Guess who’s coming to dinner…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted controversial anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, along with his wife and young son, for a Ramadan dinner at Gracie Mansion, sparking fresh controversy over the mayor’s support for the embattled figure.
“Last night, as we marked the one-year anniversary of his detention, Rama and I were honored to welcome Mahmoud, Noor, and their son Deen to Gracie Mansion to break our fast together,” Mamdani wrote Monday in an Instagram post.
The mayor included a photo from the gathering showing his wife, Rama Duwaji, holding a plate of food beside a smiling Khalil seated at the dinner table.
Khalil — a Syrian-born activist and former Columbia University graduate student — was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement early last year and is currently fighting deportation after the Trump administration accused him of fraud on his green card application.
Federal officials have also alleged that Khalil has expressed sympathy for Hamas, a claim the administration has used to justify deportation proceedings.
Khalil has previously drawn criticism for comments about Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel, which killed more than a thousand people.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t avoid such a moment,” Khalil said in an interview with The New York Times, describing the massacre as a “desperate” moment Palestinians “had to reach” in order to have their voices heard.
Despite the backlash, Mamdani praised Khalil in his social media post, saying the past year of the activist’s life had been marked by hardship and resilience.
“For Mahmoud, this year has been marked by profound hardship — and by profound courage,” the mayor wrote.
“And yet, even in the face of that cruelty, there has also been beauty. New Yorkers raising their voices in solidarity. A city refusing to look away.”
Khalil spent roughly three months in a federal immigration detention facility in Louisiana before a three-judge federal appeals panel in New Jersey ruled in June that he should have been allowed to pursue his immigration case outside detention.
During that time, Khalil’s wife gave birth to their first child. The couple’s son, Deen, will turn one on April 21.
“Mahmoud is a New Yorker, and he belongs in New York City,” Mamdani wrote.
For Mahmoud Khalil, this past year has been marked by profound hardship—and by profound courage.
A year ago, Mahmoud was walking home through our city after sharing an iftar with his wife Noor when he was detained by federal agents, flown to Louisiana, and then held in an ICE… pic.twitter.com/6dBtLh0GeT
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) March 10, 2026
The mayor has repeatedly defended Khalil publicly, arguing that the government’s actions against him represent a broader threat to free speech.
“I see this attack on him as part of a larger attack on the freedom of speech that is especially pronounced when it comes to the use of that speech to stand up for policy to human rights,” Mamdani said at a press conference in January.
New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov shared the following reaction on X:
“Just a casual dinner at Gracie with the lovely, private citizen, shy wifey whose fingers could not keep up with liking posts about the MASSACRE of Jews, and the RING LEADER & CHIEF ‘NEGOTIATOR’ of Columbia’s antisemitic encampments where Jewish students were harassed and intimidated, and where they literally glorified convicted terrorists.”
Just a casual dinner at Gracie with the lovely, private citizen, shy wifey whose fingers could not keep up with liking posts about the MASSACRE of Jews, and the RING LEADER & CHIEF “NEGOTIATOR” of Columbia’s antisemitic encampments where Jewish students were harassed and… https://t.co/QyHNH6VNld
— Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (@InnaVernikov) March 10, 2026
