New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani sparked a storm of fury and outrage Monday when he hosted anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil at Gracie Mansion for an iftar feast breaking the daily fast of Ramadan.

Mahmoud Khalil, leader of violent campus protests at Columbia University, was arrested for his involvement in the protests in March 2025.

Khalil, a Syrian with Palestinian ancestry, came to the U.S. on a student visa and received a green card when he married an American. As a student at Columbia University, he led protests on campus in 2024 and also led a group called Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which had been banned for promoting violence.

In his green card application, Khalil failed to disclose his former employment at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which has been shown to employ Hamas terrorists, and his ties to the banned student group.

Khalil was released from detention but is subject to rearrest.

After his high-profile arrest, the American left rallied around Khalil as a cause for promoting free speech rights. Newly elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani came to his defense after the recent ruling that ordered his release.

“Mahmoud Khalil is a New Yorker,” Mamdani said Thursday at a press conference. “He should remain in New York City. We have seen this attack on him as part of a larger attack on the freedom of speech that is especially pronounced when it comes to the use of that speech to stand up for Palestinian human rights.”

After his release, Khalil continued his activities, appearing at pro-Palestinian protests and making controversial statements, such as defending the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as justified and calling for the dismantling of the State of Israel.

Mamdani said in a statement on X that he and his wife invited Khalil to an iftar feast on Monday.

“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,” he wrote. The mayor praised the anti-Israel activist for his “courage” and criticized his arrest.

“For Mahmoud Khalil, this past year has been marked by profound hardship — and by profound courage,” he posted. “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.”

Mahmoud is a New Yorker, and he belongs in New York City,” the mayor concluded.

Posters on X blasted Mamdani for his decision to host Khalil.

“Syrian national Mahmoud Khalil refers to Hamas as ‘we,'” posted Internet personality and Jewish advocate Eyal Yakoby. “Tonight, he dined with Zohran Mamdani in the mayor’s mansion. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Islamists launched an IED at New Yorkers over the weekend — they feel empowered.”

“Mahmoud Khalil’s org: ‘We are fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization.’ Mamdani just hosted him as an honored guest in his mansion,” wrote Libs of TikTok, a popular right-wing account.

Stop Antisemitism also issued a statement on X, writing, “NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani breaking bread with one of the city’s most vile antisemites, Mahmoud Khalil. By the way, he should already have been deported back to Syria. What is he still doing here, dining lavishly at Gracie Mansion at taxpayers’ expense?”