After more than 100 days in detention, a pro-Palestinian protest leader speaks out

Emma Pitts
Mon, June 23, 2025


Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil and his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, greet supporters after his release from immigration detention at a rally, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in New York. | Olga Fedorova


The first pro-Palestinian college protest organizer detained by the Trump administration spoke to a crowd in New York City on Sunday, saying that he would not be silenced and chanting “free Palestine” following his release on bail Friday.

Mahmoud Khalil played a leading role in Columbia University’s protests against Israel, which erupted after Hamas attacked the country on Oct. 7, 2023, and protests in support of Gaza and the Palestinian people broke out on U.S. college campuses.

Khalil is a green card holder married to a U.S. citizen, and the couple had their first child while he was detained for more than 100 days. He was released Friday from a Jena, Louisiana, immigration detention center after authorities determined he was not a flight risk.

His latest speech seemed to confirm that Khalil has no intentions of fleeing the United States.

Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil greets supporters after his return from immigration detention, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in New York. | Olga Fedorova

“Well, who is Mahmoud Khalil?” Khalil said to a crowd in New York City. “That’s what the administration has tried its best to portray me as someone who’s violent. Mahmoud Khalil is a human rights defender. Mahmoud Khalil is a freedom fighter. Mahmoud Khalil is a refugee. Mahmoud Khalil is a father and husband. And above all, Mahmoud Khalil is Palestinian.”

“The wave of repression that the Trump administration initiated with my detention was intended to silence the movement for Palestinian liberation,” he said. “It was intended to scare people into silence. It was intended to distract us from the fact that the U.S. government is a killing machine in Palestine and across the world. But they completely failed. Millions of people spoke up even louder, that it is our responsibility to end this genocide, no matter the personal cost. And that’s exactly what I will continue trying to do as long as I’m able, so long as I am breathing.”

He added that the protests are a start to a “longer fight towards justice.”

Khalil’s arrest was a result of President Donald Trump’s promise to take “Forceful and Unprecedented Steps to Combat Anti-Semitism” in a fact sheet the White House published soon after he entered office.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to justify Khalil’s arrest, arguing that anyone who advocated for a designated terrorist organization was subject to deportation. Hamas has been considered a foreign terrorist organization in the U.S. since 1997.

Following his release, the Department of Homeland Security spoke out against it on social media.

“An immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Mr. Khalil should be released or detained. On the same day an immigration judge denied Khalil bond and ordered him removed, one rogue district judge ordered him released. This is yet another example of how out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security. Their conduct not only denies the result of the 2024 election, it also does great harm to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence in the courts,” the post said.

“It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. The Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property. An immigration judge has already vindicated this position. We expect a higher court to do the same.”

But The New York Times claimed that all allegations citing Khalil as pro-Hamas “have not been substantiated in court,” and in an interview with one of its journalists, Khalil likened his arrest to a “kidnapping.”

Khalil also argued that speaking out against Israel isn’t antisemitic.

Supporters of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil rush towards him during a rally celebrating his return from immigration detention, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in New York. | Olga Fedorova

“I was not doing anything antisemitic,” he told the Times. “I was literally advocating for the right of my people. I was literally advocating for an end of a genocide. I was advocating that the tuition fees that I and other students pay don’t go toward investing in weapons manufacturers. What’s antisemitic about this?”

However, some believe Khalil’s actions at Columbia University caused Jewish students to feel unsafe on campus.

Conservative CNN contributor Scott Jennings previously sided with the Trump administration, noting that “Antisemitism is a scourge on the country,” and that there was validity in deporting Khalil.

Recent reports show that antisemitism has increased in the United States since the Israel-Hamas war began and that many Jewish people have changed their outlook because of it. The American Jewish Committee found that antisemitic incidents have occurred more in the last year, since Oct. 7, than at any other time in the last 45 years, especially in younger Americans.

The White House is appealing Khalil’s release to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.


Pro-Palestinian protest leader details 104 days spent in US custody

Guillaume LAVALLÉE
Mon, June 23, 2025 

AFP


Former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil (L) spent 104 days in federal detention after being targeted by the Trump administration for deportation (kena betancur)kena betancur/AFP/AFPMore

Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent leaders of pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses, recounted his experience surviving 104 days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention after being targeted for deportation by the Trump administration.

"I shared a dorm with over 70 men, absolutely no privacy, lights on all the time," the 30-year-old said Sunday on the steps of Columbia University, where he was a graduate student.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to an American citizen and has a US-born son, had been in custody since March facing potential removal proceedings.

He was freed from a federal immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana on Friday, hours after a judge ordered his release on bail.

The activist was a figurehead of student protests at Columbia University against US ally Israel's war in Gaza, and the administration of Donald Trump labeled him a national security threat.

"It's so normal in detention to see men cry," Khalil recalled, deeming the situation "horrendous" and "a stain on the US Constitution."

"I spent my days listening to one tragic story after another: listening to a father of four whose wife is battling cancer, and he's in detention," Khalil detailed in his first protest appearance since regaining his freedom.

"I listened to a story of an individual who has been in the United States for over 20 years, all his children are American, yet he's deported."

The circumstances of the detention were tough, Khalil described, and he took solace where he could find it to gain the strength to carry on.

- 'We will win' -

"It is often hard to find patience in ICE detention," Khalil said.

"The center is crowded with hundreds of people who are told that their existence is illegal, and not one of us knows when we can go free.

"At those moments, it was remembering a specific chant that gave me strength : 'I believe that we will win,'" he continued, to cheers from the audience.

Khalil said he even scratched the phrase into his detention center bunk bed as a reminder, being the last thing he saw when he went to sleep and the first thing he read waking up in the morning.

He repeats it even now, "knowing that I have won in a small way by being free today."

Khalil took specific aim at the site of his speech, Columbia University, chastising the institution for saying "that they want to protect their international students, while over 100 (days) later, I haven't received a single call from this university."

Khalil's wife Noor Abdalla, who gave birth to their son while her husband was held by ICE, said his "voice is stronger now than it has ever been."

"One day our son will know that his father did not bow to fear. He will know that his father stood up when it was hardest, and that the world stood with him," Abdalla said

Mahmoud Khalil describes ICE detention, decries Columbia 'hypocrisy'

Maya Eaglin
Sun, June 22, 2025 

NBC

Mahmoud Khalil, recently released from immigration custody, on Sunday described the conditions of his detention and decried the "hypocrisy" of Columbia University, where he is a graduate student.

“Who is Mahmoud Khalil?” he asked as he spoke to the media and supporters on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, just a few blocks from Columbia.

“Mahmoud Khalil is a human rights defender. Mahmoud Khalil is a freedom fighter. Mahmoud Khalil is a refugee. Mahmoud Khalil is a father and husband. And, above all, Mahmoud Khalil is Palestinian,” he said.

Khalil flew back to the New York area Saturday after having spent 104 days in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana. He said Columbia University denied his request to host the news conference there.

Mahmoud Khalil on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. (Maya Eaglin / NBC News)

Surrounded by his wife, his legal team and supporters, Khalil said that no one had privacy at the detention center and that it was common to hear emotional stories from other men.

“It’s often hard to find patience in ICE detention. The center is crowded with hundreds of people who are told that their existence is illegal, and not one of us knows when we can go free,” he said.

On the steps of the cathedral were hundreds of supporters joining in chants with Khalil, mainly repeating a sentence that he said kept him motivated in detention: “I believe that we will win.”

“I found myself literally scratching this into my bunk bed and looking at it as I fell asleep and as I woke up. I find myself repeating, repeating it even now, knowing that I have won in a small way by being free — by being free today,” he said.

The case of Khalil, a legal resident of the United States, drew national attention as the Trump administration began targeting pro-Palestinian student protesters following Hamas' deadly terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The attack killed 1,200 people in Israel, according to Israeli tallies, and hundreds more were taken hostage. It also triggered a war in Gaza that has killed more than 55,000 people, many of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the enclave, which is run by Hamas. The World Health Organization considers the numbers credible.

Khalil was one of the student leaders at Columbia who was integral in the campus protests against the war.

“I must call the hypocrisy of Columbia University, a university that just two weeks ago said that they want to protect their international students. Why? While over 100 [days] later, I haven’t received a single call from this university,” he said.

Columbia University did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment about Khalil's remarks Sunday night.

Khalil's detainment caused him to miss the birth of his son.

“You may have taken time from us, but you did not take our spirit,” his wife, Noor Abdalla, said Sunday.

