The Majority Report with Sam Seder - 2743 - Detained By ICE For Pro-Palestinian Organizing w/ Mahmoud Khalil
Episode Date: October 1, 2026It's a Mattjority Report Thursday on The Majority Report On today's program: TMZ DC reporter tries to get Senator Eric Schmitt to explain how his attempt to expose Jack Smith failed so spectacularly b...ut Schmitt won't accept reality. Mahmoud Khalil, Palestinian activist who was detained by ICE over protesting the genocide in Gaza on Columbia University campus, joins to discuss his new book, "No Land to Stand On: Notes From Detention". In the Fun Half: Matt Binder and Brandon Sutton join. Abdul El-Sayed releases a campaign ad using an "I Think You Should Leave" sketch to perfectly expose the predicament his opponent, Mike Rogers, faces as he promises to fix problems that his policy created. AOC explains why so many people sit out elections. Gov. Andy Bashear (D-KY) is asked about GOP campaign ads that attack trans and the governor has a pretty solid answer. Candidate for Insurance Commissioner of California, Jane Kim, has a wonderful explanation of how insurance went from being a form of mutual aid to the most speculative, proftiable industry. all that and more. To participate in the comment section on proposed rule changing Please consider helping the Aldaghma family, they are the family behind Gaza Bakery, which provides bread and meals to displaced families, and Future Flowers Kindergarten, which gives children a place to learn, play, and experience moments of normalcy whenever conditions allow. On Sunday, October 4, Emma will be in Los Angeles doing a Bitchuation Room Live with Francesca Fiorentini at the Lodge Room. Get tickets here. To connect and organize with your local ICE rapid response team visit ICERRT.com The Congress switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. You can use this number to connect with either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. Follow us on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the AM Quickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase Check out today's sponsors: RITUAL: Get 25% off during your first month. Visit ritual.com/MAJORITY. LEESA: Head to Leesa.com and use promo code MAJORITY for Fall Savings Sale for 20% off select mattresses PLUS an extra $50 off. SUNSET LAKE CBD: Head to SunsetLakeCBD.com and use coupon code 'Left Is Best' to save 20% your entire order. Follow the crew on X @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech On Instagram: @MrBryanVokey Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on YouTube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's YouTube channel: https://ww.youtube.com/Th3Discourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here: https:/www.youtube.com/@avaraiza
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The Majority Report with Sam Cedar.
It is Thursday, October 1st, 2020, 2006.
My name is Matthew Leck, in for Emma Vigland, who would be usually in for.
Sam Cedar. We are broadcasting live.
Steps from the industrially ravage
Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America,
downtown Brooklyn, USA.
On the program today, Emma
interviews Mahmoud Khalil
about his new book, No Lake, to stand on.
Also on the program,
Mahmood Khalil's book talk disrupted by
Zionists near Columbia University.
Formerly of Batar fame, which
look up what Albert Einstein had to say about Batar.
in the 30s.
The last, in other news,
the last of the U.S. troops in Iraq
complete an orderly departure.
So, mission accomplished,
I think, and I'm proud
to be an American.
Marco Rubio
has ordered the Iranian negotiators
to leave the U.S. after talks collapse.
Elon Musk,
Palmer Lucky,
and Newt Gingrich
to lead the Pentagon in Project
Meridian in the future of
warfare. So, definitely going to...
New Gingrich and Future do not belong in the same sentence.
Gingrich is a great addition for that.
2.8 million military personnel records stolen in months-long
Pentagon breach, including their names, addresses, and
Social Security numbers. I think those are kind of important.
Let's see how that plays out.
Ice Mortality Review shows medical failures in 27 of 30,
3 detainee deaths.
And then the ICE removes that report from public scrutiny.
A Wisconsin mosque leader has been ruled deportable on national security grounds for
criticism of Israel.
In electoral news, a PAC spends $131 million in 17 days to rescue Ken Paxton in the Texas
Senate race.
