Overview
- A 100‑page investigation by two journalists published this week says Mohsen Mahdawi made a long string of antisemitic posts, praised groups such as Hamas, honored dead fighters, and at times endorsed armed resistance.
- The report cites contemporaneous Vermont police records from 2015 that led to an FBI interview after a gun‑shop owner alleged Mahdawi boasted of using modified weapons to kill Jews; no criminal charges resulted from that probe.
- Mahdawi was detained by ICE in April 2025 during a citizenship interview and an immigration judge ordered his removal on June 3, 2026; he remains free while appealing and faces possible re‑detention under a recent appeals‑court ruling.
- Columbia’s Knight First Amendment Institute has scheduled Mahdawi to appear at a symposium next week, a decision that has drawn renewed political criticism and calls for defenders to reassess their support.
- The case ties into wider debates over campus speech, how journalists portrayed Mahdawi in earlier profiles, and the Department of Homeland Security’s use of public statements and past records in deportation efforts, which could shape both his legal fate and university policies.