Mavey Books in Ardmore spent much of the late summer championing one author above all others: Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. The store co-hosted his Philadelphia appearance for his new memoir, No Land to Stand On, with CAIR-Philadelphia, and called it its “biggest news ever.”
The event took place Friday, September 25, at the Friends Center, 1501 Cherry St. in Center City. CAIR-Philadelphia is the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Khalil appeared in conversation with Palestinian American community organizer Jude Husein, and poet Lenna Jawdat performed.
Mavey first announced the event in an August 27 newsletter, describing it as Khalil’s “first and only book tour stop” in the area. Tickets came with a pre-signed copy of the book. Mavey said it would donate 10% of online ticket and book sales to ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid), “directly supporting orphans and families within Palestine.”
So what has Khalil been saying, and who is he?
What Khalil said on Yom Kippur
Four days before the Philadelphia event, on Monday, September 21 (Yom Kippur), Khalil spoke at an outdoor Yizkor memorial service at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. Yizkor is the Jewish memorial prayer for the dead, recited on Yom Kippur and other holidays.
Press accounts say the service was organized by Rabbis for Ceasefire and Jews For Racial & Economic Justice, with Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and the American Council for Judaism also taking part. Several hundred people attended, according to reports in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and The Times of Israel. Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller and now a Democratic congressional nominee, also spoke.
Khalil opened by thanking organizers for inviting him “to stand with you all on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of your year.” Then he said:
“It’s tough to repent at a time where our tuition fees, our tax dollars, our votes are being used to kill, to maim, to displace Palestinians,” adding, “to displace Lebanese, to bomb Iranians.”
He then turned to prayer. “At this time of repentance, I really ask that God remember that Israel is committing genocide,” Khalil said. He also asked God to remember “that Israel displaced my grandparents in 1948.”
He closed: “May God, through us all, all of us, hold Israel accountable.”
According to video of the event and published accounts, his remarks conspicuously omitted any mention of Hamas. Israel says its campaign in Gaza is aimed at defeating Hamas and rejects the genocide charge.
Who is Mahmoud Khalil?
Khalil is a Palestinian who grew up in Syria. He is a Columbia University graduate and a U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder). During the 2024 campus protests over the war in Gaza, he was a lead negotiator for student protesters in talks with Columbia’s administration.
On March 8, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him at his university-owned apartment in Manhattan. He was moved to an ICE detention center in Jena, Louisiana. The Trump administration sought to deport him, citing a rarely used provision that lets the Secretary of State remove noncitizens whose presence is deemed harmful to U.S. foreign policy. Khalil was not charged with a crime. He spent more than three months in detention before U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered his release in June 2025.
His legal fight is not over. In January 2026, a divided panel of the Philadelphia-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal court in New Jersey lacked jurisdiction to order his release. In May, the full court declined 6-5 to rehear the case, and his lawyers said they would take it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Separately, an immigration judge has ordered him removed, and that order is on appeal.
The memoir came out September 29 from Metropolitan Books, four days after the Philadelphia event. Mavey’s own newsletters describe his 2025 arrest as unlawful, calling it retaliation “for his advocacy in support of Palestinian rights.”
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