See if that's going to be enough.
Meanwhile, a crypto PAC piles millions into the Ohio Senate race against Sherrod Brown.
Back to DHS, they failed to provide records backing Trump's non-citizen voter claims because, guess what?
They were lies.
Republicans sink Democratic resolution spotlighting Israeli West Bank violence and Tennessee botches an execution of Krista Pike and the governor halts.
All executions there, that should be a permanent halt as far as I'm concerned.
All that and more on today's majority report.
Just a Brian and Matt day today.
Hey, Brian.
What's going on?
We decided that Sam and Emma needed a cooling off period
because of the way they've been treating our center, right, left,
never-trump coalition partners.
They're going to get a little sensitivity training.
There's too much beef going on right now.
Just a little bit too much agro.
And we just got to all learn to get along.
So Sam and Emma are taking some classes.
No, of course, Emma's out in Los Angeles.
I think she was on Tommy Vitor's show.
She'll be on Hassan's today.
And we'll be on Hassan's today.
And she'll be back next week.
Emma or Sam will be back, obviously, tomorrow.
I was glad that there was a little bit of meat left on the bone for this Jack Smith botched questioning.
In an amazing exchange.
You guys, I know, talked about it with thinking, you've been at the Atlanta Hawks game.
Really did about 45 minutes yesterday because it's the greatest thing I've ever seen happen on a Senate floor.
And what's even, what's as good as that moment itself is the days of follow-up questioning.
And here we have a TMZ journalist who I want to say I really respect the sort of doggedness in this exchange here.
Let's just play this questioning of, what's our boy's name?
Senator Eric Schmidt from Missouri.
That's why I can't remember.
Eric Schmidt is like, I know Eric Schmidt.
That's not the one I usually think of.
But yeah, Eric Schmidt from Missouri, who, I mean, this is what happens when you staff up from
like QAnon morons.
Like they make one little like inference and you build an entire thing in it falls apart.
So here is him being asked, Eric Schmidt.
asked about his, I mean, embarrassing flub in Congress.
What's up?
I got to ask, man.
What happened in there?
About what?
With the...
Well, I don't think about that.
We asked him if he was at a basketball game that night,
the only NBA game.
Yeah, no big deal.
He was going on that night was in Atlanta.
So I asked him if he was there.
He'd already lied twice.
He lied about not seeing the contents.
He lied about, you know, not filing,
not getting advice not to file the superseding indictment.
within 60 days the election. So Jack Smith is not credible.
He gave his answer and I guess that's his answer. It just looked like you had a gotcha for him.
Like you're going to purge yourself. Are you lying now? Well, he had the wrong game.
He was at a basketball game. But the other game. But the other one, I asked him if he was in Atlanta. He said, no, he said he was another game. That's his answer.
How did that mistake happen? There's not a mistake. I asked him if he was in Atlanta. The only NBA game going on that actually the only NCAA men's game with a 730 tip off was in Atlanta.
So I asked him if he was in Atlanta that night
But it seemed like you're trying to get him
Rather than just curious
I asked him if he's a hawks game in Atlanta
Yeah
Because we're trying to figure out how much coordination
Took place between him and the Atlanta prosecutor
So less than you thought
Those two sentences have nothing to do with each other
Whoever gave you that information isn't like
Their jobs in jeopardy
No, I asked him a question like
Were you in Atlanta?
He answered no
He's lied before
So I guess we'll take him in his word
That he wasn't in Atlanta
I don't know
So that wasn't like an embarrassing moment
Or something from where you're standing
No, I ask questions
I ask questions and we'll see if he answers
Yeah, there's a stupid question.
So people can decide if that's the truth or not.
I mean, I suppose that the Department of Justice can ask him really where he was that night.
I don't know.
The Hawkeye.
The Hawkeye game.
What's that?
That's what he says.
Oh, no, no.
