Mia Khalifa speaks out after Palestinian students shot in Vermont

Mia Khalifa has broken her silence following the shooting of three 20-year-old Palestinian-American students in Vermont.

Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad were shot near the University of Vermont on Saturday. Two were wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyehs at the time. A 48-year-old man by the name of Jason J. Eaton was arrested on Sunday night in connection with the shooting.

Khalifa, a former adult film star turned influencer, reposted human rights advocate Arjun Sethi, who shared an infographic of the symbolism behind the keffiyeh.

“Three Palestinian college students were shot in Vermont, while wearing Keffiyehs. Let’s tell the world what Keffiyehs are all about,” Sethi wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

In his post, was a graphic explaining the different elements of the traditional scarf.

“The olive leaf pattern represents strength, resilience & perseverance. The fishnet pattern represents the connection between the Palestinian sailor & the Mediterranean Sea,” read the graphic.

Finally, he said, the bold lines on the keffiyehs represent “the trade routes going through Palestine, a long and rich history of merchants, travel and cultural exchange.”

Khalifa has been very outspoken since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, which led to the worst outbreak of violence in the region in decades. Hamas’ attacks killed more than 1,200 people in Israel, according to figures from the Associated Press

Israel then retaliated with its heaviest air strikes and ground operations in Gaza which have killed more than 13,300 people there, according to AP.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary pause in hostilities to facilitate an exchange of hostages captured by the military group on October 7 and hundreds of Palestinian people kept in prison by Israel. The pause began on Friday and is due to last four days.

The three university students had been in Burlington to attend a Thanksgiving holiday gathering and were confronted by a man with a handgun while walking to a relative’s home.

“Without speaking, he discharged at least four rounds from the pistol and is believed to have fled,” Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said on Sunday. “All three victims were struck, two in their torsos and one in the lower extremities.”

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee released a statement saying that the victims were Palestinian-American college students and it believed the attack may have been motivated by race.

There is “reason to believe this shooting occurred because the victims are Arab,” the committee’s statement on Sunday read. “According to the information provided the three victims were wearing a Kuffiyeh and speaking Arabic. A man shouted and harassed the victims, then proceeded to shoot them.”

Since October 7 there has been a rise in Islamophobic and antisemitic crimes globally.

Last month, an elderly Illinois man was charged with a hate crime after allegedly fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy and seriously wounding his mother in Chicago. Police and relatives said he targeted them because of their faith.