The fundraiser, launched after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Khalil, has so far surpassed $360,000, exceeding its initial $250,000 goal.
Organizers have since raised the target to $500,000, stating that the funds will support Khalil’s legal defense, provide financial aid to his family, and contribute to “long-term justice efforts” to hold authorities “accountable” for his detention.
“Before his detention, he was targeted by a coordinated smear campaign, with individuals falsely framing his activism as criminal behavior,” the campaign states.
Hirsi, a Barnard College senior and far-left activist, shared the fundraiser on her Instagram, urging her followers to contribute. She later criticized Columbia faculty for staying silent on Khalil’s arrest, calling their response “shameful behavior.”
Khalil has been accused of being a “Hamas sympathizer who espouses violent, anti-American views,” with the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) student organization — which he served as a senior activist in — calling for the “total eradication of Western civilization.”
Several videos have since been released showing violent disruptive campus activities purportedly led by Khalil.
In one clip, Khalil can be seen dressed in a hoodie featuring Hamas spokesperson Abu Obaida, urging protesters to “destroy” and “explode the heads of Zionists.”
On Monday, a judge temporarily halted Khalil’s deportation in defiance of the Trump administration, which says his activism broke the law.
Hirsi was previously suspended from Barnard, a liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University, for her involvement with the unauthorized “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” that was later dismantled by officers with the NYPD. In response, her mother, Somalia-born Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN), stated she was “enormously proud” of her daughter.
The matter comes as Omar, notorious for her antisemitic sentiments, continues to push for Mahmoud Khalil’s immediate release.
“We will not let this administration trample our constitutional rights and silence voices they don’t like,” she wrote.
In August, Omar touted the power of her district’s massive radical pro-Palestinian “uncommitted” movement, which urged voters to reject Democrats who do not back anti-Israel policies, as she called for a “policy shift” on Israel and Gaza amid her fears of another Trump presidency.
She warned then-Vice President Kamala Harris that refusal to capitulate to the movement could cost Democrats the election.
Omar, a member of the progressive “Squad” in Congress, has a history of controversy.
She has been accused repeatedly of being antisemitic and anti-American, including in past statements accusing Israel of being an “apartheid regime” that has “hypnotized the world” and claiming pro-Israel stances of politicians are “all about the Benjamins.”
She has also referred to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, as a day in which “some people did something.”
In 2023, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) insisted Omar is “unfit” to represent the U.S. on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) also blasted the congresswoman after she equated the United States and Israel to Hamas terrorists and the Taliban.
“Omar is an antisemite who hates America and hates American troops,” he said. “She has no place serving in Congress.”
In 2019, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) defended Omar, telling reporters that while Omar had made several anti-Jewish remarks, she had not been “intentionally antisemitic.”
In 2023, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) accused Omar of hating America “as much as Israel.”
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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