We can see in the audience that he's in that.
That's right.
For that night, great.
Well, then he was at the Hawket game.
I just asked him if he was in Atlanta.
Right.
Okay.
Because there's text message of him at a game.
And the only NBA game that night was in Atlanta.
Yeah.
Okay.
Gotcha, man.
I can't catch you, man.
That is, that's very beautiful, beautifully done with the actual facts of like, well, I guess
we're going to take him at his word that he was at that game.
It's like, no, there's a photograph of him.
Visual evidence of him.
He wasn't in Atlanta.
The confusion on Jack Smith, they're like, when you were under perjury, were you in Atlanta?
It's like, maybe I caught a connecting flight there.
I don't really know what you're talking about.
I look I I I I when I was home I talked to some people in North Dakota about how they were feeling about the Trump administration and I did hear somebody say you know if the Democrats get power again they can't just be all about impeaching Trump and I think that's an important mood to sort of monitor in you know voters because people do have a lot bigger problems more urgent problems or pressing acute problems in their lives with the cost of living etc etc.
The Jack Smith indictments, I think, were incredibly important about trying to defraud the United States and stop official proceedings.
I think people should have absolutely gone to deal with that.
I think Cory Bush's, I think the legislation she proposed immediately afterward to say that the people that participate, the Republicans that participated, it should be unseated from Congress, was actually the right move and they should have been.
That whole period was a complete missed opportunity and it led Trump rehabilitate himself.
And I would say even if there is lack of patience with sort of things, I think even if you lose certain votes, like somebody should pay, many people should pay a price for trying to steal elections, which is becoming a pretty regular occurrence in this country.
I was the first election I followed closely was the 2000 election.
I was probably a seventh grader, six grader, somewhere around there.
And it always occurred to me like, oh, the Supreme Court can just say stop counting votes.
This is a problem.
And it's the media, I think, is a little bit of sleep at the wheel at how acutely Republicans are anti-democratic.
And so I do support, if Trump would have lost the election, he, you know, I don't, I,
I mean, I guess I don't know if you would have been in prison, but those indictments should have gone forward.
And the only reason they didn't is because first, the Supreme Court said, actually presidents can't be held liable for official acts.
And then, so Jack Smith confined him to his conduct as a personal individual.
And then he won the presidency and you can't prosecute a sitting president.
And I think that's basically the premise of Tim Heideker's movie he made about running for office.
about that guy.
So, like, there's a rat problem.
And, like, it's a sham.
And guess what?
It's led to one of the most calamitous presidencies since the other time that the Republican
stormed election to get a guy in and George Bush.
So solidarity for Jack Smith and at least appreciate you making this funny, a little flub or stepping on a rake by our boy, Eric Schmidt.
There will be talking more about that, about how Charlie Kirk show, you know, the guy who died about a year ago, that show is still going on as the Charlie Kirk show.
And it's interesting to see how they field this.
I will get to the Mahmoud Khalil interview in just a second, but I got some ads for you all.
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All right, folks, with that said, we will take a quick break, and Emma will be talking with Mahmoud Kalil.
We are back, and I am so happy to be joined now by Mahmoud Khalil, recent graduate of Colombia,
who was targeted by the Trump administration and author of the new book, No Land to Stand on, Protest Palestine and Being Unfree in America.
Mahmoud is such an honor to have you on the show.
Thank you so much, Emma. Thank you for having me.
Thank you so much for coming on and speaking about your excellent new book and your experience being targeted for you.
your free speech in the United States. Let's talk about your arrest and start there. In March
2025, officers in plain clothes from DHS kidnapped you from your home and took you to an immigrant
detention center. Your wife was quite pregnant at the time, and you were detained for over
100 days and missed the birth of your son because of your activism about palisian.
Palestine. Take us to that day, what happened, what your experience was, and any context you think might be relevant to our listeners.