“One day, our son will know his father did not bow to fear,” she added.

On Friday, a federal judge ordered Khalil released and said he was not a threat to foreign policy or a flight risk, as the Trump administration argued.

Less than 10 minutes later, the White House appealed the decision.

“While I’m grateful to be here with you all, I must say that this is only the beginning of a longer fight towards justice. I want everyone to understand that my being here today is sweet, but it’s not a victory,” Khalil said Sunday.

The crowd outside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. (Maya Eaglin / NBC News)

“The wave of repression that the Trump administration initiated with my detention was intended to silence the movement for Palestinian liberation. It was intended to scare people into silence,” he said.

The government is appealing the order granting Khalil's release, as well as a previous ruling that had preliminarily barred his detention and deportation. Khalil said Sunday that his legal team is prepared to continue to fight.

Asked by NBC News what his message is to students who might be fearful of protesting based on what happened to him, Khalil replied: “Students across the country have always led toward what’s right. They are our moral compass."

“This happened during the Vietnam war, during apartheid South Africa. ... That’s why the administration is doing everything in its power to suppress us — because we are literally winning,” he added.

After the news conference, he joined hundreds of supporters on a short march escorted by New York police.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com


Mahmoud Khalil released from ICE detention center, vows to continue Gaza protests

Zhané Caldwell
Sun, June 22, 2025 
WPIX New York City, NY


Mahmoud Khalil released from ICE detention center, vows to continue Gaza protests

NEW YORK (PIX 11) — Just days after being released from an ICE detention center in Louisiana, where he was held for more than three months, Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil spoke out at a rally and march in Morningside Heights.

“It feels great,” Khalil said. “It feels that the movement is winning.”

The former Columbia University grad student stood on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Sunday, discussing his experience being detained by ICE.

“It felt like I was literally being kidnapped, where you have plain clothes agents literally snatching you off your apartment without introducing themselves,” he said. “Without introducing an arrest warrant.”

The 30-year-old Palestinian activist was freed Friday from an ICE detention center in Louisiana, where he had been held since March. A federal judge ruled that he was not a danger to the community or a flight risk. He arrived at Newark Airport on Saturday, cheering as he pushed his son in a stroller and reunited with his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla. She said she’s proud of her husband’s resilience and of the example he’s setting for their son.

“Mahmoud missed the birth of our son but he will raise Dean with pride, strength, and purpose, and one day our son will know that his father did not bow to fear, he will know that his father stood up when it was hardest and that the world stood with him,” said. Abdalla.

The Syrian activist — a U.S. green card holder — was among the first foreign students arrested under the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses. Now, Khalil is vowing to continue protesting against the war in Gaza, saying this is only the beginning of a longer fight towards justice.

“I want everyone to understand that my being here today is sweet, but it’s not a victory,” Khalil said. “Not when Palestinians are still being killed.”

The government filed notice on Friday that it is appealing Khalil’s release. His legal team said the federal case is ongoing and argues that the U.S. Constitution protects individuals from being targeted for exercising their right to free speech.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 

Mahmoud Khalil speaks to ABC News in 1st broadcast interview after ICE release

ARMANDO GARCIA, DEENA ZARU, JON SCHLOSBERG and OSEJ SERRATOS
Sun, June 22, 2025 
ABC


Mahmoud Khalil speaks to ABC News in 1st broadcast interview after ICE release

Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University pro-Palestinian activist who was detained by ICE for more than three months, spoke with ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis in the first on-camera interview since his release.

In the interview, which is set to air on Monday at 7 p.m. ET, Khalil pushed back against the Trump administration's claim that he is a threat to U.S. national security.

"The White House has said that you distributed pro-Hamas fliers. Secretary Rubio said that you created an environment of harassment toward Jewish students. President Trump said we got to get him the hell out of our country. Why do you think that you are perceived as such a threat?" Davis asked Khalil in the exclusive interview.

"Because I represent a movement that goes against what this administration is trying to do," Khalil responded. "They try to portray me as a violent person. They try to portray me as a terrorist, as some lunatic, but not presenting any evidence, not presenting any shred of credibility to their claims."

Khalil was released Friday evening from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Jena, Louisiana, after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz issued an order granting his release on bail. The judge said the government made no attempt to prove that Khalil's release would irreparably harm them in some way and that Khalil represented a flight risk.

"What all that evidence adds up to is a lack of violence, a lack of property destruction, a lack of anything that might be characterized as incitement to violence," Farbiarz said of Khalil.

The judge said that the conditions of Khalil's release shall not include electronic monitoring or a requirement that a bond be immediately posted.

Caitlin Ochs/Reuters - PHOTO: Columbia University walks his wife Noor Abdalla at Newark Liberty International Airport, a day after he was released from immigration custody, in Newark, New Jersey, June 21, 2025.More

"The hundreds of men who are left behind me shouldn't be there in the first place," Khalil told reporters on Friday, referring to others being detained. "The Trump administration are doing their best to dehumanize everyone here. Whether you are a U.S. citizen, an immigrant or just a person on this land, doesn't mean that you are less of a human."

The ruling to release Khalil came at the same time an immigration judge in Jena, Louisiana, denied Khalil's request for asylum and ordered him to remain detained. Farbiarz's order superseded that ruling.

The Department of Homeland Security sharply criticized the judge's decision to release Khalil, claiming in a statement on Friday that the ruling is "yet another example of how out-of-control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security," and arguing "an immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Mr. Khalil should be released or detained."

"Their conduct not only denies the result of the 2024 election, it also does great harm to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence in the courts," the statement continued.

Khalil, a green card holder who is married to an American citizen, was a graduate student at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) during a series of pro-Palestinian protests on campus against the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

Khalil was detained in March, with the Trump administration saying then in part that his continued presence in the country would pose a risk to U.S. foreign policy. However, Judge Farbiarz issued a preliminary injunction last week barring the Trump administration from continuing to detain him based on that assertion.

Khalil was detained for an additional week until his release on Friday after the government argued for his continued detention based on their allegation that he misrepresented information on his green card application, an allegation that Khalil and his attorneys deny.

Khalil, a grandson of Palestinian refugees who was born in Syria and has Algerian citizenship, welcomed his first child, a son named Deen, while he was in custody.

Khalil thanked his supporters during a press conference in New York on Saturday and vowed to continue to speak out for Palestinian human rights.

"Even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine," Khalil said.

ABC News' Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.

Opinion

Opinion | Why my church got involved with a protest to free Mahmoud Khalil

Shawn Anglim
Mon, June 23, 2025 

Friday evening, after more than three months in custody, Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student picked up by immigration police for daring to protest on behalf of people in Gaza, was released from a detention center in Jena, Louisiana. Khalil also dared to believe that America has laws and a deep abiding respect for free speech. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said he determined that Khalil, who was born in Syria and is a citizen of Algeria, is neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community, NBC News reported. Farbiarz ordered the 30-year-old, whose wife gave birth to their first child during his detainment, released on bail.

We should celebrate his release and enjoy this moment of good news. Lord knows, there haven’t been many.

More than a month ago, on May 22, two charter buses filled with mostly young people left the church I pastor, First Grace United Methodist in New Orleans, for a four-hour drive to Jena. They went to a detention center to protest, confront and bear witness to the illegal arrest and detention of Khalil. The buses were organized by Palestinian Youth for Peace. First Grace was the host. May 22 wasn’t the first time a delegation left First Grace for Jena, and, given the facility’s role in holding people disappeared by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, it won’t be the last.

Though Khalil’s release on bail doesn’t end the government’s attempt to deport him, the effort to get him out of jail and to his wife and newborn son illustrates the power of the fourth branch of government, We the People.

Khalil has a green card. He is married to a U.S. citizen. He has no criminal record. He hasn’t been charged with any crime. And yet, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has labeled him a national security risk and sought to have him deported because he has said some things that the Trump administration doesn’t want him to say. Free speech, the first right to be amended to our U.S. Constitution, is no longer cherished given our current reality. The executive branch demands that we get in line or get arrested.

Protesters gather outside the Lasalle Processing Center in Jena, La., where Mahmoud Khalil was being detained, on May 22. (Sophie Bates / AP file)

Men who wear no badges, men who often have their faces covered and men who present no warrants have been grabbing people on the streets. Khalil, who was returning home from an iftar meal during Ramadan on March 8, was arrested by agents who didn’t have a warrant. They later told a court they didn’t need one. This isn’t the way we’ve been taught that things roll in the United States. Our elders taught us that the governed and those who govern should have some faith in each other. As we watch ICE day after day behave brazenly and in such an authoritarian manner, deep down we may want to believe this is normal. It is not. We the people are starting to get it. Life has changed.

