British political commentator and journalist Sami Hamdi has been detained by U.S. federal authorities in what American Muslim civil rights groups call a “kidnapping.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Sunday condemned Mr. Hamdi’s detention at the San Francisco airport as a “blatant affront to free speech,” saying his arrest was prompted by his criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza.
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Hamdi, a frequent critic of U.S. and Israeli policy, spoke at a CAIR gala in Sacramento on Saturday night and was scheduled to speak at another CAIR event in Florida the following day, prior to his detention by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
CAIR said he was stopped at the airport following an organized “far-right, Israel First campaign.”
“Our country must end the abductions of critics of the Israeli government at the behest of unfree Israel First activists,” the country said in a statement. “This is an Israel first policy, not an America first policy. This has to stop.”
In a statement obtained by Al Jazeera, Mr Hamdi’s friends called his arrest a “very worrying precedent for freedom of expression and the safety of British nationals abroad”.
The statement called on the British Foreign Office to “demand an urgent explanation from the US authorities as to the reasons for Mr Hamdi’s detention”.
Al Jazeera was told that he remains in US custody and has not been deported.
The statement added: “The detention of British citizens for expressing their political views sets a dangerous precedent that no democracy should tolerate.”
Hamdi’s father, Mohamed El Hachimi Hamdi, said in a post on X that his son has “no ties” to any political or religious groups.
“His position on Palestine is not aligned with any Palestinian faction, but rather with the people’s right to security, peace, freedom and dignity. Quite simply, he is one of this generation of young dreamers who aspires to a world with more compassion, justice and solidarity,” it added.
Early this morning, ICE agents abducted British Muslim journalist and political commentator Sami Hamdi at San Francisco airport, apparently in response to his vocal criticism of the Israeli government during a speaking tour.
We can confirm that Mr. Hamdi is not… https://t.co/dfcVGvz6UX.
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) October 26, 2025
“Proud Islamophobe”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed the detention on Sunday, claiming without evidence that Hamdi posed a national security threat. “This person’s visa has been revoked and he is being detained by ICE until removed,” she wrote to X.
Hamdi has been outspoken in accusing American politicians of actively enabling Israeli genocide in Gaza, and has been widely cited for directly challenging Western governments over arms transfers and the diplomatic cover-up of Israeli war crimes.
His detention comes amid a broader pattern of U.S. authorities blocking Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices from entering the country.
In June, two Palestinian men, Auda Hasaleen and her cousin Eid Hasaleen, were refused entry at the same airport and deported to Qatar. A few weeks later, Aouda was reportedly killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and ally of US President Donald Trump who has described herself as a “proud Islamophobe” and “defender of white people”, immediately congratulated her role in Hamdi’s detention online.
“Fortunately, his only fate is to be arrested and deported,” she wrote, falsely branding him a “supporter of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Loomer has previously advocated conspiracy theories, including that the September 11 attacks in the United States were an inside attack.
Loomer and others attribute the escalation against Hamdi to the RAIR Foundation, a pro-Israel pressure network that advocates against “Islamic supremacy.” RAIR recently accused Hamdi of trying to “expand foreign political networks hostile to U.S. interests” and called on authorities to expel him from the country.
On Sunday, Israel advocate Sean Maguire, a partner at tech investment firm Sequoia, claimed without evidence that Hamdi tried to get him fired through an AI-generated email campaign, claiming that “there are jihadists in America and their full-time job is to silence us.”
Hamdi’s supporters and civil rights activists say the opposite is true and that the detention is yet another example of political retaliation against Israel’s critics, forced at the border level before a word is uttered in public.
CAIR said it would fight the deportation order and warned that the United States was sending a chilling message to Muslims and Palestinians across the country.