Absolutely. I mean, of course, it was one of the worst days in my life, you know, very, very unexpected.
You know, the week preceding my detention, you know, there was like all these smears online calls for my deportation.
there's like, you know, the known actors, like, online, like, calling, basically tagging
Rubio and the DHS calling for my deportation.
I mean, I was worried, but I did not read much into it.
I was like, you know what, like, I did not do anything wrong.
Like, I did not commit any crime.
And I'm a permanent resident, like, with no criminal history.
But I was wrong, like, when DHS came to my...
to my apartment. I was coming back from dinner. It was Ramadan, so where we fast,
or we're breaking our fast, coming back home, just like, you know, like any other young couple
expecting a baby. So it was to me a total surprise that the administration found a way
to come after someone who never committed a crime. And it's not only that, it's that the
administration actually admits that I never committed a crime. That might be a
actions and associations, everything was otherwise legal or otherwise lawful. That's what they
mentioned. So it was shocking to me. But the first 30 to 40 hours of my arrest were, to be
honest, the most difficult because I was taken from one place to another. In the span of like 12
hours, I was already on a plane to Texas. And then a few hours later, I was,
I was in Louisiana.
And in my head, I was like where they are taking me because they don't answer any,
any questions.
So that was like a very harrowing experience, especially these two days.
And the last thing I heard was that these ICE agents were threatening Noor, my wife,
of arrest if she doesn't leave me.
So everything I could think about is that, you know,
Noor back than eight-month pregnant, maybe now she's arrested, what's happening,
here. Like, I did not care about what's happening to me as much as, like, you know, about nude.
And that was, that was, like, really scary.
Absolutely. And, and your wife, a U.S. citizen, and that is probably why they were attempting to put,
to pressure nor to leave you, because that is another legal hurdle that they would have had to
overcome the fact that you were married to an American citizen for them to deport you. They didn't
have a crime that they could justify arresting you with for deportation. And you also have the
added context, the legal context of you being married to an American citizen. When you gave
them this information, what was the reaction from the agents? Yeah, I mean, the first thing the agent
told me was your student visa has been revoked. And I was like, you know, I don't have a student
visa. So I'm a permanent resident. And they were very surprised. And I recall, like, one of them
calling their boss and saying, like, he has a green card. So I brought my green card. I gave it to
him. He looked at it. He called someone else. He has a green card. And then it's like, oh, bring him
anyways. So until that I felt like it might be some error, administrative error, but that's what
this administration is about, it's very incompetent and like the most basic facts about, you know,
arresting me. They got it wrong, which is in itself like is scary because it seems they don't
care about the law. Like let's arrest him now and figure out something later. Yes, it seems to be the
case, you write about what you saw in your detention and you're very careful to acknowledge that
your experience as a high profile, high profile detainee is different than that of, say,
the other prisoners that you were spending time with. Talk about their experience,
not to take away from the horror of yours, but this is something that you,
you take great pains to outline in your book.
No, absolutely.
I mean, as I mentioned, like, a few days into my detention,
I realized that really my story is just like a drop in the sea of the sorrow that's
happening around me.
Because what was happening behind, like, ICE detention gates, I mean, it was and still
horrendous.
It's a stain on the U.S. Constitution.
It's a stain on the U.S. Constitution.
US consciousness that you have families are being gripped apart.
So like, and that was one of the things like just looking around me, like a few days into
detention I see like, I remember like it was like 18 or 19 years old, like was arrested.
He spoke English like fluently.
And later at night, we were just chatting and he's telling me like he's trying to find
a lawyer.
But then later at night, ice agents.
came and they deported him.
Another day where, you know, there was an amputee, like literally in our dorm,
can't walk.
Later, he got deported.
After that, like, individuals being, came from their court hearings
because that was the very beginning of the, like, now we hear about it a lot,
but back in March last year, it was, like, very new that people were actually picked up.
from their court hearings.
They were picked up from their ice chickens.
