New York-based Israelis file legal brief supporting Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi

A group of 26 Israeli citizens based in New York filed an amicus brief in support of Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi on Monday, saying that deporting him sends a message that promoting peace between Israel and Palestine is “contrary to the foreign policy of the US”.

Columbia University graduate Mahdawi, 34, a legal permanent resident of the US who was born in the occupied West Bank, was targeted by the Trump administration for his pro-Palestinian activism at the Ivy League campus and is currently fighting deportation proceedings.

Mahdawi’s case is expected to be heard by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in the coming weeks.

The group advocating for him is primarily composed of students and some faculty members at Columbia and other US colleges. They include Columbia faculty such as Naor Ben-Yehoyada, Yinon Cohen, and Gil Eyal. The group refer to themselves as "Amici" in the amicus brief.

An amicus brief is typically filed by individuals who are not parties to the lawsuit themselves, but aim to provide broader context or insight to the court.

In the amicus brief, the Amici outline that they participated in efforts that were spearheaded by Mahdawi “to foster dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians and to promote peace in Israel/Palestine”, and these efforts had given them hope that Israelis and Palestinians could work together “to transform our societies and create a peaceful shared future together ”.

They added that Mahdawi’s arrest and detention disrupted such dialogue and peacemaking initiatives.

They also said that Mahdawi’s arrest and detention sends “the message that promotion of peace in Israel/Palestine is contrary to the foreign policy of the United States and grounds for revocation of lawful immigration status and deportation”.

The group praised Mahdawi for being the "driving force" behind the attempt to foster dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians at Columbia. They also praised him for working tirelessly “to build bridges between Israelis and Palestinians in the US in the hope of planting the seeds for a more peaceful future for both of our peoples in our shared homeland”.

Ambushed

At Mahdawi’s naturalisation interview in Vermont in April, he was ambushed and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a court filing in April that Mahdawi's presence in the country "undermines US policy to combat antisemitism". 

Two weeks after Mahdawi was arrested by ICE, a federal judge in Vermont ordered his release, indicating that there had been a miscarriage of justice.

“The two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime,” said US district judge Geoffrey Crawford, ABC News reported at the time.

Following this, the Trump administration filed an appeal against the decision, arguing that the federal district court in Vermont lacked jurisdiction over the matter and did not have the authority to release him.

Mahdawi's Columbia peers, Mahmoud Khalil and Yunseo Chung, were also targeted for pro-Palestinian speech. Legal permanent resident Khalil was held in detention for months in Louisiana and missed the birth of his son.