At First Grace UMC we operate a free legal clinic for immigrant children we call Project Ishmael. Our young clients often have legal standing and regularly report to the ICE office for periodic check-ins as their cases progress through the court system. Now, it isn’t uncommon for these children to be taken into custody on the spot and sent to detention centers. The ICE agents will say to our attorneys, “You can represent them from detention.” Some of these children and teenagers are one mail delivery away from a green card. It doesn’t matter.

As we experience the deep rot spreading in our nation, it’s important to remember two factors that have helped to hold us together as a nation. The first is the parchment we know as the U.S. Constitution and its own legal structure that allows us to transcend and better it. The second is the deep cultural, moral sense that arises from the Declaration of Independence and reminds us that we the people are about life, liberty and some degree of happiness for all even as we have failed forward with this common purpose. We embrace the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence despite all the times we’ve failed to live up to them.

It is becoming clearer by the day that the executive branch isn’t guided by law or by morality. It’s equally clear that Congress is cowardly. Thus, the people: the attorneys waging legal battles in courts and the people who’ve taken to the streets to protest en masse, are working to keep the character of the country intact.

Those who boarded those buses at First Grace UMC May 22 still believe in we the people and the character embedded in our hearts, minds and laws. And they believed it important to let a wrongly detained man know — even if they weren’t able to make contact with him — that he wasn’t alone.

No matter your particular stripe — “red” or “blue” or neither — we the people who comprise the fourth branch of government must continue to stand strong. I sense that most of us, regardless of political stripes, strongly agree on one thing: that the U.S. government isn’t working much on our behalf.

I don’t know what happened to Trump, Rubio or the other members of Trump’s Cabinet, but they need us — more than ever. They need us to confront them in the courts because they cannot stop themselves. They need us to confront them one Mahmoud Khalil at a time.

ICE is arresting more non-criminals than ever: Just 8% of detainees have serious criminal records

The Independent

And the Mahmoud Khalils need to see the American public witness to our higher angels and our common beliefs in life, liberty and happiness. Such moral character may be lost on our executive branch. But it’s not lost on us. In fact, we rediscover its clarity — one bus ride at a time.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil speaks in Harlem: ‘We are winning’

Julian Roberts-Grmela and Roni Jacobson,

 New York Daily News
Sun, June 22, 2025 


Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways


Less than 48 hours after his release from a federal immigration facility in Louisiana, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil told supporters in Manhattan a phrase that sustained him through his three-month incarceration was “I believe that we will win.”

“I found myself literally scratching this into my bunk bed and looking at it as I fell asleep and as I woke up. I find myself repeating it, even now, knowing that I have won, in a small way, by being free today,” Khalil said Sunday from the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights.

“While I’m grateful to be here with you all,” he added. “I must say that this is only the beginning of a longer fight towards justice. I want everyone to understand that my being here today is sweet, but it is not a victory, not when Palestinians are still being killed under U.S. bombs.”

The refrain Khalil referred to was often chanted by activists at pro-Palestine demonstrations at Columbia University that Khalil helped lead and organize as a graduate student. The federal government has sought to deport Khalil, 30, a legal resident of the U.S. who has not been accused of any crimes, for his pro-Palestine student activism under an obscure and rarely-used immigration law that empowers the Secretary of State to deport anyone whose presence is considered adverse to U.S. foreign policy interests.

On Friday, New Jersey federal Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled the statute was so vague as to be unconstitutional, and ordered Khalil released.

“The wave of repression that the Trump administration initiated with my detention was intended to silent the movement for Palestinian liberation,” Khalil said. “It was intended to scare people into silence. It was intended to distract us from the fact that the U.S. government is a killing machine in Palestine and across the world.”

“But they completely failed,” he said. “Millions of people spoke up even louder. That it is our responsibility to end this genocide no matter the personal cost. And that is exactly what I will continue trying to do, so long as I’m able. So long as I’m breathing.”

Khalil’s wife Noor stood next to him as he addressed the crowd. His detainment by ICE forced him to miss the birth of his first child.

Khalil described the moments when he was first spirited away by ICE agents on March 8.

“It felt like I was literally being kidnapped, where you have plain clothes agents literally snatching you off your apartment building without introducing themselves,” he said. “Without introducing an arrest warrant,” Khalil said. “I was mostly concerned about my then-pregnant wife Noor that they basically cut me off any means of communication for over 30 hours. These 30 hours were the most difficult time in during the whole experience.

“That’s why this administration is so worried that they’re literally doing everything in their power to suppress us because we are winning. We are literally winning.”

Khalil has vowed he will continue his activism on behalf of the Palestinian people.

“I don’t remember a time when I considered giving up because from the moment I was arrested,” he said. “I got arrested, I knew that my case is righteous, I’m righteous and my speech should be celebrated, not punished.”

At the same time, he has indicated he will also advocate for others swept up in the massive ICE raids.

“I shared a dorm with over 70 men. Absolutely no privacy. Lights on all the time,” he said of his time in the detention center. “I spent my days like listening to one tragic story after another. Listening to a father of four whose wife is battling cancer and he’s in detention. I listened to a story of an individual who had been in the United States for over 20 years — all his children are American — yet he’s deported. It’s so normal in detention to see men cry because they can’t understand why they are there.

“But as I will continue to fight for Palestine, I will continue to fight for their rights as well,” he said.


'Beginning of a longer fight towards justice': Mahmoud Khalil

Reuters Videos
Updated Sun, June 22, 2025 



STORY: :: June 22, 2025

:: New York

:: Mahmoud Khalil says it's 'the beginning of a longer fight towards justice' after his release

:: Mahmoud Khalil, Former Columbia University student

“Well, who is Mahmoud Khalil? That's what the administration has tried its best to portray me as someone who's violent. Mahmoud Khalil is a human rights defender. Mahmoud Khalil is a freedom fighter. Mahmoud Khalil is a refugee. Mahmoud Khalil is a father and husband. And above all, Mahmoud Khalil is Palestinian.”

“While I'm grateful to be here with you all, I must say that this is only the beginning of a longer fight towards justice.”

Khalil was born and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and became a U.S. lawful permanent resident last year. Nonetheless, citing an obscure part of federal immigration law that has not been invoked in more than 20 years, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had determined that Khalil and several other foreign pro-Palestinian students at U.S. schools must be deported because their presence here could harm the government's foreign policy interests.

Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government wrongly conflates their criticism of the Israeli government, one of the United States' closest allies, with antisemitism.

US says Kilmar Ábrego García will 'never go free' after judge orders his release

Ana Faguy - BBC News
Mon, June 23, 2025 

[Reuters]

The Trump administration said a Salvadoran man who was mistakenly deported and then brought back to the US on criminal charges will "never go free" on American soil, even though a judge ordered his release.

Kilmar Ábrego García was deported in March as part of an immigration crackdown. Government officials said he was removed in error, but they were unable to bring him back.

Earlier this month, he was sent to the state of Tennessee, where the justice department charged him with human smuggling.

The judge overseeing the case said on Sunday that Mr Ábrego García should be released from custody while he awaits trial. But she noted immigration officials would still have the power to detain him.

"Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a dangerous criminal illegal alien," Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a social media post on Monday.

"We have said it for months and it remains true to this day: he will never go free on American soil."

The department oversees immigration enforcement.

Judge Barbara Holmes said in an opinion on Sunday that "the government failed to prove" that Mr Ábrego García endangered any minor victim, was a flight risk or might attempt to obstruct justice.

She also wrote that once the Justice Department released him, immigration officials would probably take Mr Ábrego García into custody as they work to remove him from the country.

In a federal indictment filed in early June, the government accused Mr Ábrego García of participating in a trafficking conspiracy over several years to move undocumented migrants from Texas to other parts of the country.

LA Times

The charges, which date back to 2016, allege he transported undocumented individuals between Texas and Maryland and other states more than 100 times.

He has pleaded not guilty.

The Trump administration has also accused him of being a member of the MS-13 gang, though Mr Ábrego García and his lawyers have strongly denied that.

Mr Ábrego García was initially deported on 15 March amid an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, after it invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law that allows presidents to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy country.

He was taken to the Cecot mega-prison in El Salvador, known for its brutal conditions.