And everyone was so,
I just like to say feeling so defeated
that they were being called names
about being criminals,
being whatever like this administration
is trying to dehumanize them.
And in reality, they were just like looking to, you know,
to make a life here.
They were trying to do everything right.
Like if someone is going to court,
is going to ice chickens.
They're trying to do that I think.
Yeah, this administration stopped them from doing that.
That's just like some of the stories,
but the conditions itself also were like as horrible
in terms of no privacy, the lights are always on.
It was so cold because that's part of the punishment.
Because if it was a little bit convenient,
people could stay and fight their cases.
But this administration does not want, you know,
these individuals to feel comfortable to fight their cases.
Because if you fight your case, it would take a couple of months, maybe more.
You may be able to get out.
But if the conditions were so bad, a lot of people would choose to leave immediately.
And that would actually happen in a lot of cases around me.
And your, the facility you were held in is a privately-refertil.
run facility. What was your understanding of the specific treatment that you and other detainees
received that was, I guess, unique to the private nature of the complex?
It's, I mean, with, they are for-to-profit private entities. So they really, I mean, get paid
when beds are full. They don't get paid if bedside not full. Of course, there are quotas and all
that stuff. To me, that was a very foreign concept that this is a private run, like, facility.
I would say the individuals there, like the guards, were mostly polite. They were from, I would say,
very underprivileged areas in rural Louisiana, who treated that just as a job. It's a 12-hour shift.
I'm not sure how much they get paid. They just want to be done with that. On the other side,
have the ICE agents who are employed by the government, who are the total opposite,
who were very arrogant about answering questions, about even, you know, giving people like
they're, like, I saw people who did not know why they were detained.
They did not have any documents that says why they were detained.
So that was sort of the experience, like, between, you know, the private contractors who would do
anything to basically, you know, it's all about profit. So if profit means treating us nicely,
they would do that. If profit meant treating us harshly, they would do that. And then you have
these ice agents. I want to then turn to your release and then perhaps we could talk a little
bit about your background as well. What has the experience been like since you have been released?
The Trump administration's threats have not stopped. Yeah. I mean, now about 18 months after my
detention, the Trump administration has never brought any evidence that I committed any crime.
What they're trying actually in court to say is that, you know, federal courts have no right to look into
the matter and we can deport anyone, which is crazy. It's just like, you know, it's usually
innocent until proven guilty. For them, it's the opposite with immigrants. Like, we can do whatever
we want, and federal courts have, have no right to look into that matter. And because I chose, or
I remained active, post my detention and post my release, sorry, you know, the Trump administration
is putting the full weight of Department of Justice against me.
They're still trying to deport me until now.
They appealed every good decision we got from the courts to the appellate courts
and trying to get it to the Supreme Court.
Now we're going to the Supreme Court.
But on the personal level as well, just like me and a new family
just trying to go around our lives, you know,
because that was not the life that we ever envisioned for.
for ourselves as, you know, we want to live in New York, have a career, future for our son and all the
ordinary things. But now it's the opposite, you know, where I'm under constant threat by the
administration to be arrested and deported. But also, you know, like all these hate, Zionists,
groups, how they would also instigate, I would say, against me, whether directly or indirectly.
And that, of course, you know, like it takes only one person to do the wrong thing.
So it's just like a life of constant, I would say, uncertainty.
But to me, it's again, like I'm one of the privileged Palestinians who's able.
to feed his son who's not worried that my family would be bombed, that I would be stopped,
like at a random checkpoint, or that, you know, like Israeli army would come and break into my
apartment. So I take that with, you know, with that privilege, that what I'm going through
was, again, nothing compared to what the Palestinian people are going through.
And that's, I think, an easy way to talk a little bit about your background.
You got to tell your own story in this book, your childhood and your own experience with Israeli violence.
Talk a little bit about your experience and when you were actually shot in the leg when you were protesting on Nakba Day in 2011.
