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Mamdani invites anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil to Gracie Mansion for Ramadan

March 10, 2026 | | Print Article

A telling picture was seen as “par for the course” as Gotham’s mayor hosted a Hamas sympathizer pegged for deportation two days after an alleged ISIS-inspired attack outside his residence.

Saturday on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a planned protest against Islamism’s growing prevalence in the United States was disrupted with the arrest of two counterprotestors being investigated for terrorism after attempting to use improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Following his tepid response to the alleged bomb-throwers, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) welcomed former Columbia University graduate student and anti-Western civilization Hamas sympathizer Mahmoud Khalil for a photo op at Gracie Mansion, breaking bread for Ramadan.

“For Mahmoud Khalil, this past year has been marked by profound hardship–and by profound courage,” began a post from Hizzoner as he shared a picture with his own back to the camera looking on as his wife Rama Duwaji fawned over Khalil.

“A year ago, Mahmoud was walking home through our city after sharing an iftar with his wife Noor when he was detained by federal agents, flown to Louisiana, and then held in an ICE facility for months. In that time, he was forced to miss the birth of his first child. All of this for exercising his First Amendment rights in protesting the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” continued Mamdani.

“And yet, even in the face of that cruelty, there has also been beauty. New Yorkers raising their voices in solidarity. A city refusing to look away. Mahmoud won his freedom, and a father was finally reunited with his child,” he added. “Last night, as we marked the one year anniversary of his detention, Rama and I were honored to welcome Mahmoud, Noor, and their son Deen to Gracie Mansion to break our fast together. Mahmoud is a New Yorker, and he belongs in New York City.”

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In fact, Khalil is an Algerian citizen born in Syria who had been living in the United States as a graduate student on a non-immigrant student visa while leading Hamas sympathizing protests on the campus of Columbia University in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.

The federal government had justified Khalil’s arrest and efforts to deport him, asserting that, as a noncitizen given the privilege to be in the country, his beliefs allegedly posed a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.

The shared meal came only hours after Mamdani held a press conference outside the mayoral residence to double-down on his view that the “vile protest” in the vicinity was “rooted in white supremacy” for taking a position against the so-called “Islamic takeover of New York City.”

He then proceeded to play the victim card as the first Muslim mayor of the Big Apple before arriving at the buried lede of Saturday’s protest: the two allegedly ISIS-inspired bomb throwers accused of counterprotesting with improvised explosive devices while shouting “Allahu Akbar!”

In his initial statement on the failed attack, Hizzoner had referred to the suspected terrorism as mere “violence at a protest.”

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The meal also followed Mamdani deflecting after his wife had been called out for reportedly liking posts that celebrated the Oct. 7 terror attack, stating, “My wife is the love of my life, and she’s also a private person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my city hall.”

While outraged, there was little surprise among reactions to the Ramadan dinner from the Islamunist (Islamist communist) who was sworn in on a Quran, been spotted embracing Imam Siraj Wahhah — unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing — while on the campaign trail and promised to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while snubbing Jewish and Christian constituents on numerous occasions.

Among the comments, New York City Councilwoman and Minority Whip Inna Vernikov (R) posted, “Just a casual dinner at Gracie with the lovely, private citizen, shy wifey whose fingers could not keep up with liking posts about the MASSACRE of Jews, and the RING LEADER & CHIEF ‘NEGOTIATOR’ of Columbia’s antisemitic encampments where Jewish students were harassed and intimidated and where they literally glorified convicted terrorists.”

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Kevin Haggerty
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