What we know about Kilmar Abrego Garcia and MS-13 allegations

While government lawyers initially said he was taken there as a result of an "administrative error", the Trump administration would not bring him back.

The US Supreme Court ordered the government to "facilitate" his return to his home in the state of Maryland, and a legal battle began over what the court required.

Mr Ábrego García entered the US illegally as a teenager from El Salvador. In 2019, he was arrested with three other men in Maryland and detained by federal immigration authorities.

An immigration judge granted him protection from deportation on the grounds that he might be at risk of persecution from local gangs in his home country.

US brings back El Salvador deportee to face charges

Kilmar Ábrego García pleads not guilty in human trafficking case


US judge to order release of wrongly deported Salvadoran migrant pending trial

AFP
Mon, June 23, 2025 


Hundreds of Venezuelan and Salvadoran nationals were sent from the United States to the notorious maximum security CECOT facility in El Salvador (Alex Brandon)Alex Brandon/POOL/AFPMore


A federal judge, in a setback for the Trump administration, has said she plans to order the release of a wrongly deported Salvadoran migrant while he awaits trial on human smuggling charges.

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, 29, was summarily deported to a maximum security prison in El Salvador in March and brought back to the United States this month.

His case has become a key test of President Donald Trump's hardline deportation policies.

Abrego Garcia was immediately arrested on his return and charged in Nashville, Tennessee, with smuggling undocumented migrants around the United States between 2016 and 2025.

Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the charges and a federal magistrate judge said in a ruling on Sunday that prosecutors had not made a convincing argument that he should be detained pending trial.

"The government alleges that Abrego is a long-time, well-known member of MS-13," the notorious Salvadoran gang, Judge Barbara Holmes said in her 51-page ruling.

"But Abrego has no reported criminal history of any kind... and his reputed gang membership is contradicted by the government's own evidence."

"Overall," the judge said, "the strength of the factors weighing in favor of release outweighs all other factors in favor of detention."

Holmes acknowledged, however, that even if she orders Abrego Garcia's release at a hearing on Wednesday he would likely be immediately taken into custody by federal immigration agents to face potential removal proceedings.

"That suggests the Court's determination of the detention issues is little more than an academic exercise," she said. "That suggestion is understandable. But the foundation of the administration of our criminal law depends on the bedrock of due process."

Abrego Garcia was living in the eastern state of Maryland until he became one of more than 200 people sent to the CECOT prison in El Salvador as part of Trump's crackdown on undocumented migrants.

Most of the migrants who were summarily deported were alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has declared a foreign terrorist organization.

Justice Department lawyers later admitted that Abrego Garcia -- who is married to a US citizen -- was wrongly deported due to an "administrative error."

Abrego Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in his home country.

cl/dw


From megaprison to federal court, Kilmar Abrego Garcia continues his legal fight

Emma Pitts
Mon, June 23, 2025


Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASA's Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., April 4, 2025. | Jose Luis Magana

A Tennessee judge denied the Trump administration’s request to detain Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Sunday. However, given the publicity surrounding his case as a focal point in the White House’s crackdown on illegal immigration, it is likely that the man won’t be released.

If he were to be discharged ahead of his federal trial regarding human smuggling charges, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes said, he would likely remain in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regardless and ultimately be deported.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X that Abrego Garcia would “never go free on American soil,” and called him “a dangerous criminal illegal alien.”

But Holmes said in her ruling that the accusations of Abrego Garcia being a “flight risk” and a danger to the community were not supported by sufficient evidence. She also pressed the importance of granting him the right to due process, given how he’s been treated thus far.

Accused of being an MS-13 gang member, Abrego Garcia was deported and sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center, a megaprison in El Salvador, last March. He gained national attention as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to deport suspected immigrant gang members living illegally in the U.S. He was seen as a hardened criminal by the administration and as a victim by Trump’s opponents.

After being deported to El Salvador, he was brought back to U.S. soil earlier this month, where he will be facing criminal charges involving an alleged human smuggling incident that occurred in 2022.

The indictment against him accuses Abrego Garcia of being involved in a human smuggling ring that brought in immigrants illegally through the U.S.-Mexico border. It accuses him of making at least 100 trips across the U.S. border.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, right, speaks with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland and deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, in a hotel restaurant in San Salvador, El Salvador, Thursday, April 17, 2025. | Press Office Senator Van Hollen, via Associated PressMore

He’s also been called an “alleged woman beater” by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt after revealing that his wife filed for an order of protection against him in 2021 regarding domestic abuse.

Special Agent Peter T. Joseph told prosecutors in a hearing on June 13 that the 2022 incident involved nine people in the vehicle being driven by Abrego Garcia, who were in the country illegally. Tennessee law enforcement suspected possible smuggling, but he was allowed to go on his way with only a warning.

Still, Holmes said in her ruling that the allegations have yet to be confirmed.

He pleaded not guilty on June 13 to smuggling charges and has yet to be convicted of any crime in the U.S. or in his home country of El Salvador.

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, walks out of the Federal Courthouse on Friday, June 13, 2025 in Nashville, Tenn. | George Walker IV

“That due process demands that every person charged with a federal crime be afforded a presumption of innocence unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and that deprivation of an individual’s liberty prior to trial can occur only in carefully limited circumstances,” Holmes wrote. “Abrego, like every person arrested on federal criminal charges, is entitled to a full and fair determination of whether he must remain in federal custody pending trial. The Court will give Abrego the due process that he is guaranteed.”

Following the order, Sean Hecker, an attorney for Abrego Garcia, said they were “pleased by the court’s thoughtful analysis and its express recognition that Mr. Abrego Garcia is entitled both to due process and the presumption of innocence, both of which our government has worked quite hard to deny him,” per The New York Times.

Protesters gather outside the Federal Courthouse before arguments about whether Kilmar Abrego Garcia can be released from jail on Friday, June 13, 2025 in Nashville, Tenn. | George Walker IV


Kilmar Abrego Garcia likely to be held by ICE after DOJ release order

Sun, June 22, 2025 

UPI

June 23 (UPI) -- A federal judge has ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, but the Salvadoran migrant is expected to remain in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody as the Trump administration appeals the court's decision.

Abrego Garcia, who has been living with his family in Maryland, was wrongly deported in March to El Salvador, where he was detained in the infamous CECOT prison. The 29-year-old was returned to the United States earlier this month to face two charges related to human smuggling in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

President Donald Trump's Justice Department asked the court for permission to detain the migrant amid litigation. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Tennessee issued her order Sunday, denying the Trump administration's request and acknowledging that, despite her order, Abrego Garcia will likely be transferred to ICT custody rather than remain detained by the Justice Department.

"Perhaps the sole circumstance about which the government and Abrego Abrego may agree in this case is the likelihood that Abrego will remain in custody regardless of the outcome of the issues raised in the government's motion for detention," she said.

"That suggests the Court's determination of the detention issues is little more than an academic exercise."

ICE custody issues fall outside the authority of Holmes' court.

In her order, she said Abrego Garcia has the right to due process. She also accused the Justice Department of overstating the allegations against the defendant.

Abrego Garcia's charges stem from a traffic stop in November 2022. Nine other Hispanic men without documentation and luggage were in the vehicle.

The charging document accuses him of being a member of the MS-13 gang. It alleges that he and others conspired from at least 2016 smuggle migrants into the United States.

Holmes, in her Sunday order, pointed out how the Justice Department interchangeably used "smuggling" and "trafficking," which have distinct meanings in law, with the latter involving the movement of a person against their will, and the former with their cooperation.

She also highlighted a lack of evidence on the government's part in attempting to tie Abrego Garcia to smuggling minors.

The judge also criticized the government's application for detention ahead of trial based on on allegations of the defendant's gang membership.

She said "the government cannot simply rely on the general reputation of a particular street gang" to argue that Abrego Garcia poses a dangerous threat to society. And while gang membership may meet the threshold for detention, the government must prove he is a member of the gang -- allegations that Abrego Garcia has denied.

"Overall, the Court cannot find from the evidence presented that Abrego's release clearly and convincingly poses an irremediable danger to other persons or to the community," Holmes said.

The Justice Department is widely expect to appeal.

Government files appeal after Kilmar Abrego Garcia ordered released by federal judge

Gary Grumbach
Sun, June 22, 2025 

NBC

The government on Sunday appealed a federal judge's order to release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia pending trial on human smuggling charges, another chapter in the saga of the Maryland father who had been erroneously deported to El Salvador.

The Trump administration admitted having mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia in March, and the Supreme Court ordered it to facilitate his return.

