Anti-Israel Activists Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Over Chicago O’Hare Airport Blockade
Lawsuit says inbound vehicle traffic to O’Hare stopped entirely for nearly three hours, leaving thousands of motorists “falsely imprisoned” in their cars.
A group of anti-Israel activists has been sued over the Chicago O’Hare airport blockade that left thousands of motorists trapped in their cars earlier this year.
Apparently, they thought that wreaking havoc with everyday Americans’ travel plans would drum up support to “free Palestine.”
Narrator: Every time a "pro-Palestinian" blocks a road, hundreds of Americans become pro-Israel https://t.co/brQb5nYAj9
— William A. Jacobson (@wajacobson) April 15, 2024
But the travelers who had to abandon their cars and drag their luggage to the airport so they wouldn’t miss their flights weren’t won over.
They were furious:
A pro-Palestine mob is blocking the road to O'Hare International Airport, forcing angry passengers to ditch their cars. pic.twitter.com/tPIe4TY9Ne
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 15, 2024
Earlier this week, the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute (HLLI) announced a class action lawsuit against the activists on behalf of the victims of the nearly three-hour traffic stoppage. They seek redress for their client, Christopher Manhart—and everyone else stuck in their cars that day. Manhart missed his flight and important meetings because of the blockade, according to the lawsuit.
The Chicago demonstration was one of many carried out by anti-Israel activists in major sites across the country on the morning of April 15th, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, and Seattle-Tacoma Airport, as we covered here.
Those demonstrations were part of a broadscale operation—an international organizing effort called the “A15 Action,” the lawsuit says. The stated goal of the A15 plan was to “cause pain to the economy” and “to disrupt and blockade economic logistical hubs and the flow of capital—all in support of “Palestinian liberation” following the Hamas massacre on October 7th.
According to the complaint, the A15 campaign drew support from Hamas and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The lawsuit explains how, while Hamas is fighting one battle on the ground in Gaza, it’s fighting another—a propaganda battle—on the international stage.
The anti-Israel activists groups named in the lawsuit are allegedly Hamas’s propaganda arm in the United States. They hope to generate international publicity against the “Zionist war machine'” in the wake of October 7th.
The groups include American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), WESPAC Foundation, and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR). According to the lawsuit, they planned, advertised, and coordinated the Chicago blockade.
The lawsuit also names individuals involved in blocking access to O’Hare. One is Jinan Chehade, a Georgetown Law School graduate who came into the spotlight when the prominent law firm, Foley & Lardner, rescinded her job offer after she voiced support for the Hamas massacre of innocent Israeli citizens. An active member of SJP, Chehade was a primary organizer of the blockade, according to the lawsuit, and used her own body to help stop the flow of traffic around the airport, for which she was later arrested.
And then there is Simone Tucker, a student organizer for JVP in Chicago. She also allegedly organized and participated in the blockade, later bragging: “We made our point. We stood in solidarity with our comrades in Palestine, and we disrupted business as usual.”
Taken together, these groups and individuals were allegedly part of the international propaganda war against “the Zionist entity.”
But, the lawsuit says, it’s a war Manhart and the other stranded motorists had nothing to do with and didn’t ask to be dragged into. The anti-Israel activists forced the plaintiffs to participate in their demonstration by falsely imprisoning them in their cars, they say in their complaint, seeking damages and an injunction to make sure it never happens again.
And in this way, the lawsuit shows an avenue of relief from the harm caused by the Chicago demonstrators’ “tortious behavior masqerading as protest.” Protestors “cease being protestors when they use force to block expressways full of bystanders trapped on the roads to create a massive public nuisance,” the lawsuit says. “The freedom of association protected by the First Amendment does not extend to joining with others for the purpose of depriving third parties of their lawful rights.”
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Comments
the chi city council also backs the homeless sleeping at the airport
take back the city !!
Golly, the stated goal of the A15 Action plan sounds suspiciously like domestic terrorism.
If only the US govt. had some sort of 3 letter alphabet agency tasked with law enforcement and prosecution of terrorists who imprison others, impede commerce, travel, and debilitate the economy.
If only…
Liberal judges will through out the suit. Saying the class action participants have no standing. Herr Garland concurs. FKH
If there is a judgement, can it be discharged in bankruptcy? Poetic if these punks had damages like a ball and chain for life!!
