BBC whitewashes student group's support of Oct. 7th massacre

Mahmoud Khalil, the Syrian-born Columbia University graduate and US permanent resident, was detained last weekend by US immigration officers and faces deportation for his activism on behalf of a student organisation, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which supports Hamas – a US designated terror group.

Attorneys representing Khalil have challenged his arrest and planned deportation, and US federal court is set to begin hearing the case soon.

While the legal issues are complex, the move is seen as part of a broader attempt by the US administration to combat the surge in antisemitism and pro-terror activities on college campuses after the Oct. 7th massacre. While Khalil has become a cause célèbre at the Guardian, an outlet that’s institutionally incapable of seeing antisemitism within the anti-Israel movement, the BBC’s reporting on the row hasn’t been much better – particularly in their failure to report on the extremism of the anti-Israel group in question.

The BBC has published three articles on Khalil’s arrest, two of which mentioned CUAD. The first piece, “Who is Mahmoud Khalil, Palestinian student activist facing US deportation?, March 12, written by BBC News senior editor Phil McCausland, mentions the group in this sentence:

Activists supporting Israel have accused Mr Khalil of being a leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (Cuad), a student group that demanded, among other things, the university to divest from its financial ties to Israel and a ceasefire in Gaza.

The second piece, “Lawyers argue over moving detained pro-Gaza Columbia activist”, March 12, is co-written by McCausland and Madeline Halpert, as US based BBC reporter, introduces the group here:

Critics have accused him of leading Columbia University Apartheid Divest (Cuad) – a student group that demanded the school divest from Israel and called for a ceasefire in Gaza – which the Palestinian activist has denied.

First, Khalil’s involvement with CUAD is not in dispute. Moreover, contrary to the BBC’s benign framing of the group, CUAD, a coalition of far-left and anti-Israel student organisations, calls for Israel’s annihilation, and openly supports terror, including the Oct. 7th massacre.

Here’s a screenshot from the end of CUAD’s Substack article on Oct. 17th, 2024:

A November 7th CUAD Substack article included a tribute to Hamas Oct. 7th mastermind Yayah Sinwar, as well as an expression of support for the PFLP terror group. Here’s a screenshot of the piece’s table of contents:

Here’s another snapshot from that article:

The CUAD tribute described Sinwar as a “brave man” who will live in the hearts of many, and praised the October 7 Massacre as “Sinwar’s crowning achievement” because the “Al-Aqsa Flood was the very essence of what it is to resist ‘with what we have.’”

Indeed, other mainstream outlets – including Associated Press and the New York Times – have published articles on Khalil which reported clearly that CUAD voices support for Hamas and their Oct. 7th massacre, which the group has called a “moral and military victory”.

In Oct. 2024, CUAD actually retracted an apology it had issued for a Columbia student affiliated with the group who had said “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”

The student, Khymani James, had made the remark about Zionists in a video he posted in January, 2024, in which he also said, “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.” CUAD’s retraction of their initial apology was communicated in a press release which clarified that “We support liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance. In the face of violence from the oppressor equipped with the most lethal military force on the planet, where you’ve exhausted all peaceful means of resolution, violence is the only path forward.”

Finally, in addition to supporting the most lethal and barbaric antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust, CUAD has called for the “eradication of Western civilization”.

The fact that the BBC chose to ignore widely available information of CUAD’s full-throated support for violent extremists who seek the mass murder of Jews, and instead told readers that the group merely supports a “ceasefire” and the boycott of Israel, is appalling, but should surprise nobody.