She recalled numerous times when “Khalil had brought up how uncomfortable he was with the rampant antisemitism against anti-Zionist Jews at Columbia.”
Carly described multiple occasions where pro-Israel students were going out of their way to antagonize Jewish students, those like her who held critical views of Israel’s actions in Gaza. When things would heat up, she says Mahmoud would always try to calm the situation. “He would really just truly want to keep the peace. He’s such a peacekeeper.”
Khalil often expressed solidarity with his Jewish friends by participating with them in community events. “The anti-Zionist Jewish community always felt very loved and supported by him. Khalil would often come to our Shabbats.” Howley remembers seeing him at the Passover Seder in the encampment last spring. “Every opportunity that Mahmoud was given,” Howley said, “he expressed that hatred or bigotry were not welcome in the movement.”
A few weeks before the encampment, Khalil helped organize a screening at Columbia of “Israelism,” a documentary exploring the deepening generational divide among Jewish Americans and their relationship with Israel.
Howley recalled how “Mahmoud was someone who had already chosen the hard path of understanding people who are on the other side of an issue, and also the exceptionally hard path of not blaming people who are on the other side of an issue, but instead figuring out what motivates them, how did they end up there, and where can you find common ground.” Howley added that “the only thing I ever heard from Mahmoud was a vision of peace and collective liberation that aligned better with my values than almost any mainstream Jewish organization in this country.”
Remarking on Mahmoud’s absence on campus and in their community, Carly said, “Mahmoud was somebody who essentially went out of his way to protect those around him to such an extent that he ended up being harmed himself.” Yet, quick to remember the lighter side of things, she reminisced that “some of us friends were a few years younger than him, so we used to jokingly call him Dad. He is like this fatherly mentor-type figure, and we really did feel safe around him. We looked up to him, really valued his advice, and he truly was always there for us.”
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