Mahmoud Khalil: Palestinian graduate arrested in US worked for UK 'flagship soft power policy'
Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian Columbia University graduate detained by US immigration authorities over the weekend, worked for the British government on its "flagship soft power policy" for years, Middle East Eye can reveal.
Khalil, a permanent resident of the US, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Saturday night.
A federal judge temporarily blocked his deportation, and Khalil is currently awaiting proceedings in a federal jail in Louisiana.
On Monday, in a post on Donald Trump's Truth Social platform, the US president described Khalil as a "Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student" and announced that his arrest was "the first arrest of many to come".
"We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it," Trump said.
The White House triumphally posted Trump's statement and an image of Khalil on X on Monday, accompanied with the words "SHALOM, MAHMOUD" and the accusation that he "led activities aligned to Hamas".
'Mahmoud is an extremely kind and conscientious person and he was loved by his colleagues at the Syria Office'
- Andrew Waller, former British diplomat
Khalil graduated with a master’s degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December.
He was one of the main negotiators for students during the pro-Palestine campus encampment in the spring of 2024.
However, MEE has found that he previously worked as a programme manager at the Syria Office in the British embassy in Beirut from 2018 t0 2022.
Online records reviewed by MEE show that Khalil worked as a local manager for the Syria Chevening Program, a prestigious UK government international scholarship scheme, as well as for the Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund.
'Loved by his colleagues'
Former British diplomat Andrew Waller, who was a policy advisor at the Syria Office while Khalil worked there, told MEE that the US government's depiction of Khalil was false and defamatory.
"He went through a vetting process to get the job and was cleared to work on sensitive issues for the British government," Waller said
"It's outright defamation what Trump has done. Mahmoud is an extremely kind and conscientious person and he was loved by his colleagues at the Syria Office," he added.
"You couldn't find anyone who'd say a bad word about him, he was very good at his job."
The Chevening scholarship, which is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), describes its mission as being to "support UK foreign policy priorities and achieve FCDO objectives by creating lasting positive relationships with future leaders, influencers, and decision-makers".
Waller described it as a "flagship UK soft power policy".
Read More »"It brings the brightest students from around the world to UK universities. Mahmoud ran its Syria programme and interviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants on behalf of the British government."
Khalil was also a "local staff political officer", responsible for providing the "contextual understanding and linguistic skills to translate meetings," Waller recalled.
"It's really interesting. Less than two weeks ago JD Vance is lecturing Keir Starmer about free speech, and then the US goes and kidnaps Mahmoud Khalil for organising student protests."
Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), told MEE on Monday that Khalil's arrest was "in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism".
"Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation."
Hours later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US would "be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported".
Yet neither Rubio nor the DHS provided any details as to how Khalil's activism at Columbia University, where he had openly played the role of a student negotiator with administrators, amounted to supporting Hamas.
MEE has approached the UK Foreign Office for comment.
