October 7 Victims Sue Students for Justice In Palestine and American Muslims for Palestine
As we have been relentlessly documenting, American college campuses are under direct assault by forces loyal to, aligned with, and seemingly maybe even a part of, Hamas:
When I say campuses are under direct assault, I mean it, as the four above posts were just from May 1st. There have been hundreds of others like them going back to October 7th, when Hamas butchered over 1,200 Israeli and American citizens, and others took 240 people hostage and injured over 6,000 people.
One question I have wondered about is how all of these campus “protests” are organized, who is funding them, who is in charge, and why do they all look and seem so similar?
Well, a new federal court lawsuit promises to provide answers and to hold those responsible accountable.
The lawsuit, filed by seven American and two Israeli citizens with the help of some major legal powerhouses, was filed May 1st in the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Lead law firm Greenberg Traurig issued a press release describing the legal action:
Representing a group of victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel, global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, the National Jewish Advocacy Center, the Schoen Law Firm, and the Holtzman Vogel law firm have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Virginia, Alexandria Division, against AJP Educational Foundation Inc. a/k/a American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP).The lawsuit, which seeks compensatory damages for nine American and Israeli victims of the attack in which Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 240 people hostage, alleges that AMP and NSJP work in the United States as collaborators and propagandists for Hamas. Hamas is a United States designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. The suit also notes that AMP and NSJP are merely the current version of several prior entities that were already determined by the U.S. government to be supporters of Hamas.
The federal court Complaint kicking the lawsuit off can be reviewed here, and takes advantage of the federal anti-terrorism statute, 18 U.S.C. Chapter 113B § 2331 et seq.
This statute allows that “[a]ny national of the United States injured…by reason of an act of international terrorism…may sue therefor in any appropriate [federal] district court of the United States and shall recover threefold the damages he or she sustains and the cost of the suit, including attorney’s fees.”
The statute also states that “liability may be asserted as to any person who aids and abets, by knowingly providing substantial assistance, or who conspires with the person who committed such an act of international terrorism.”
The lawsuit asserts over 100 numbered paragraphs explaining exactly how AMP and NSJP aid and abet Hamas by providing moral and propaganda support for their actions and extending Hamas’ actions to the continental United States. In fact, one of the interesting angles the Complaint takes is that it alleges that AMP and NSJP are so joined at the hip with Hamas, and they coordinate each others’ activities so completely, that AMP and NSJP are effectively U.S. wings or branches of Hamas, conspiring with Hamas to continue terrorist acts: Hamas in Gaza, and AMP and NSJP in the U.S. The lawsuit claims that as a result, the U.S. plaintiffs can hold AMP and NSJP responsible for the damages the U.S. Plaintiffs suffered, even if those damages were caused directly by Hamas in Israel/Gaza.
Interestingly, the lawsuit also takes advantage of the federal Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350, which states that “[t]he [federal] district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” The lawsuit alleges that the Israeli plaintiffs can take advantage of this statute because “Hamas committed acts prohibited by the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, which recognizes aiding and abetting liability, and Defendants participated in those acts as accomplices.”
So what exactly happened to the Plaintiffs that they are seeking damages for? Read on, from the Complaint:
- Plaintiff Maya Parizer (“Ms. Parizer”) is a United States citizen. On October 7, Ms. Parizer and her boyfriend survived Hamas’s terrorist attack at the Nova Festival, fleeing by car and dodging Hamas gunfire as they weaved through dead bodies on the roads. Consequently, Ms. Parizer suffered, and continues to suffer, mental anguish and pain and suffering made worse by Defendants’ provision of material support to her attackers.
- Plaintiff Adin Gess (“Mr. Gess”) is a United States citizen. On October 7, his home on Kibbutz Holit was attacked. While Mr. Gess was not home, through a communal WhatsApp group chat, he witnessed his friends and community members brutally murdered after pleading for their lives. Mr. Gess was forced to evacuate his property and, because of Hamas’s ongoing targeting of Israeli civilians, has been unable to return home. Consequently, Mr. Gess lost his home, belongings, community, and way of life. He also suffered, and continues to suffer, mental anguish and pain and suffering, made worse by Defendants’ provision of material support to his attackers.
- Plaintiff Noach Newman (“Mr. Newman”) is a United States citizen. On October 7, Mr. Newman’s brother, David Yair Shalom Newman, also a U.S. citizen, was murdered when Hamas terrorists stormed the Nova Festival, indiscriminately butchering civilians. Consequently, Mr. Newman and his family suffered, and continue to suffer, unbearable trauma, mental anguish, and pain and suffering made worse by Defendants’ provision of material support to his attackers.
- Plaintiff Natalie Sanandaji (“Ms. Sanandaji”) is a United States citizen and resident. On October 7, Ms. Sanandaji survived Hamas’s attacks at the Nova Festival and, after fleeing by car and on foot through Hamas gunfire for several hours, miraculously survived. Consequently, Ms. Sanandaji suffered, and continues to suffer, mental anguish and pain and suffering, made worse by Defendants’ provision of material support to her attackers.
- Plaintiff Yoni Diller (“Mr. Diller”) is a United States citizen. On October 7, Mr. Diller survived Hamas’s terrorist attack at the Nova Festival but witnessed the massacre of countless festival goers, including four of his close friends. Consequently, Mr. Diller suffered, and continues to suffer, mental anguish and pain and suffering, made worse by Defendants’ provision of material support to the very attackers who killed his friends.