Upon his return this month, though, Abrego Garcia was hit with federal charges of conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal immigrants for financial gain and unlawful transportation of illegal immigrants for monetary gain. He pleaded not guilty.

“Abrego, like every person arrested on federal criminal charges, is entitled to a full and fair determination of whether he must remain in federal custody pending trial,” U.S. Magistrate Barbara D. Holmes of the Middle District of Tennessee wrote in her opinion Sunday. “The Court will give Abrego the due process that he is guaranteed.”

The government quickly filed a request to stay the order and keep Abrego Garcia in custody, a filing that made it clear it would again subject him to deportation proceedings.

The government argued that a stay, or pause, would allow the court “to conduct meaningful review” of custody ahead of the judge’s ruling on a separate court filing.

“He will remain in custody pending deportation and Judge Holmes’ release order would not immediately release him to the community under any circumstance,” Justice Department lawyers said in request for a stay Sunday.

In concluding Abrego Garcia should be released pending trial, with certain conditions, Holmes faulted the government for its language surrounding the case and indicated he has been so far denied ordinary due process that might come to any defendant.

She noted that government lawyers have used the terms "human smuggling" and "human trafficking" interchangeably, though the former refers to helping someone willfully enter a country, while the latter refers to bringing someone to a country against their will.

She also noted that the government accused Abrego Garcia of being "involved" in transporting a minor as part of the alleged smuggling — without solid and specific evidence of such.

Holmes set a hearing for Wednesday to discuss terms of Abrego Garcia's release and ordered federal authorities to produce him for the event.

She held out little hope that Abrego Garcia would actually be free, however, noting that immigration authorities were likely to detain him upon release because he is alleged to be in the United States without permission.

Uncrowned

"Either Abrego will remain in the custody of the Attorney General or her designee pending trial if detained under the Bail Reform Act or he will likely remain in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ('ICE') custody subject to anticipated removal proceedings that are outside the jurisdiction of this Court," she wrote in her decision.

"That suggests the Court’s determination of the detention issues is little more than an academic exercise," Holmes said.

Weaponisation of food in Gaza constitutes war crime, UN rights office says

Reuters
Tue, June 24, 2025 


Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Gaza City


(Corrects U.N. official's comments on the death toll in paragraphs 3 after he revised his remarks from previously saying the number had been independently verified by his office)

GENEVA (Reuters) -The U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday that the "weaponisation" of food for civilians in Gaza constitutes a war crime, in its strongest remarks yet on a new model of aid distribution run by an Israeli-backed organisation.

Over 410 people have been killed by gunshots or shells fired by the Israeli military while trying to reach distribution sites of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since it began work in late May, U.N. human rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters at a Geneva press briefing.

The death toll came from Palestinian health authorities and other sources including non-governmental organisations and is in the process of being verified by his office, he added.

"Desperate, hungry people in Gaza continue to face the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risk being killed while trying to get food," he said, describing the system as "Israel's militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism".

"The weaponisation of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime and, under certain circumstances, may constitute elements of other crimes under international law."

Asked whether Israel was guilty of that war crime, he said: "The legal qualification needs to be made by a court of law."

Israel rejects war crimes charges in Gaza and blames Hamas fighters for harm to civilians for operating among them, which the fighters deny.

(Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by Miranda Murray)


Rights groups warn Gaza Humanitarian Foundation it may be liable for international law violations

Alice Speri
Mon, June 23, 2025 

THE GUARDIAN


Palestinians mourn the loss of their loved ones killed after Israeli soldiers opened fire at people trying to reach the points where US aid is distributed in the southern Gaza Strip on 17 June.Photograph: APAImages/Shutterstock


Fifteen international human rights organisations have called on the Israel- and US-backed Gaza food delivery group, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and other private groups running humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza to cease their operations or face legal consequences.

In a letter sent on Monday to GHF and the affiliated Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions, the rights advocates warned that private contractors operating in Gaza in collaboration with the Israeli government risk “aiding and abetting or otherwise being complicit in crimes under international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide”. They also noted that the contractors may be liable under US law and in other jurisdictions.

The letter marks the latest warning against GHF, which has been mired in controversy since replacing most UN-run relief operations in Gaza. Major aid groups have boycotted it and accused it of violating the principles of neutrality and independence that are bedrocks of humanitarian work. GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The rollout of GHF operations over the last three weeks – after a two-month blockade on most aid entering Gaza that has pushed the territory’s 2.1 million residents to the verge of famine – has been deadly. Scores of Palestinians seeking food aid have been killed by Israeli forces in chaotic scenes surrounding four privately run distribution hubs a UN official has described as “death traps”.

“GHF’s militarized model, coupled with its close collaboration with Israeli authorities, undermines the core humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence,” the letter sent on Monday warned. “We urge all parties involved – State actors, corporate entities, donors and individuals – to immediately suspend any action or support that facilitates the forcible displacement of civilians, contributes to starvation or other grave breaches of international law, or undermines the core principles of international humanitarian law.”

Earlier this month, the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights had warned in a separate letter to Johnnie Moore, the evangelical leader and Trump adviser appointed to run the foundation after its former head resigned, that he and other GHF representatives may face civil litigation or criminal prosecution.

“Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the weeks since GHF began its dehumanizing, militarized ‘distribution hubs’ in coordination with Israeli forces,” said Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney at CCR, which also signed on to the most recent letter. “If it continues its deadly, militarized operations, legal consequences will follow, whether in the United States or beyond.”

Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, another signatory, said it was “immoral and inhuman when those committing the genocide take responsibility to feed those whom they have starved”.

“They are using the GHF to humiliate, degrade and kill daily tens of starving people,” he added, referring to Israel.

Last week, the US senator Elizabeth Warren questioned the Trump administration’s proposal to redirect $500m from USAID, which the administration has gutted, to GHF, which is registered in the US and Switzerland.

“The questions surrounding GHF – its funding sources and connection to the Trump Administration, its use of private contractors, its ability to serve and be seen as a neutral entity, its abandonment by its founders, and its basic competence in providing aid – must be answered before the State Department commits any funding to the organization,” Warren wrote.

Human rights and humanitarian groups across the world have denounced the replacement of independent, long-established humanitarian relief operations by private, militarized groups and called for UN-operated relief efforts to be allowed in the strip again.

“This is not how you avert famine,” James Elder, Unicef’s global spokesperson, wrote in the Guardian.

“There is no need to reinvent the wheel. We delivered aid at scale during the ceasefire, and we can do it again. We just need to be allowed to do our jobs.”


US-Israeli Gaza aid agency needs $30 million to stop it collapsing

Lilia Sebouai
Mon, June 23, 2025

THE TELEGRA[H



GHF says it has provided millions of meals to Palestinians in southern Gaza - Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

The new US-Israeli aid agency in Gaza has applied for an emergency $30 million grant from the White House to save it from collapse just one month after opening.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) claims that, since it began operating in late May, it has provided millions of meals to Palestinians in southern Gaza who the UN says have been pushed to the brink of famine by Israel’s aid blockade.

Two US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that the Trump administration will award the grant, adding that processing was moving forward with a fraction of the auditing usually required to grant foreign assistance to an organisation.

The funding for GHF could be one of the final acts for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) before it is absorbed into the State Department as part of Donald Trump’s unprecedented foreign aid cuts.

The controversial US-Israeli organisation is the backbone of a new aid system designed to wrest distribution away from aid groups led by the UN, which Israel alleges has been infiltrated by Hamas, who it has repeatedly accused of siphoning off aid.

The new mechanism limits food distribution to four fixed sites in southern and central Gaza, all guarded by private American security contractors and Israeli soldiers.

The UN and aid groups have rejected the new system, saying that appointing itself as the main supplier of aid allows Israel to weaponise food for its military and political gain, which violates humanitarian principles.

A family unpacks a bag of food at their tent in Khan Younis, supplied by a distribution centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

Unicef, the UN’s children fund, said the system run by GHF was “making a desperate humanitarian situation worse”.

The collapse of water systems in Gaza is also threatening the territory with a devastating drought, with just 40 per cent of drinking water facilities still functional, Unicef said.

Nearly every day since its operations began, large crowds of desperate and hungry Palestinians have flocked to the distribution points, waiting for hours and jostling for a place in the line to get food handouts before they run-out in a matter of minutes.

Israel and the US have been criticised over near-daily shootings near the distribution points that have claimed more than 400 lives and injured 2,000 others since they opened in late May, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Footage of mass-casualty events has been shared on social media, showing people screaming as bullets rip through the crowds.