Yeah, so, I mean, I was born and raised.
in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria,
just like over 5 million Palestinians
whose families were expelled from their hometowns.
My grandparents come from Tiberius,
just like on the borders with Syria.
That's why it was easier for them to go to Syria
rather than other place.
And in these camps, you know, that's where no land to stand on comes from.
just like the impermanence of living in a camp,
of, you know, being denied, I would say, by Israel,
the right of return to go to our homes,
to just, you know, like, claim our citizenship.
But also in Syria, when we lived, you know,
you could see the impact of Israel expulsion and Nekba around us
with my grandparents having to live the entirety or the rest of their lives in tents and in mud houses
because they came to Syria with nothing, literally nothing.
And just like people around us had the same experience.
And just like my parents who were trying to build their lives,
build a better future for their kids.
And just like, you know, staying connected.
connected to Palestine, to a place where that was stolen from us.
And I mean, 2011, that was during the Arab Spring
and with Egyptians, Tunisians, and even Syrians were erupting against the situation
around them.
Palestinians also felt that they had to do something.
So we started the March of Return, a peaceful march back to
to the borders of Palestine.
And when we tried that, I, you know,
I recount the story of Israel shooting,
like shooting me in the leg when I was trying to cross the border peacefully.
So that was like just like glimpse into the light.
And there was only 16 back then and they left in Syria.
So that's not to talk about, you know,
the life of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gazelle.
Yes.
And it's important for me.
people to understand that as well
because then you can
fully understand
your activism, not
that you have to have this first-hand
experience, but I understand activism, not
your favorite word to describe yourself
or at the very least, your advocacy for
Palestinian causes
and your writing in this regard.
And, you know,
your time
at Columbia University, could you
reflect on that a bit?
because I wonder, you know, what solidarity did you experience from the student body at Columbia?
And how do you view your time there, given everything that has transpired?
No, absolutely. I mean, every time I think about my time at Columbia, you know,
the first time I came to Columbia actually was in 2018 to do like an executive course at the business school.
I feel in love with the university, the campus.
campus. I've heard about Columbia a lot because of Edward Saeed and following his journey
at Columbia. And that was the main reason why I wanted to come to Colombia to pursue
a master's degree in international affairs. And, you know, like, Colombia is known for its rich
history of, I would say, organizing and protesting. Like, since the 60s, they were part of the
civil rights movement also against Colombia's expansion in Harlem and the harm they do to the
black community there, but also Colombia was the first Ivy League to divest from apartheid South Africa
thanks to its students. So there's that very long tradition of organizing at Colombia. And when I
joined there, of course, I wasn't disappointed where students felt like very strongly
about the rights of the Palestinian people,
especially at the time where they were, you know,
seeing all the herr, the genocide happening in Gaza,
and at the same time being, I would say,
gaslighted by their own administration
because on October 7, Colombia had a choice
of being an institution that respect
freedom of expression, academic freedom,
a place of inquiry, but they chose the total opposite, a place where they repressed speech.
They went after students who spoke out for Palestine.
As of now, I believe, like, over 100 students were either suspended or expelled at Colombia,
just for speaking out for Palestine.
So I would say, like, my experience in Colombia, like just Colombia really failed to protect me.
and the dozens of other students.
They ignored our repeated request for help
because at one point,
like, we just wanted, you know, them to be, to do nothing.
Like, just stay silent.
The opposite, like, Colombia pushed a very defyive,
like, just like emboldened, dangerous and racist rhetoric
against Palestinians,
which led to putting,
students like me in danger.
Yes.
And, you know, like, I'm proud to have been part of that movement at Columbia where the
students really built a community, which was dangerous to the university itself because
they saw all students actually standing together.
So they wanted to crack down on that as much as possible.
And what would you say are some lessons that you gained for?
from dealing with a hostile administration right now,
hostile academic administration trying to suppress your free speech,
just as student activism continues around the country.
