Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil sued Columbia University on Monday, alleging it failed to address harassment against him and other members of a pro-Palestinian campus group and retaliated against them when they reported it.
The university's “deliberate indifference” led to the doxing of multiple group members and Khalil’s detention by immigration agents, according to the civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court in New York City.
At a news conference announcing the lawsuit, Khalil accused the university of “discrimination aimed at intimidating Palestinian students.”
“We are suing because no student, regardless of their background, should go through the hell that Columbia put us through over all these years,” he said.
The university declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said in an email that “creating a campus environment where every member of our community feels welcome, supported, and safe is fundamental to who we are as a University.”
“Columbia is committed to protecting our community from discrimination and harassment, and responding promptly and appropriately when concerns arise,” it said.
Khalil also sued Columbia last year to block the release of student records to a congressional committee.
A former graduate student at Columbia University, Khalil gained prominence as a spokesperson for student activists protesting Israel's actions in Gaza.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him at his apartment on campus in March 2025, and he quickly became the face of the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Khalil spent 104 days in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child, before a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release. His deportation case remains active.
Khalil's latest lawsuit says Columbia “refused to correct disinformation” while he was detained, “allowing a false narrative about his conduct and role to persist and further enabling peer-on-peer harassment of other Palestinian students and students with perceived shared Arab and/or Muslim ancestry.”
Instead of investigating reports of harassment, the university retaliated by characterizing events by a pro-Palestinian campus group as security risks and revising disciplinary policy to target criticism of the Israeli government, according to the lawsuit.
At the news conference Monday, Khalil also accused the university of surveilling pro-Palestinian students and hiring private investigators to monitor him.
The lawsuit accuses Columbia of civil rights violations, requests a court order restoring Khalil's access to the campus and ending the Palestinian group's suspension, and seeks damages “to be determined at trial.”
It also names the pro-Palestinian group and its president, Mohammad Zubairi, as plaintiffs.
FILE - Mahmoud Khalil speaks during a news conference in New York, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Ukraine is ready to halt its strikes on Russian territory if allies can secure a genuine Russian commitment not to hit Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.
His comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post that Russia and Ukraine had agreed “not to hit” each other’s energy infrastructure, though Trump did not offer further details on the purported agreement.
Russia did not immediately comment on Trump's claim. Previous efforts to broker even a partial ceasefire have repeatedly fallen apart within hours, with both sides accusing each other of violations.
Trump did not offer further details about the agreement but it comes a day after the U.S. president called on Zelenskyy to stop targeting Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure used to produce and distribute diesel, claiming the attacks are causing a global shortage. Diesel prices have surged in the U.S., and high fuel costs associated with the Iran war have become a major issue for Trump’s party in upcoming congressional elections.
He also claimed that the rise in the price of global diesel fuel “is mostly caused by the Russian/Ukraine war” and not Iran. But restricted shipments caused by the slowdown of oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz and damaged refining systems in Russia are causing strains in the energy market.
In his post, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has proposed that partners help secure an agreement with Russia for a ceasefire. It's not the first time Kyiv has floated the idea.
“Every day, Ukrainian energy facilities, port infrastructure, logistics, even food and pharmaceutical warehouses become targets,” he said. “The war must be ended. And a de-escalation step regarding critical infrastructure could be a first step toward peace.”
Zelenskyy said he “expects concrete proposals from our partners.”
Trump on Sunday called on Zelenskyy to stop the strikes. Afterward, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any call on Kyiv to stop strikes on civilian economic infrastructure "can only be welcomed.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Monday that Russian drone strikes near the Ukraine-Poland border — one of which hit a train shortly after senior visiting officials had passed through the same station — would drive the military alliance to increase its support for Kyiv, calling Sunday's attacks a sign of Moscow's growing desperation.
The strikes “close to NATO territory” show Russian President Vladimir Putin’s "desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror,” Rutte said at NATO’s political headquarters in Brussels. “Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine.”
Rutte pledged to increase support for Ukraine and bolster the 32-nation alliance’s own defenses along its long eastern border with Russia.
“He thinks that he can stop us from supporting Ukraine and that he can undermine our unity. He is wrong,” the NATO chief said of Putin.
Sunday’s strikes near the Polish border are the latest in a string of incidents that officials say point to a deliberate pattern of escalation by Putin, as Moscow tests NATO’s response while pressing its offensive in Ukraine.
Rutte's comments came as Poland pledged increased security along its border with Ukraine after a wave of Russian drone strikes near the frontier, including two that landed within kilometers of Polish territory.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned Sunday that Moscow appears poised to intensify its campaign against Ukraine’s borders with European countries. Ukraine is under mounting pressure from Russia’s intensifying air campaign that uses ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce defenses.
“These coming weeks and months will be a time of very intensified actions on the Russian side, and unfortunately we cannot rule out that this escalation will also affect our territory,” Tusk said Sunday after a governmental security briefing in Warsaw. He issued a similar warning on Thursday.
Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said Monday in a post on X that the Polish army recovered what was believed to be a Russian military drone from the Baltic Sea near the coastal village of Jaroslawiec.
Polish officials said intelligence reports, including a CIA briefing last week, suggested Russia was likely to attack border points and intensify sabotage actions inside European countries as part of its efforts to discourage partners from supporting Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked Monday about the strike on the train near the Polish border, said Russian forces were operating “across the entire territory of Ukraine and continue to do so — and will continue to do so.”
Peskov noted the potential role of Global South nations in a settlement, saying “any country can use its influence on the Kyiv regime to encourage it to show greater flexibility.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi each expressed willingness to help broker a settlement during recent meetings with Putin, who briefed them on the situation in Ukraine, Peskov said.
Peskov also addressed U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian diesel fuel facilities, saying “any call on the Kyiv regime to stop strikes on civilian economic infrastructure can only be welcomed.”
Trump on Sunday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure used to produce and distribute diesel, saying the attacks are causing a global shortage. He spoke after diesel prices in the U.S. hit a record on Friday, soaring past an average of $6 per gallon.
Morton reported from London. Associated Press journalists Sam McNeil in Brussels and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrives for the EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, right, speaks during a joint news conference with Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Ukrzaliznytsia Railway Company Press Office, a locomotive damaged in a Russian drone attack is seen at Yahodyn railway station near Ukraine's border with Poland, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Ukrzaliznytsia Railway Company Press Office via AP)
