Headline Roundup • October 30th, 2025
ICE Detains Pro-Palestinian British Commentator
Summary from the AllSides News Team
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained British pro-Palestinian commentator Sami Hamdi over his open support for Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack against Israel.
The Details: Just days after the October 7 attack, Hamdi had told a mosque in London to "celebrate the victory" asking, "How many of you felt the euphoria?" He also had claimed Israel manufactured evidence of Hamas' sexual violence against Israeli women. Hamdi was detained by ICE at San Francisco airport last weekend as he was visiting the U.S. on a speaking tour sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Key Quote: "The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who support terrorism and actively undermine the safety of Americans," the State Department said. "We continue to revoke the visas of persons engaged in such activity."
For Context: The detention was the latest in efforts by the Trump administration to identify and potentially expel foreigners in the U.S. who reportedly instigated or participated in protests against Israel's military operations in Gaza. Back in April, a U.S. immigration judge ruled that Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil could be deported.
How the Media Covered it: The Associated Press (Left bias) reported on the U.S. District Judge in Boston who found the Trump Administration's targeting of non-citizens who protested against Israel and supported Palestinians to be unconstitutional. The Washington Free Beacon (Right bias) reported that many in mainstream media did not mention Hamdi's radical beliefs and called him "a British political commentator and critic of Israel."
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Featured Coverage of this Story
Anadolu via Getty Images
British journalist and media commentator Sami Hamdi, an outspoken critic of Israel, has been arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
While on a speaking tour of the US over the weekend, Hamdi was detained by ICE officers and his visa was revoked, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Tricia McLaughlin, announced on X on Sunday.
Hamdi is in ICE custody pending his removal from the country, she added.
ICE on Sunday detained British-born Muslim activist Sami Hamdi over his open support for Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel and plans to deport him from the country. Mainstream media outlets from CBS News to CNN to the New York Times have described Hamdi as a "journalist" targeted for criticizing Israel.
Hamdi told a mosque in London to "celebrate the victory" just days after Hamas massacred 1,200 people in Israel, asking, "How many of you felt the euphoria?" He also accused Israel of manufacturing evidence of Hamas’s sexual violence...
The Trump administration violated the Constitution when it targeted non-U.S. citizens for deportation solely for supporting Palestinians and criticizing Israel, a federal judged said Tuesday in a scathing ruling directly and sharply criticizing President Donald Trump and his policies as serious threats to free speech.
U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston agreed with several university associations that the policy they described as ideological deportation violates the First Amendment as well as the Administrative Procedure Act, a law governing how federal agencies develop and issue regulations. Young also found the...