- Plaintiff David Bromberg (“Mr. Bromberg”) is a United States citizen. On October 7, Mr. Bromberg survived Hamas’s terrorist attack at the Nova Festival, fleeing and subsequently hiding in the bushes outside Kibbutz Be’eri for more than twelve hours until he was rescued. Mr. Bromberg’s friends were murdered, and one is held hostage by Hamas. Consequently, Mr. Bromberg suffered, and continues to suffer, mental anguish and pain and suffering made worse by Defendants’ provision of material support to his attackers.
- Plaintiff Lior Bar Or (“Mr. Bar Or”) is a United States citizen. On October 7, Mr. Bar Or survived Hamas’s terrorist attack at the Nova Festival, evading gunfire and hand grenades and escaping after Hamas set fire to the shelter he was hiding inside. Four of Mr. Bar Or’s friends were murdered. Consequently, Mr. Bar Or suffered, and continues to suffer, mental anguish and pain and suffering made worse by Defendants’ provision of material support to his attackers.
- Plaintiff Ariel Ein-Gal (“Mr. Ein-Gal”) is an Israeli citizen. On October 7, Mr. Ein-Gal and his friends were asleep on Zikim Beach when they were awoken by Hamas terrorists infiltrating the Israeli coast. Mr. Ein-Gal was forced to flee under Hamas gunfire and hide for four hours. When he tried to escape, Hamas terrorists fired dozens of rounds at him, but he narrowly survived. Consequently, Mr. Ein-Gal suffered mental anguish and pain and suffering, made worse by Defendants’ provision of material support to his attackers.
- Plaintiff Hagar Almog (“Ms. Almog”) is an Israeli citizen. On October 7, her home on Kibbutz Holit was attacked. While Ms. Almog and her family were not home, through a communal WhatsApp group chat, they witnessed their friends and community members brutally murdered after pleading for their lives. Ms. Almog was forced to evacuate her property and, because of Hamas’s ongoing targeting of Israeli civilians, has been unable to return home. Consequently, Ms. Almog has lost her home, belongings, community, and way of life. She also suffered, and continues to suffer, mental anguish and pain and suffering, made worse by Defendants’ provision of material support to her attackers.
The Complaint also goes into great detail about the alleged coordination between Hamas, AMP, and NSJP that occurred even before October 7, 2023, and allegedly continues to this day:
- Defendants provide ongoing, continuous, systematic, and material support for Hamas and its affiliates…by operating and managing Hamas’s mouthpiece for North America, dedicated to sanitizing Hamas’s atrocities and normalizing its terrorism.
- AMP’s message to college campuses through NSJP is unambiguous: violent attacks are a justified response to Zionism as an idea, to Israel as an entity, and to Zionists as people. The purpose of this messaging is not only to justify the terrorism of Hamas and its affiliates in Gaza within Western academia and society at large but also to establish an environment where violence against Jews and anyone else associated with Israel could be construed as acceptable, justified, or even heroic.
- Within hours of Hamas’s October 7 attack, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called for Hamas’s “resistance abroad” to “join this battle any way they can.” He also stated, “[l]et us be partners in creating this great victory, inshallah.” Three days later, Mr. Mashal—the leader of
Hamas’s diaspora office…—called on Hamas’s global supporters to be “part of this battle.” - Within hours of the attack, the language of the Hamas-authored disinformation campaign appeared in NSJP propaganda across social media and on college campuses. Exactly as AMP intended, NSJP acted as Hamas’s loyal foot soldiers for Hamas’s propaganda battle on university campuses across the United States. The next day, NSJP released its Day of Resistance Toolkit (“NSJP Toolkit”) across more than 300 American college campuses and on the internet.
- The NSJP Toolkit…compels Defendants, their members, and their allies to provide “real” support to Hamas not only through their arguments and rhetoric, but also through “confrontation” that includes, among other things, “armed struggle” and violence.
- NSJP [has] confirmed it was “PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement.”…There is no ambiguity: Defendants identify themselves as not just aligned with Hamas’s terrorist activities, but “PART of” them.
- The NSJP Toolkit is not a rhetorical tool. It is an instruction manual.
- The NSJP Toolkit directed Defendants’ members and allies “to engage in meaningful actions that go beyond symbolism and rhetoric” to include all potential forms of resistance, including “armed struggle” and violence.
- In short, Defendants act as Hamas’s public relations division and recruit domestic foot soldiers not only to disseminate Hamas’s propaganda but also to foment violence, chaos, and fear across the United States to intimidate citizens and coerce change in American policy. This is all in support Hamas’s short and long-term goals for its international terrorist activities.
Scary stuff, indeed.
Let’s hope Plaintiffs prevail in this civil case and AMP and NSJP are found liable for the damages Plaintiffs have undoubtedly suffered.
Jonathan Turley has a great X thread explaining how this works:
More insightful commentary:
And as Laura Powell states below: “One of the spokespeople for the UCLA protesters explains their end goal is for ‘more than divestment.’ She says, ‘Given that the University of California is founded on colonialism, it’s inherently a violent institution.’ She argues the UC system is linked to both foreign wars and domestic police brutality and demands this be addressed.
She’s saying the quiet part out loud. They intend to dismantle our domestic institutions. The Palestinian cause is just a warmup.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY