Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent pro-Palestinian protest leader recently released from federal detention, defended Hamas's October 7 attack in an interview with the New York Times, describing it as an inevitable response to the lack of progress for Palestinians. Khalil downplayed concerns about antisemitism at Columbia University, calling them a 'manufactured hysteria' linked to the protests, though he acknowledged some incidents had occurred. He argued that both antisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism rise together and criticized the narrative that the Palestine movement is responsible for increased antisemitism on campus. Khalil also defended controversial protest slogans and suggested that the Hamas attack was partly motivated by stalled political processes and the impending Israel-Saudi Arabia normalization deal, while maintaining his opposition to targeting civilians.