawi said, "Shame on the person who called [for] 'death to Jews,'" and the crowd of demonstrators started chanting "shame on you", joining in his condemnation of the unidentified individual's hateful remarks.^[18]

The following day, Gerald Rosberg, then a senior administrator at Columbia, announced the suspension of SJP and JVP for what he called an "unauthorized event" that included "threatening rhetoric and intimidation".^[21][22] The suspension came after senior administrators quietly revised policies cited in the suspension on October 24, adding a new section to the University Event Policy webpage that declared the administration's right to "regulate the time, place and manner of certain forms of public expression"^[23] without input from the University Senate.^[24][23]

Columbia's claim that the "threatening rhetoric and intimidation" came from SJP and JVP was debunked by journalists, and retracted by Rosberg privately in a University Senate Plenary on November 17, 2023. However, Columbia did not reverse the suspension of SJP and JVP, and it never retracted the statement; nor did it issue a public statement to correct and clarify the matter.^[25] U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later cited the phrase "threatening rhetoric and intimidation" verbatim, apparently drawing from the statement that Columbia never retracted, in an April 2025 memo drawn up to support his case against Mahdawi.^[25][26]

Mahdawi also helped organize and launch Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition of over 80 student groups^[27] (later amassing over 120 student groups)^[28] formed after Columbia's administration quietly changed the university's event policy before banning Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.^[27][29] CUAD was launched on November 14, four days after the administration banned SJP and JVP.^[28] CUAD led multiple pro-Palestinian demonstrations calling on the university to divest from Israel.^[3]

In the spring of 2024, Mahdawi stepped back from the movement to focus on fostering connections with Jewish and Israeli students.^[30] He invited several of his critics, including assistant professor Shai Davidai, to speak with him,^[31] and remained in contact with David Myers, a former leader of the progressive New Israel Fund and a professor of Jewish history at the University of California, Los Angeles.^[32] He repeatedly denounced antisemitism in speeches and interviews, and connected his opposition to antisemitism with his support for the Palestinian cause, saying that "the fight for the freedom of Palestine and the fight against antisemitism go hand in hand, because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."^[30] One of Mahdawi's Israeli colleagues, Aharon Dardik, stated that Mahdawi was vocally opposed to terrorism and antisemitism, instead advocating for peaceful opposition to the conflict.^[30] Mahdawi and Dardik created a "framework for the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" as one of their class's final research projects.^[31][32]

Mahdawi's detention arose from his activism in support of Palestinians and in opposition to the Gaza war as a student at Columbia University, which motivated the U.S. State Department to initiate deportation proceedings, claiming that his actions harm U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arranged Mahdawi's apprehension at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in Colchester, Vermont, where USCIS had scheduled an interview for him to obtain U.S. citizenship. He was detained on April 14, 2025.^[33][34][35]

Mahdawi's legal team immediately filed a habeas corpus petition against Donald Trump and his administration, describing his detention as unlawful.^[10] His lawyers requested a temporary restraining order to prevent him from being transferred out of Vermont by federal authorities. Vermont federal judge William K. Sessions III granted the request and ordered that Mahdawi remain in Vermont.^[35] Vermont federal judge Geoffrey W. Crawford extended the request on April 23.^[36]

On April 30, 2025, federal judge Geoffrey W. Crawford in Vermont ordered the release of Mahdawi, stating that "the two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime."^[37][38]