Lawsuit Alleges Columbia Anti-Israel Groups had Advanced Knowledge of October 7th Attacks
Families of victims and hostages of the October 7th attacks by Hamas on Israel have launched a federal lawsuit against Columbia University. One of the most fascinating aspects of it is that it makes a credible case that anti-Israel groups at the school, such as ‘Students for Justice in Palestine’ were given advance notice of the attacks.
This would certainly explain why these groups seemed to have everything in place to launch their protests and encampments immediately after the attacks.
Reuters reports:
Lawsuit says Palestinian advocates at Columbia University further Hamas’ propagandaOrganizers and supporters of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University were sued on Monday in Manhattan federal court for allegedly functioning as Hamas’ “propaganda arm” and “in-house public relations firm” in New York City and on campus.The lawsuit was filed by nine U.S. and Israeli citizens who were victims of Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, including relatives of people murdered or taken hostage, and two affiliated with Columbia who reported mistreatment there.They accused the defendants of having since 2023 coordinated their efforts with Hamas, which the U.S. State Department deems a terrorist group, to further its attacks, and said some defendants “on information and belief” had advance knowledge of the attack.The defendants include Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead the Columbia demonstrations and was a negotiator between university administrators and the student group coalition and co-defendant Columbia University Apartheid Divest.Other defendants include Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace, and some of their leaders.
Professor Jacobson commented about this on Twitter/X:
A New York Post report about this includes a detail about social media that looks rather damning:
The lawsuit equates the defendants with members of Hamas’ propaganda division whose actions have recruited violent offenders to spread chaos and violence in the Big Apple and across America.It also goes as far as to suggest that some of the defendants had prior knowledge of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack because of the Columbia SJP’s inclusion in a signed statement supporting Hamas just hours before the massacre.“Three minutes before Hamas began its attack on October 7, Columbia SJP posted on Instagram ‘We are back!!’ and announced its first meeting of the semester would be announced and that viewers should ‘Stay tuned,’” according to the suit.The plaintiffs ultimately alleged that every time Hamas and its allies would put out a call for action on social media, the student groups would answer, with the encampment at Columbia’s campus and the Hamilton Hall takeover serving as prime examples.
That could be just a coincidence, but it certainly doesn’t look good.
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