(Free Beacon) Sen. Peter Welch (D., Vt.) visited detained Columbia University activist Mohsen Mahdawi on Monday, calling him a “friend” and praising his work with “Jewish brothers and sisters” on Columbia’s campus. In the wake of Oct. 7, Mahdawi said he could “empathize” with Hamas’s decision to launch the attack and used a siren to drown out pro-Israel students protesting for the release of Israeli child hostages.
Mahdawi, who, like fellow Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil, saw the Trump administration revoke his green card, is at an immigration facility in Vermont as he fights his deportation. Welch released a video of their Monday meeting at the facility, during which he described Mahdawi as a “friend from the Upper Valley,” commended him for “staying so positive despite your circumstances,” and asked him to describe how he has “worked with some of your Jewish brothers and sisters at Columbia.”
