Whether it's a Venezuelan gang member or a terrorist sympathizer, the fake news media loves to glorify criminals, terrorists, and otherwise awful people. As Catherine wrote for our VIPs last week, the New York Times even allowed one of the Columbia University riot ringleaders, Mohsen Mahdawi, to write an op-ed sob story about his rights and free speech. "My only ‘crime’ is refusing to accept the slaughter of Palestinians, opposing war and promoting peace," he wrote.
And as she points out, "Endorsement of genocide is not protected free speech, and foreigners do not have Constitutional rights — or any right to remain in America. Yet the New York Times, like so many other leftist outlets and politicians, is determined to pretend that actively promoting terrorism against Jews is not only free speech but in fact praiseworthy, and that only an irrational dictator would wish to end it."
Fixed it for you @nytimes pic.twitter.com/yoDAoN8bsY
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) May 3, 2025
In case you missed it, Mahdawi is the guy who, on April 14, went for what was supposed to be the interview that would be the last step before he became a United States citizen, but he was arrested instead. After spending two weeks in federal custody, U.S. District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford allowed him to be released on bail and return to his regularly scheduled life. The Donald Trump administration is still actively working to deport him, claiming in a document signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Mahdawi's presence in the U.S. "would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest."
On Friday afternoon, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a statement, setting the record straight on Mahdawi and countering what it calls "misleading and lazy reporting [that] painted the leader of pro-terrorist demonstrations as a 'peacemaker.'"
Federal documents reveal that the poor little peacemaker offered to work in a gun shop for free, telling the owner that he had experience because he used to "kill Jews while he was in Palestine." Here's more:
In a brief filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on April 28 in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, Mohsen Mahdawi was cited as admitting to being involved in and supporting pro-terrorist acts of violence. Mahdawi also allegedly admitted to familiarity with firearms per a police report. The federal filing reveals:
Mahdawi supposedly told a gun shop owner 'that he had considerable firearm experience' and used guns to 'kill Jews while he was in Palestine.'
Mahadawi was cited as having experience building firearms, including modified 9mm submachine guns.
Another member of the community recalled Mahdawi stating 'I like to kill Jews.'
In a police report, a concerned individual reported that Mahdawi requested to purchase a sniper rifle and a machine gun. He also claimed that he said he used to make guns for Hezbollah.
"The media tried to paint Mohsen Mahdawi as a martyr for free speech. The truth is he is a terrorist sympathizer and national security threat who does not belong in this country. Why does the media continue to defend terrorist sympathizers?" asked DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
According to the Free Press, Mahdawi, who is 34, "grew up in a refugee camp in the West Bank and arrived in the U.S. in 2014." He reportedly met and married an American military member who was stationed in the Middle East and then moved to Vermont. The incident at the gun shop happened a year later, and here are a few more details:
Only a year later, Mahdawi was the focus of a police report in Windsor, Vermont. According to the report, a gun-shop owner told police that Mahdawi came to his store twice, was interested in buying a sniper rifle and an automatic weapon, and said that he 'used to build modified 9mm submachine guns to kill Jews while he was in Palestine.'
Mahdawi offered to work at the store 'for no monetary payment' to learn about 'making guns and modifying guns,' the report said. The owner also told police that he saw Mahdawi taking photographs outside the gun shop. When Mahdawi said he planned to give the photos to the owner to post on Facebook, he was invited inside the store and took more photos, according to the police report. The owner told police that he concluded Mahdawi wanted to know 'what was in place for security cameras, the type of locks and security on the doors, and to detail the merchandise in the business.'
That same summer, a tour guide at a vintage firearms museum said that a Middle Eastern man expressed interest in buying an automatic rifle and a sniper rifle. The tour guide told police at the time that the visitor said, 'I like to kill Jews,' according to the report.
Mahdawi has also made various social media posts about his relatives, including a cousin who "confessed in 2012 to throwing improvised explosive devices and Molotov cocktails at IDF soldiers" and an uncle who "was sentenced to life in prison for planning a 2003 suicide bomber attack in the Israeli city of Netanya that injured more than 60 people."
After his release on April 30, Mahdawi stood on the courthouse steps and said, "I am saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you." He also compared his fight to that of Martin Luther King. Jr. (I can't roll my eyes back far enough at that.)
Obviously, this case is far from over, but the media has fallen all over itself to paint this guy as some kind of hero. Just a quick search tells me that the Boston Globe published a story this morning called "‘A beautiful prison’: Mohsen Mahdawi seeks solace in rural Vermont as he fends off deportation," complete with a picture of Mahdawi looking serene and sitting in a field "while on a hike on his land," overlooking some mountains. The Guardian has a story about how he "is helping launch an initiative to assist other immigrants facing deportation."
I'm all for due process and free speech and following the law, but I'm also a big fan of national security. At some point, those ideas intersect. If it walks like a duck, as the saying goes. Why this guy wasn't deported years ago is beyond me.
Good luck finding a mainstream media outlet that will report on this case in its entirety without painting this guy as some kind of angelic hero. That's where we come in, and you can help report the truth behind stories like these by becoming a PJ Media VIP member. For just $1.63-ish a month or less than $20 for years, you not only help keep us in business, but you also gain some perks for yourself, like access to exclusive content, an ad-free experience, and commenting privileges. Just click this link to sign up. We hope you'll join us!
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