Eyewitnesses say Israeli troops, who provide an outer ring of security, regularly open fire on the hungry crowds.

On Friday, at least 24 people were killed while waiting for aid near a site in central Gaza, according to medics.

The Israeli military has denied firing on civilians. It claims it fired warning shots in several instances, and fired directly at a few “suspects” who ignored warnings and approached its forces.

The population of Gaza has been corralled into a patchwork of isolated areas that add up to less than a fifth of the coastal territory’s land area, according to a recent analysis by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

Those wanting to reach the food distribution points must often make perilous journeys through evacuation zones, putting them at risk of being caught in the crossfire.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said that under the aid mechanism, Gaza’s population would eventually be moved to a “sterile zone” in Gaza’s far south, freeing Israel to fight Hamas across the rest of the enclave.

There are fears that this could be a prelude to a wider plan to remove Palestinians from Gaza in “voluntary” migrations that aid groups and human rights organisations say would amount to forced displacement.

“We cannot take part in a system that violates humanitarian principles and risks implicating us in serious breaches of international law,” said Shaina Low, communication adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a leading aid group operating in the Strip.

UK

Yvette Cooper vows to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws

“Remember when they called Nelson Mandela a terrorist.”

Haroon Siddique and Geneva Abdul
Mon, June 23, 2025

  THE GUARDIAN

A protester holds up a placard during a demonstration in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London, on Monday.

Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

The home secretary has said she will ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, ignoring a warning from the group’s solicitors that the proposal was “unlawful, dangerous and ill thought out”.

In a statement to parliament on Monday, three days after activists from the group broke into RAF Brize Norton, Yvette Cooper said a draft proscription order would be laid in parliament on 30 June. If passed, it would make it illegal to be a member of, or invite support for, Palestine Action.

The group, founded in 2020, says it aims to prevent the commission of genocide and war crimes in Palestine and to expose and target property and premises connected to such crimes against humanity.

Many of its activists have been acquitted by juries in the past and a letter from Kellys Solicitors, which represents several Palestine Action activists, sent to Cooper on Monday said the group “has gathered a significant level of public support”.

But in her statement, the home secretary said: “The disgraceful attack on Brize Norton in the early hours of the morning on Friday 20 June is the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action. The UK’s defence enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk.”

Palestine Action called the proposed ban “unhinged” and accused Keir Starmer of “rank hypocrisy”, given that he defended protesters who broke into RAF Fairford in 2003 to stop US bombers heading to Iraq.

Describing its members as “teachers, nurses, students and parents”, it said: “This is an unhinged reaction to an action spraying paint in protest [at] the UK government arming Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinian people.

“The real crime here is not red paint being sprayed on these warplanes, but the war crimes that have been enabled with those planes because of the UK government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.”

It said Cooper’s statement repeated a series of categorically false claims made by pro-Israel groups and that its lawyers were pursuing all avenues for legal challenge.

The letter to Cooper from Kellys, shared exclusively with the Guardian, said there were no previous instances of direct action protest organisations being proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000, despite several others having used comparable methods to Palestine Action, and that it was a “terrifying precedent” to place it alongside groups such as Islamic State, al-Qaida or National Action.

It said: “Whilst some actions of those associated with Palestine Action have involved damage to property, activists do not advocate or intend unlawful violence against the person. A significant number of actions associated with Palestine Action have used entirely conventional campaigning methods such as marches, rallies and demos. It is an authoritarian turn and an abuse of language to label them as a ‘terrorist’ organisation.

“The proposal to proscribe Palestine Action is wholly unprecedented and constitutes an unlawful, dangerous and ill thought out attack on freedom of expression and assembly.”



Amnesty International and Liberty also wrote a joint letter to Cooper before the announcement to express their concerns.

The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called the government’s decision “as absurd as it is authoritarian”, adding: “It represents a draconian assault on democratic right to protest and is a disgraceful attempt to hide the real meaning of violence: the mass murder of Palestinians.”

The Labour peer and barrister John Hendy KC said: “This is an abuse of anti-terrorist legislation which was passed to apply to terrorist activities, not non-violent protest. There is a full armoury of criminal laws to deal with unlawful non-violent protest, as the PM knows better than most.”

The former justice secretary Charlie Falconer said on Sunday that the “sort of demonstration” at Brize Norton would not justify proscription, “so there must be something else that I don’t know about”.

The home secretary’s statement appeared to offer no new information about the group. Cooper said it had been deemed to meet the threshold for proscription “through a robust evidence-based process, by a wide range of experts from across government, the police and the security services”.

On Sunday night, the Metropolitan police placed public order restrictions on a planned solidarity demonstration for Palestine Action, so hundreds of supporters instead took to the streets surrounding Trafalgar Square in London on Monday afternoon.

A Met spokesperson said 13 people had been arrested, including six people for assaulting an emergency worker. “While the protest initially began in a peaceful manner, officers faced violence when they went into the crowd to speak to three individuals whose behaviour was arousing suspicion,” they said.

“This sequence of events repeated itself on multiple occasions, with officers being surrounded on each occasion they tried to deal with an incident.”

As arrests were made, protesters chanted “Let them go” at lines of police. Those in attendance called the government decision “anti-democratic” and a shocking overreach.

Among those concerned was Nasiya, who has lived in London for 20 years. Born and raised in South Africa, she knew what apartheid looked like first-hand, she said, as she held a placard that said: “Remember when they called Nelson Mandela a terrorist.”

MPs raise concerns about Labour’s plan to proscribe Palestine Action as terror group

Olivia Barber

Yesterday
Left Foot Forward


‘Such a move would be completely non-proportional and a hugely worrying restriction on the right to peaceful protest’

MPs have voiced concern as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the government plans to proscribe Palestine Action under terrorism laws after they targeted an RAF base last week.

A draft proscription order will be presented to Parliament next Monday, and if passed, will make it illegal to be part of or “invite support for” the pro-Palestinian protest network under Section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

In a written statement to Parliament today, Cooper said that since it was formed in 2020, “Palestine Action has orchestrated a nationwide campaign of direct criminal action against businesses and institutions”.

On Friday morning, activists from Palestine Action, which uses direct action tactics to disrupt the UK arms industry, broke into RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire and spray painted two military planes.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the actions, calling them “disgraceful” and “an act of vandalism”.

Today, Palestine Action are protesting outside Parliament about the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Left MPs have warned that proscribing the group represents a misuse of anti-terrorism powers, and threatens the right to peaceful protest.

Labour MP Nadia Whittome said in a post on X: “Targeting non-violent protesters in this way is a misuse of terrorism-related powers.

“It sets a dangerous precedent, which governments in future could further use against their critics,” adding that “we should all be concerned” about the Home Secretary’s plan.

Ellie Chowns, a Green MP, wrote on X that she was “deeply concerned” about the announcement. She said: “This is a shocking overreaction to a couple of protestors using paint.

“Such a move would be completely non-proportional and a hugely worrying restriction on the right to peaceful protest which is a cornerstone of democracy.”

Irish novelist Sally Rooney has written about the government’s plan to proscribe Palestine Action in the Guardian today.

While the Home Secretary has broad powers to proscribe any organisation “concerned in terrorism”, Rooney points out that this process has previously only been used against militant groups involved in or advocating for violent armed struggle.

Rooney warned: “If the government proceeds down this path, any ordinary person in the UK could in theory be sent to prison simply for expressing verbal support for non-violent activism.”

She added that: “Palestine Action is not an armed group. It has never been responsible for any fatalities and does not pose any risk to the public.”

The bestselling author said she supports Palestine Action wholeheartedly and added that she “will continue to, whether that becomes a terrorist offence or not”.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

Who are Palestine Action and why is the UK government banning them?

Albert Toth
Mon, June 23, 2025

THE INDEPENDENT

The pro-Palestine activist group that broke into an Oxfordshire RAF base to spray-paint military planes has been banned by the Home Office .

Formed in 2020, Palestine Action has conducted a series of direct action protests over the past five years, largely against arms manufacturers operating in the UK and selling weapons to Israel.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper has now confirmed her decision to proscribe the group following its latest action, effectively branding it a terrorist organisation. This would make it illegal to become a member of Palestine Action or solicit support for it.

A spokesperson for Palestine Action said: "When our government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action."

