Hollywood actress Debra Winger, who was twice nominated for Oscar awards, declared that she has a "debt to pay" for having been born Jewish during a protest against the Trump Administration in New York City last week, the New York Post reported.
Winger made the comments during the Thursday protest at Trump Tower against the arrest and deportation of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil.
“I was brought up Jewish, I was brought up with a lot of things that were untrue,” Winger told the Qatari-based Al Jazeera network during the protest. “I was brought up with a lot of things that weren’t true, I had to unlearn them, and it’s taken me a lot of years."
“I have a debt to pay. I have a debt for what I grew up with and believed on what the state of Israel has done and what they haven’t done and how they’re conflating Judaism with Zionism," she added, rejecting the idea of Israel as a Jewish homeland.
Winger also called Khalil a "political prisoner" who was "illegally" arrested by what she considers to be a fascist regime.
Khalil, a prominent figure in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia, which frequently saw extreme displays of antisemitism directed against Jewish students and faculty and multiple incidents of violence such as the time protesters took over Hamilton Hall and held a janitor hostage, worked for over four years as a Program Manager at the UK’s Syria Office and led the Syria Chevening Program, which offers scholarships for students to study in the UK. His LinkedIn profile also highlights his management of taxpayer-funded projects focused on justice, accountability, and gender equality in Syria. Baher Azmy, one of Khalil's attorneys, strongly rejected these allegations, calling the claim "false and preposterous."
The U.S. has accused Khalil of distributing pro-Hamas leaflets at Columbia, an action condemned by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who argued that Khalil took advantage of his privilege to study in the U.S. and supported terrorist organizations.
Khalil is currently being held in Louisiana after his arrest in New York last week. On Wednesday, a judge ruled that Khalil will remain in detention in Louisiana until at least this week.