I think one of the greatest lessons really to focus on organizing outside of the institution.
So very early on, Colombia suspended students for justice in Palestine,
and Jewish Voices for Peace.
But that gave the students an opportunity actually
to organize by themselves outside of the institution.
They did not want to rely on the institution for support.
So that helped really a lot.
The second thing is, you know, like these institutions
follow power and follow money.
So that's like how these private academic institutions
are designed, especially with the board of trustees component of it,
where these individuals, for the most part,
are the same ones who are on the boards of corporations
actually benefiting from wars,
from whether it is General Motors or Lockheed Martin
or any of that.
So just like to understand sort of where the power
lies in these institutions and to know how to target it.
I think that's that one thing.
The second thing, I think, what made Colombia movement so strong
because students really invested in community building,
really invested in political education,
and really invested in mutual aid networks.
So it wasn't only about protest, protest, protest,
people only saw protests because that's what the media focuses on.
But in reality, there was a,
huge effort to build community between different student groups, building mutual aid networks
to support each other, art builds, political education, whether it's about Palestine,
whether it's about the Harlem community, whether it's about black and Palestinian solidarity,
whether it's also about Jewish and Palestinian solidarity. So there was a lot of that work
there was a lot of that work happening before the encampment and outside of the protest,
which gave the, you know, when the encampment came, the students were all, like, together, united.
The infrastructure, the infrastructure to resist. So it's about maintaining a level of engagement and organizing and community that makes you resilient.
Lastly, I know that you have to jump, but how are you fighting back right now on this continued harassment by the Trump administration?
And how can our audience help, if at all?
Yeah, no, I believe that the, you know, the way of the repression that the Trump administration initiated with my arrest,
you know, was intended to intimidate people not to speaking out for Palestine,
was intended to make people like fear about their jobs,
about their futures, about their residences.
And that was one of the main reasons why right after I was released,
I decided to go to a protest.
It's just to give a message that despite all this repression that I faced on personal
level. I refuse to be silent. I would continue to speak out for the rights of my people and
for what I believe, what I believe in. And I continue to do that. I continue to seek accountability
whether, you know, I'm doing it like on different tracks, but like legally I sued the administration
three or four different separate times, like just like one of them is for the harm they did against
against me by unlawfully detaining me,
but the other is for conspiring with private actors
with Zionist hatred groups to deprive me and others
from our basic rights and our First Amendment.
Because, you know, the main goal to come after me
was to chill your speech and the audience's speech.
It wasn't like really because they want to.
to me to be out. So that was one way. The second way is, of course, like, through I find accountability
in people's really waiting up to what's happening, and by electing individuals like whether
Abdul Sadi, Zahyid, Daryaliza, Zohran, all of these. That's also another accountability I get,
if I can't get it from the court itself, because unfortunately, the legal system here in this
country is pretty much lagging on these issues. And that's why this administration,
is able to do these things or is trying to do a lot, a lot of what's, what is, what is,
what it is doing. And the third thing is really, you know, to focus on what really matters.
And because what's happening to me is a diversion from the fact that the U.S. government is,
is a partner in the genocide in Palestine, is using our tax dollars to fund 2000,
pounds, bombs is the universities, whether Colombia or others, they are using endowment and
tuition fees also to legitimize Israel. So not to lose sight of that fight, because everything
else is just, you know, a distraction. And, you know, Trump said it himself, like, during his
campaign that he said, if I'm elected, I would set this movement 20 years.
back. And what we're seeing now is the total opposite. Thanks to the bravery of so many,
so many people, mainly the students who refuse to remain silent when Palestinians were killed.
Absolutely. And I will mention that you mentioned Dari Elisa Villas Chabalier.
