Jewish protesters fill NY’s Trump Tower demanding Mahmoud Khalil’s release, 98 arrested

Hundreds of Jewish demonstrators overran New York’s Trump Tower on Thursday in support of Palestinians as well as detained Palestinian student campaigner Mahmoud Khalil.

Wearing matching red T-shirts emblazoned with “Jews say stop arming Israel,” the group protested for over an hour inside the Manhattan skyscraper, where President Donald Trump’s family business is headquartered and he has a personal residence.

The building was also where Trump memorably rode down a golden escalator in 2015 to announce his first run for president.

Police said they arrested 98 people, marching under the banner of the group called Jewish Voice for Peace, for crimes including trespassing.

The group, which apparently caught security and police off guard, chanted “fight Nazis, not students,” a reference to Trump’s crackdown on foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian protests.

Police loaded detained protesters on buses, including a repurposed city bus, in front of the Gucci store at the foot of the tower as a helicopter and drone flew overhead.

Across town at Columbia University, where Khalil had been a student, administrators announced they had issued “multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations, and expulsions” of students who had occupied a campus building last year during demonstrations against Israel’s war in Gaza.

The short statement did not provide further details, such as who had been sanctioned, but comes less than a week after the Trump administration cut $400 million in federal funding for the university, accusing it of not sufficiently addressing anti-Semitism.

It also comes days after Khalil, a recent graduate and one of the protest leaders, was detained by immigration authorities.

The Trump administration has moved to revoke Khalil’s green card, accusing him of leading “activities aligned with Hamas,” the militant group whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered the war.

His arrest has triggered outrage from critics of the Trump administration as well as free speech advocates, including some on the political right, who say such a move has a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

‘What fascists do’ 

At Trump Tower, filmmaker and Columbia Professor James Schamus told AFP “New York Jews are coming out to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil and demand that our Jewishness not be weaponized to steal the rights of American citizens and to end our democracy.”

“The Trump-Musk regime has made it clear that they are not charging Mahmoud Khalil with any crime, that they are accusing him of having opinions that they say ‘align with Hamas’,” he added ahead of the protest action.

Confused tourists visiting the skyscraper took pictures and milled around as police attempted to clear protesters, with an officer delivering a large box of MaxCuff plastic cable ties.

“It was suspicious when all these people came in and none went to the restaurant,” said a Trump Tower employee who declined to be named.

Police Chief John Chell said the protest passed off without injuries or damage and that the atrium had been cleared of protesters within two hours.

“As Jews of conscience, we know our history and we know where this leads. This is what fascists do as they cement control” said Jewish Voice for Peace member Jane Hirschmann, a Jewish New Yorker whose grandfather and uncle were abducted by the Nazis.