On March 8, 2025, US authorities arrested Palestinian Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born student activist and key mediator in Columbia University’s pro-Hamas protests, after ICE agents raided his home. The arrest followed State Department orders canceling his student visa. Khalil played a crucial role in negotiations between protesters and the university administration. His case extends beyond student activism, highlighting how extremist groups exploit US immigration laws to infiltrate American society, build support networks, seek citizenship, and complicate counterterrorism efforts.
Mahmoud Khalil was a prominent figure in Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which advocated boycotting companies supporting Israel and ending related investments.
As Gaza war tensions escalated, protests involving Khalil drew sharp criticism from Israel’s supporters, who accused him of promoting Hamas propaganda. Despite his lawyer’s denials and lack of evidence showing “material support” for terrorism, Khalil’s case reveals a more serious issue: how US immigration laws enable terrorist elements to infiltrate and establish support cells that later obtain American citizenship, hindering prosecution efforts.
Khalil is not an isolated case.
How universities are used to spread extremist ideology
American universities, prestigious destinations for international students, have become strategic targets for extremist groups. Through student visa programs, foreign students, including Palestinians, join these universities not only for education but also to spread extremism.
In 2019, a US National Security Agency investigation uncovered foreign students at the University of California using academic positions to spread al-Qaeda-linked ideas. Similar cases include a Pakistani student at New York University who converted dormitories into ISIS recruitment centers. These examples show how universities can become conduits for extremist ideology.
Concerningly, universities often cannot detect or address these cases due to commitments to free expression. The competitive nature of global universities reduces selectivity in student admissions, enabling exploitation by external entities and countries.
Extremist groups use student gatherings and cultural clubs as fronts for their ideas. Groups such as Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine (SPJP) or CUAD operate under humanitarian pretexts but often spread antisemitic and pro-terrorism rhetoric.
In 2023, a UC Berkeley student group sparked controversy with a seminar titled “Resisting Occupation,” glorifying Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians. In 2024, they announced a course describing Hamas as a “revolutionary resistance force fighting settler colonialism” for spring 2025, though they later removed this description.
The university faced two lawsuits alleging campus antisemitism, including one filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law in November 2023, claiming that officials ignored antisemitism.
Such seminars clearly go beyond academic discussion, forming part of a broader strategy to spread extremist ideologies on campus.
While this might seem natural in a democracy valuing free speech, deeper examination reveals blatant foreign interference. Countries like Iran have supported this movement in the United States. Iran, among Hamas’s largest benefactors, channels funds through American charities to support the movement.
In 2012, a US Treasury Department investigation exposed a funding network supporting Hamas through American charities. This network helped expand Hamas's influence within universities by exploiting Palestinian and foreign students to spread their ideology.
If charities represent traditional tools for terrorism financing, universities have become strategic platforms for extremist groups to spread ideas and recruit supporters. This exploitation transcends financial support, aiming to influence young minds and create activists who may unknowingly carry extremist ideas.
Some rogue states and extremist groups also exploit academic discourse to justify their activities. Through human rights seminars and discussions, they present radical ideologies as just causes. This manipulation blurs the line between legitimate criticism of international policies and incitement to violence.
The exploitation of universities as platforms for extremism is not new but has grown more complex with globalization and increased mobility. This raises questions about whether American universities will reconsider policies on foreign funding and evaluate foreign students’ political activities on campus. Will mechanisms be established to monitor activities that exceed free speech boundaries and serve extremist ideologies?
Universities are not merely educational institutions but reflections of society and must be protected from political or terrorist exploitation.
The writer is a UAE political analyst and former Federal National Council candidate.