You're the new representative pending the November elections of the district you were in.
what an impact that can make, the previous representative, Espayat, refused to stand up for you,
refused to use his power to try to get your release early on, was brought along a little bit,
maybe towards the end. But this is why electing people who will fight for everyday people who
the Trump administration are going after, speech repression, etc. It's so important and so essential.
Mahmoud Khalil, I'm so thrilled to have been able to speak to you.
The book is called No Land to Stand On, Protest Palestine and Being Unfree in America.
Thank you so much for your time today.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you so much, Emma.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
And we are back.
Thank you, Emma, for doing that interview in Mahmoud, obviously, for that.
I have to correct myself, I said, no leg to stand on.
It was the title of that book, which was rather stupid slip of the tongue.
land to stand on.
So if you're a, no leg to stand on is, I'm not going to make a Pirates of the Caribbean joke.
Lake to the book of the show notes.
Yeah, exactly.
So we are going to head into the fun half.
I have a couple shows that I could promote right now, Left Reckoning.
We did a new episode this week.
I was gone yesterday because over at Jacob and Meg.
And actually it was a joyous.
venture between
Jacobin magazine
Left Reckoning
the DSA and
Richard Wolfe,
the Bucks as economist
recording something for him
that you'll see on all those
different channels on YouTube
before the elections at some point
and we'll have a new
Jacobin Meg episode for people
tomorrow at 3 o'clock Eastern time
right after majority report
that will be a live one
so Patreon.com says left reckoning
want to support my shows
anything you want to promote, Brian?
Folks, become a member, so you get the fun half.
Yeah, we have a membership.
And I am the show.
Join the Majority Report.com.
Also, shop.m.majority.fm.
Where you can get, you know, stickers.
Stick on gas stations.
I guess Oscar.
Do whatever you want with them.
We don't have to suggest where they put them.
That you own.
Gas stations that you own.
If you own a gas station.
You're allowed to do that.
Or just wherever you want on your bookbinder because school's back in session.
Good save, right.
We'll have Binder and Brandon in shortly.
Hopefully they see our messages about how we're on Zoom now and not the other proprietary software
had been using something out there in that winter room, but the discourse and also Binder's programs.
doomed and scam economy and his nightly show with the crew there.
So check that out.
And yeah, we'll see you in the fun half.
Okay, Emma, please.
Well, I just, I feel that my voice is sorely lacking on the majority report.
Wait, look, look, Sam is unpopular.
I do deserve a vacation at Disney World.
So, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome Emma to the show.
It is Thursday.
I think you need to take over for Sam.
Yes, police.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna pause you right there.
Wait, what?
You can't encourage you how much to live like this.
And I'll tell you why.
So it's offered a twirp, sushi, and poker with the boys.
Twerk, sushi, and, uh, that's what we call the bids.
Twerk, sushi.
I just think that what you did to Tim Poole was mean.
Free speech.
That's not what we're about here.
Look at how sad he's become now.
You shouldn't even talk about it.
I think your response.
I probably am in a certain way, but.
Let's get to the meltdown here.
Twir?
Ugh.
Sushi.
I'm sorry.
I'm losing my fucking mind.
Someone's offered a twir?
Yeah.
Sushi and poet boy, boy, twir?
I think I'm like a little kid.
I think I'm like a little kid.
I'm not trying to be a dip right now, but like, I absolutely think the U.S. should be providing me with a life and kids.
That's not what we're talking about here.
It's not a fun job.
Twirp.
That's a real thing.
That's a real thing.
That's a real fit.
Sam has like the weight of the world on the shoulders.
It was so much easier.
When the majority report was just you.
You were happy.
Let's change the sex.
You're going to great.
Now, shut up.
Don't want people saying reckless things on your program.
That's one of the most difficult parts of this show.
This is a pro-killing podcast.
I'm thinking maybe it's time we bury the hatchet.
Left his best.
Trump.
Violet twirt.
A funny fun is real dude.
Audible.
Emma Viglin, absolutely one of my favorite people.
actually not just in the game like period