Pro-Palestinian activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire (Palestine Action/PA) (Palestine Action)

A protest in central London on Monday in response to the fallout, has seen police clash with demonstrators. Met Police chief Mark Rowley said before the event he was “shocked and frustrated” by the plans, adding that he believed the action goes “beyond what most would see as legitimate protest."
What else has Palestine Action done in the past?

Palestine Action was established on 30 July 2020 after a group of activists broke into and spray-painted the interior of Elbit Systems’ UK headquarters in London.

The defence contractor has continued to be the main target of Palestine Action’s protests since its formation. Based in Israel Elbit Systems is the country’s largest weapons manufacturer. It supplies the majority of the drones and land-based equipment used by the Israeli military.

In the UK, Elbit has multiple UK subsidiaries which operate across 16 sites across the country, with 680 employees. Its latest new site is a manufacturing and development facility in Bristol, opened in 2023.

On 19 May 2021 four members of Palestine Action dressed in boilers suits climbed onto the roof of an Elbit-owned drone factory in Leicester. The action was taken in response to a period of unrest in May of that year, in which 256 Palestinians and 17 Israelis were killed.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper is understood to have decided to proscribe Palestine Action (House of Commons)

Similar occupations have been carried out at Elbit-owned sites in Bristol, Oldham and Tamworth.

In April 2024, the group targeted Somerset County Hall, a Grade II-listed building owned by Somerset council, by splashing it with red paint. This was in response to the local authority leasing a building to Elbit near Bristol

This site was targeted by Palestine Action for the 17th time in March 2025, with four of the groups members using a cherry picker to damage the building. One used a sledgehammer on a rope to smash windows while others spray painted the building.

In June 2025, activists from the group damaged two planes at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire by using repurposed fire extinguishers to spray red paint into their turbine engines and cause further damage with crowbars.

Palestine Action say its members did this due to flights that leave the site daily for Akrotiri in Cyprus, the site of a base used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East.

A spokesperson for the group said: “By putting the planes out of service, activists have interrupted Britain’s direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.”

Ban on Palestine Action would have ‘chilling effect’ on other protest groups

Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent

THE GUARDIAN
Mon, June 23, 2025 

Pro-Palestine protesters protest in Trafalgar Square, including supporters of Palestine Action.Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

The crackdown on protest in England and Wales has been ringing alarm bells for years, but the decision to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws raises the stakes dramatically.

As the group itself has said, it is the first time the government has attempted to proscribe a direct action protest organisation under the Terrorism Act, placing it alongside the likes of Islamic State, al-Qaida and National Action.

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the proposed ban was evidence-based and had been assessed by a wide range of experts.


In several attacks, Palestine Action has committed acts of serious damage to property with the aim of progressing its political cause and influencing the government,” she said.

Proscribing the group, which uses direct action mainly to target Israeli weapons factories in the UK, would make it illegal not only to be a member of Palestine Action but to show support for it.

Given that neither its methods nor its targets are unprecedented, a ban is likely to make every group which has an aim of “progressing its political cause and influencing the government” through protest think twice.

Greenpeace UK’s co-executive director, Areeba Hamid, said a ban would “mark a dark turn for our democracy and a new low for a government already intent on stamping out the right to protest. The police already have laws to prosecute any individuals found guilty of a crime.”

Laws passed in recent years have already increased police powers to restrict and shut down protests. At the same time, protesters have often been gagged from telling juries what motivated their actions and have received record prison sentences.

The final straw for ministers appears to have been the embarrassing security breach at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday, in which two Palestine Action activists broke in and sprayed two military planes with red paint.

But protesters have caused criminal damage to military facilities in the past and even been acquitted for it, while Cooper herself admitted it might not amount to terrorism.

Before becoming prime minister, Keir Starmer successfully defended protesters who broke into an RAF base in 2003 to stop US bombers heading to Iraq. He argued that it was lawful because their intention was to prevent war crimes.

Palestine Action said that pro-Israel groups had lobbied for the ban and there is evidence to support that contention.

Internal government documents released under freedom of information laws have revealed meetings, apparently to discuss Palestine Action, between the government and Israeli embassy officials, although they were heavily redacted. Ministers have also met representatives from the Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems.

The organisation We Believe in Israel, which Labour MP Luke Akehurst used to be director of, began a campaign this month to ban Palestine Action.

In an accompanying report, it stated: “In July 2022, the group was investigated under counter-terrorism protocols following intelligence suggesting contact between some of its members and individuals linked to Hamas-aligned networks abroad (see: Metropolitan Police briefing, classified).

“While the investigation yielded no direct terror charges, it underscored the degree of concern shared by law enforcement agencies over Palestine Action’s increasingly radicalised behaviour.”

It is not clear how or why We Believe in Israel was granted access to classified documents.

There was no reference to links to Hamas in Cooper’s statement but she did refer to Palestine Action as threatening infrastructure which supports Ukraine and Nato, echoing language in We Believe in Israel’s report.

With the government already unpopular among many over its stance on Gaza, the planned ban risks looking like it is based on Palestine Action’s cause rather than its methods.

Akiko Hart, Liberty director, said: “Proscribing a direct-action protest group in this way potentially sets a new precedent for what we do and do not treat as terrorism.

“We’re worried about the chilling effect this would have on the thousands of people who campaign for Palestine, and their ability to express themselves and take part in protests.

“Proscribing Palestine Action would mean that showing support for them in any way – for example, sharing a post on social media or wearing a logo – could carry a prison sentence.”

UK moves to ban protest group Palestine Action

Peter HUTCHISON and Clara CANDILLIER
Mon, June 23, 2025 


Supporters of Palestine Action protest at Trafalgar Square in London as Britain moves to ban the group (HENRY NICHOLLS)HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP/AFP

The UK government announced Monday it would ban campaign group Palestine Action under anti-terror laws following a "disgraceful attack" on Britain's largest air force base last week.

The group denounced the proposed ban, announced by interior minister Yvette Cooper, as an "unhinged reaction" and its supporters scuffled with police in central London as they protested the move.

On Friday, Palestine Action activists broke into the RAF Brize Norton base in southern England, raising questions about security at the site and embarrassing Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government.

A video posted by the group showed two activists spraying a plane with red paint while roaming the base on scooters. Counter-terror police are investigating the incident.

Cooper said the vandalism at the base was "the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage" committed by the group since it formed in 2020.

"In several attacks, Palestine Action has committed acts of serious damage to property with the aim of progressing its political cause and influencing the government," Cooper said in a statement.

She announced she would lay a draft order before parliament next Monday that would ban the group under Britain's Terrorism Act of 2000.

Labour holds a massive majority in parliament, meaning the proposal should pass easily.

Palestine Action condemned the proposed ban as an attack on free speech.

"The real crime here is not red paint being sprayed on these war planes, but the war crimes that have been enabled with those planes because of the UK Government's complicity in Israel's genocide," it said in a statement.

Cooper listed other attacks by Palestine Action at Thales defence factory in Glasgow in 2022, and two last year against Instro Precision in Kent, southeast England, and Elbit Systems UK in Bristol, in the country's southwest.

"Such incidents do not represent legitimate or peaceful protest," Cooper said.

"The UK's defence enterprise is vital to the nation's national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk," she added.

The ban will make it a criminal offence to belong to or support the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Cooper stressed that her decision "is specific to Palestine Action and does not affect lawful protest groups and other organisations campaigning on issues around Palestine or the Middle East".

- 'Too far' -

But Labour's former spokesperson on legal matters Shami Chakrabarti, speaking ahead of the government's announcement, said she shared concerns that a ban could be going "too far".

"From what I can tell, this is a militant protest group that engages in direct action and that includes criminality, no question, but to elevate that to terrorism... is a serious escalation I think," she told BBC radio.

Palestine Action says it uses "disruption tactics" to target "corporate enablers" and seeks to "make it impossible for these companies to profit from the oppression of Palestinians".

In recent months, it has sprayed the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalised US President Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in Scotland.

Last month, Palestine Action claimed responsibility for vandalising a US military aircraft in Ireland.

In London Monday, protesters surged towards police when officers tried to detain someone, while onlookers chanted "let them go".

"It's an attack on civil rights," 45-year-old demonstrator Joe Dawson, who works in advertising, said of the proposed ban.

"At most it's criminal damage, not terrorism," he told AFP.

Starmer's Labour government suspended around 30 out of 350 arms export licenses to Israel last September, citing a "risk" they could be used in violations of international law.

But the UK continues to supply components for F-35 fighter jets to a global pool that Israel is able to access.