Everything I needed to know about Islam I learned on 9/11/01 and *nothing* that has happened in the intervening 23 years has changed my opinion. As a Christian, I solidly support my Jewish brothers and sisters and am solidly in support of Israel. I condemn in the harshest tones the antisemitism that oozes from the fetid Biden administration.
Is that clear enough? I certainly hope so.
That 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hailing from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Lebanon who were all adherents of radical Wahhabism hated the USA and its culture? Most Muslims don’t like these Wahbabi weirdos either b/c they are so extreme in their beliefs and due to the willingness of the Wahhabi to use force/terror even on other Muslims to enforce their narrow minded views of what is/isn’t acceptable not just from a religious perspective but in daily life. This guys are puritanical Karens with firearms and zero reluctance to use them to get their way.
Nope. Opinion hasn’t changed. You can try again if you’d like.
What you are stating at root is that it is correct to say that:
All of X Group are responsible for Y action even where they had zero knowledge of or participation in Y action.
This is not only not true but dangerously so. We don’t judge individuals by their religious group or other ideology but by their individual actions. When you fail to that you are putting every ‘white’ male, ‘Christian’ US Citizen who has concerns about the size, scope and power of Federal Govt and its actions at Ruby Ridge in the same category as Tim McKay.
I would point out that many on left, some in positions of authority/power, seem to take exactly this stance re Tim McKay and those of us not enamoured of the benefits of lefty/woke ideology. They happily lump all of us in with that monster. I reject this crap when they do it or anyone else does.
I don’t seek to change your mind. It’s a free Country (for the moment) and we can both believe and express whatever opinion we wish.
They’re not extremists, they’re fundamentalists. They are doing what the Quran strictly requires of them as adherents to the faith. But too many other Muslims use the religion as cover for criminal acts and predation against others, so it doesn’t take whack jobs for Islam to be a problem. It is fundamentally at odds with western democratic governments because it is a fusion of religion and social control (if not a foundation for government) as once was the Catholic church. Free societies ironically can’t effectively defend themselves for their own promotion and protection of freedom of religion.
When Muslims are in the minority they demand minority rights. When Muslims are in the majority there are no minority rights.
I don’t really disagree other than your error in claiming the adherents of Wahbabism are not radical extremists…but what’s that got to do with 9/11?
How many Muslims have condemned the attacks? To my knowledge zero have come forward against either 9-11 or Oct 7th.
Do Muslims have a duty to condemn violent acts outside the confines of a declared war? Do Christians. Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists, Agnostics and Deists have the same duty? Where is the proper place to list their opposition to the violence?
Blaming every Muslim for 9/11 or any other terror attack carried out by a Muslim or creating an expectation that every Muslim worldwide must publicly denounce it seems unrealistic. Just as unrealistic as demanding the adherent of another religion denounce the acts of their co religionists.
Islam reflects the nature of the barbarian who created it.
Nice!
and we disrupted business as usual.
Oh dear. That sure sounds like a confession.
“The freedom of association protected by the First Amendment does not extend to joining with others for the purpose of depriving third parties of their lawful rights.”
Yeah, there’s that adjective in there related to “assembly.” Let’s see, what was it…? Oh yeah, “peaceable.”
Free Palestine*
*With purchase of Palestine at regular price
I have a daughter in MN who literally believes Israel committed the crimes against humanity last Oct 7th, raped infants and burned them alive in ovens. She’s 100% fact proof and steers any conversation away from the obvious truth
Don’t underestimate the effectiveness of radical Islam propaganda
Re-education won’t help, but a lobotomy might…
condolences
Is this complements of our educational system?
I was thinking “This is also a First Amendment/14th Amendment/civil rights issue.” Then, bingo.
Been saying at least since the BLM riots that when a mob forces a motorist to stop, they’re committing a kidnapping and/or an unlawful arrest. Even if only a very few protesters are blocking a vehicle and are directly responsible for its arrest, the other mobsters in the vicinity of the vehicle are accessories, because they prevent motorists from simply driving out of the ring of people in immediate contact with the vehicle.
If the suit can survive to the point of interrogatories and depositions it’s going to be lit. You’d finally have the opportunity to find out who is funding all these efforts. We know who, sort of, but we don’t know the details, and this would be the light in the kitchen.
2 mph driving through those idiots would solve all those problems.
Wanted to reply, not down vote. I have an F550 which could educate this kind of POS. A V nose snow plow would make a nice touch, preventing anyone from being run over.