Anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, who led Palestinian protests at Columbia University and was a spokesman for the campus encampment, spoke at the campaign launch event for Claire Valdez, who is running for Congress in New York’s 7th District.
Khalil, 30, who was arrested by federal agents in 2025 and accused of providing false information on his green card application, took the stage to introduce the candidate at the launch at SILO Brooklyn on Jan. 9.
In footage on social media, Khalil appears to lead the crowd in a “free, free Palestine” chant and introduce Valdez, 36, as someone who was there for him “when the full weight of the state comes down hard.”
Valdez was “among the first of elected officials” to organize for his release, he said. “She put her body on the line,” he added, noting she “was arrested while protesting the genocide in Gaza.”
Khalil called out politicians who are “not doing something about the Israeli occupation.”
A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Valdez is a New York State assemblywoman. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed her in the 2024 election.
