New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was slammed for hosting anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, his wife Noor, and their young son Deen for a Ramadan dinner at Gracie Mansion on Sunday, the day after two men were arrested for attempting to carry out an ISIS-inspired bombing at a protest outside the mansion. “Last night, as we marked the one-year anniversary of his detention, Rama and I were honored to welcome Mahmoud, Noor, and their son Deen to Gracie Mansion to break our fast together,” Mamdani wrote in a social media post Monday.

Mamdani also posted a photo from the evening showing his wife, Rama Duwaji, holding a plate of food while standing beside Khalil as he ate. On X, Mamdani praised Khalil for what he described as “profound courage” after what he said had been a year of “profound hardship.” Mamdani said Khalil was detained by federal agents a year ago for immigration violations. Mamdani claimed Khalil had been targeted for “exercising his First Amendment rights” by protesting what he called the “ongoing genocide in Palestine.” He also credited “New Yorkers raising their voices in solidarity” and “a city refusing to look away” after Khalil was later reunited with his family.

“Mahmoud is a New Yorker, and he belongs in New York City,” Mamdani wrote. Khalil, a Syrian-born activist and former Columbia University graduate student, was arrested by ICE early last year and is facing deportation after the Trump administration accused him of committing fraud on his green card application. Khalil was the ringleader of violent anti-Israel protests on the campus and served as a spokesperson for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, one of the groups involved in anti-Israel demonstrations on campus following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel.

Administration officials have also accused him of supporting Hamas, saying he could be removed under a rarely used statute allowing deportation of noncitizens whose presence or activities are deemed contrary to US foreign policy interests. One official told The Free Press in 2025 that “the allegation here is not that he was breaking the law,” but that he was “mobilizing support for Hamas and spreading antisemitism in a way that is contrary to the foreign policy of the US.”

Khalil, who completed his graduate studies at Columbia in December, was also involved with Columbia United Apartheid Divest, a group that played a central role in the campus takeover at the start of the academic year in September. He was briefly suspended over that involvement.

Mamdani has been one of Khalil’s most outspoken defenders. At an unrelated press conference in January, the mayor said, “I see this attack on him as part of a larger attack on the freedom of speech that is especially pronounced when it comes to the use of that speech to stand up for human rights.”

Watchdog group StopAntisemitism wrote in response on X: “NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani breaking bread with one of the city’s most vile antisemites, Mahmoud Khalil. By the way, he should already have been deported back to Syria. What is he still doing here, dining lavishly at Gracie Mansion at taxpayers’ expense?”

The Republican Jewish Coalition also criticized the dinner, writing: “In NYC, terrorist sympathizers have a seat at Zohran Mamdani’s table. Mahmoud Khalil should be deported, not fluffed by the Mayor of the City of New York. Disgraceful.”

The dinner also renewed scrutiny of Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, over her past social media activity following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. Duwaji, who married Mamdani in early 2025, “mass liked” several posts celebrating and justifying the massacre. She also liked posts critical of Israel in the immediate aftermath of the attack and a February 2024 Instagram post claiming that The New York Times’ investigation into sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attack was “fabricated.”

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy wrote on X: “Of course, Mamdani’s wife celebrated the Oct 7th attack. The Mamdani’s haven’t hid who they are at all. They are terrorist sympathizing communists. They wear it loud and proud. Anybody who paid an ounce of attention knew that going in, and he still won. That’s the real problem. Not that the terrorist lover is acting like a terrorist lover.”

Republican New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov also criticized Duwaji, writing on X: “Our First Lady, Rama Duwaji, who shares a home and a life with our esteemed mayor, literally SUPPORTED HAMAS the day after the October 7 massacre.”