Israel has repeatedly denied allegations it is committing genocide in Gaza during its 20-month-long military campaign following Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023.

Some 80 organisations are banned under the UK's Terrorism Act, including al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Russia's Wagner paramilitary group.

pdh-str/jwp/yad

Met Chief ‘shocked and frustrated’ at planned Palestine Action protest

Charles Hymas
Sun, June 22, 2025 
TELEGRAPH


Home Secretary expected to confirm plans on Monday to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation

Sir Mark Rowley has said he is “shocked and frustrated” that Palestine Action is mounting a protest outside Parliament just three days after damaging planes at Brize Norton RAF base.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said he did not have the power to ban the protest because Palestine Action, which he branded an “extremist criminal group”, has not yet been proscribed.

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is expected to announce plans on Monday to proscribe the group, putting it on a par with Hamas, al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

“If that happens we will be determined to target those who continue to act in its name and those who show support for it,” Sir Mark vowed.

He revealed that the Met had laid out to the Government the “operational basis” on which it could consider proscribing the group following its attack on Brize Norton, in which activists breached security and sprayed paint into the engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft.

His comments came after Lord Walney, the former Government adviser on political violence, told The Telegraph that MPs’ and peers’ security was at risk from Monday’s protest.

He said there was growing concern following a previous pro-Palestine demonstration outside Parliament two weeks ago, which saw peers “harassed, intimidated and obstructed”

Sir Mark said: “I’m sure many people will be as shocked and frustrated as I am to see a protest taking place tomorrow in support of Palestine Action.

“We do have the power to impose conditions on it to prevent disorder, damage, and serious disruption to the community, including to Parliament, to elected representatives moving around Westminster and to ordinary Londoners.”

Sir Mark Rowley says the Met is concerned about the Palestine Action protest outside Parliament - Getty Images/Leon Neal

He said members of Palestine Action were alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage and assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer even before last week’s attack on Brize Norton. He noted multiple members of the group were awaiting trial accused of serious offences.

“The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest,” he said.

“Thousands of people attend protests of a different character every week without clashing with the law or with the police. The criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, in contrast, represent a form of extremism that I believe the overwhelming majority of the public rejects.”

Palestine Action has also targetted Trump Turnberry, a golf club own by Donald Trump - Milo Chandler/PA Wire

Palestine Action has posted on social media a call to supporters to join an “emergency mobilisation” on Monday at 12pm at the Houses of Parliament, with the headline “We are all Palestine Action”.

Some 60 peers have written to Lord McFall, the Lord Speaker, calling for a review of current security arrangements around Parliament with Scotland Yard and parliamentary officials.

Lord Walney said: “MPs and peers look like they have to run the gauntlet just to get into Parliament to exercise their democratic duty on behalf of the nation. This is putting their security at risk and clearly undermining democracy where parliamentarians feel they are afraid to go to work.

“The Met have frankly let people down recently in the way they have allowed crowds to physically intimidate people trying to get access to Parliament. There is a real responsibility for them to change their approach for this protest.

“This is an organisation set to be banned as a terrorist organisation which is connected to a number of trials going through the system involving serious violence against individuals.”

Jonathan Hall KC, the Government’s independent adviser on terrorism legislation, said that proscription of Palestine Action was “within the bounds of acceptability” even though it was on the basis of the scale of damage to significant infrastructure including military equipment rather than against individuals.

“All other terrorist organisations are banned or proscribed because they are using or threatening violence to people. This is an unusual one in this respect,” he said.

However, he suggested that Palestine Action had tipped over into “blackmail” rather than purely protest. “It’s gone to a point where they’ve started to say, we will carry on causing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage unless you stop,” said Mr Hall.

“And I think the way the law approaches that, there’s a difference between protest and effectively, blackmail.”

Palestine Action’s latest protest saw it spray-paint the engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft a Brize Norton RAF base

However, Lord Falconer, the former Labour lord chancellor, said vandalising aircraft at the RAF Brize Norton would not solely provide legal justification for proscribing Palestine Action.

Asked whether the group’s actions were “commensurate with the need to proscribe an organisation”, Lord Falconer told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I am not aware of what Palestine Action has done beyond the painting of things on the planes in Brize Norton, they may have done other things I didn’t know.

“I think the question will probably not be what we know about them publicly, but there would need to be something that was known by those who look at these sorts of things that we don’t know about, because I mean, they got into the air base which might suggest they’ve got some degree of ability to make them dangerous, I don’t know.

“But generally, that sort of demonstration wouldn’t justify proscription so there must be something else that I don’t know about.”


Met Police head ‘shocked’ at planned protest in support of Palestine Action

Sam Hall
Mon, June 23, 2025

THE INDEPENDENT

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has voiced his "shock and frustration" over a planned protest in Westminster supporting Palestine Action.

He branded the organisation, which the Government is moving to ban, as an “organised extremist criminal group”.

Sir Mark lamented the current legal limitations, stating that until Palestine Action is officially proscribed, the force has “no power in law” to prevent the demonstration from taking place.

He did, however, issue a clear warning that any breaches of the law during the protest would be “dealt with robustly”.

The Home Secretary is scheduled to update Parliament on Monday regarding the government's intention to ban Palestine Action, a decision spurred by the group's recent vandalism of two planes at an RAF base.

Yvette Cooper will provide MPs with more details on the move to proscribe the group, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support it, in a written ministerial statement.

The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.


The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine.

The incident is being investigated by counter-terror police.

In a statement on Sunday, Sir Mark said: “I’m sure many people will be as shocked and frustrated as I am to see a protest taking place tomorrow in support of Palestine Action.

“This is an organised extremist criminal group, whose proscription as terrorists is being actively considered.

“Members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and last week claimed responsibility for breaking into an airbase and damaging aircraft. Multiple members of the group are awaiting trial accused of serious offences.

“The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest.

“Thousands of people attend protests of a different character every week without clashing with the law or with the police. The criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, in contrast, represent a form of extremism that I believe the overwhelming majority of the public rejects.

“We have laid out to Government the operational basis on which to consider proscribing this group. If that happens we will be determined to target those who continue to act in its name and those who show support for it.

“Until then we have no power in law to prevent tomorrow’s protest taking place. We do, however, have the power to impose conditions on it to prevent disorder, damage, and serious disruption to the community, including to Parliament, to elected representatives moving around Westminster and to ordinary Londoners.

“Breaches of the law will be dealt with robustly.”

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley (PA Archive)

A spokesperson for Palestine Action previously accused the UK of failing to meet its obligation to prevent or punish genocide.

The spokesperson said: “When our Government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action. The terrorists are the ones committing a genocide, not those who break the tools used to commit it.”

Cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds said he could not rule out the possibility of a foreign power being behind Palestine Action.

The Business and Trade Secretary told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “It is extremely concerning they gained access to that base and the Defence Secretary is doing an immediate review of how that happened.


“The actions that they undertook at Brize Norton were also completely unacceptable and it’s not the first. It’s the fourth attack by that group on a key piece of UK defence infrastructure.”

The Home Secretary has the power to proscribe an organisation under the Terrorism Act of 2000 if she believes it is “concerned in terrorism”.


Proscription will require Ms Cooper to lay an order in Parliament, which must then be debated and approved by both MPs and peers.

Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al Qaida, far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company the Wagner Group.

Former justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer said vandalising aircraft at RAF Brize Norton would not solely provide legal justification for proscribing the group.

Asked whether the group’s actions were commensurate with proscription, Lord Falconer told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I am not aware of what Palestine Action has done beyond the painting of things on the planes in Brize Norton, they may have done other things I didn’t know.

“But generally, that sort of demonstration wouldn’t justify proscription so there must be something else that I don’t know about.”

Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf said the Government was “abusing” anti-terror laws against pro-Palestine activists, as tens of thousands of protesters marched in London on Saturday.

Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.


The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) welcomed the news that Ms Cooper intended to proscribe Palestine Action, saying: “Nobody should be surprised that those who vandalised Jewish premises with impunity have now been emboldened to sabotage RAF jets.”

Former home secretary Suella Braverman also said it was “absolutely the correct decision”.

A pro-Palestine protester at Saturday’s march in central London said it was “absolutely horrendous” that the Government was preparing to ban Palestine Action.

Artist Hannah Woodhouse, 61, told the PA news agency: “Counter-terrorism measures, it seems, are being used against non-violent peace protesters.

“The peace activists are trying to do the Government’s job, which is to disarm Israel.”

Palestine Action has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course .