Days after the University of Michigan kicks off the new school year this week, the campus is slated to host two anti-Israel speakers — former Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), one of the most outspoken critics of Israel in Congress.  

On Wednesday afternoon, Tlaib is scheduled to speak at an on-campus press conference titled “United Against Genocide, United Against Repression” hosted by The People’s Coalition Michigan. 

“The [UMich] Regents continue to shield their indefensible investments in the genocidal state of israel by attacking anyone who stands in solidarity with Palestine,” the group wrote on social media. “[Tlaib] will join students, workers, and community members to bring attention to the Regents’ long and continuing campaign to suppress free speech.”

Later that evening, the campus chapter of Students Organize for Syria is scheduled to host Khalil, who was released in June from the immigration detention center where he had been held for three months as the Trump administration sought to have him deported. 

One day after his release, the anti-Israel activist appeared at a rally in New York City organized by the National Iranian American Council, a group accused of having ties to the Iranian regime, where he protested U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Khalil, who has repeatedly declined to condemn Hamas, will speak “on liberation and freedom,” according to the campus group. 

The events come days before thousands of pro-Palestinian activists are set to gather in Detroit,  beginning Aug. 29, for the second annual People’s Conference for Palestine, under the slogan “Gaza is the Compass.” 

The three-day conference features several radical anti-Israel speakers including Khalil and Hussam Shaheen, a convicted Palestinian terrorist released from Israeli prison on Feb. 1 as part of a ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas. 

A State Department spokesperson said Friday that all international speakers for the conference will be placed on a visa “look out” status due to concerns surrounding speakers’ ties to terrorism, according to The Jerusalem Post.