A lawsuit filed by relatives of October 7 victims in the USA has alleged that Columbia University’s Students for Justice in Palestine campaign group was aware of the terror attacks before they began.
The suit, brought against a collection of 15 individuals and activist groups, labelled the defendants as “Hamas’s propaganda arm in New York City”.
It added: “We know this because they advertise themselves as such. Their self-described acts in furtherance of their goals to assist Hamas have included terrorising and assaulting Jewish students, unlawfully taking over and damaging public and university property on Columbia’s campus, and physically assaulting Columbia University employees.”
Perhaps the most significant claim, though, is that there was some degree of coordination of communications between the Columbia chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the terror group on the October 7 attacks.
The plaintiffs point to the allegation that Columbia SJP posted on its Instagram account with the caption “We are back” just three minutes before the attacks began, following months of social media inactivity.
One of the claimants, former hostage Shlomi Ziv, also alleged that his captors “bragged about having Hamas operatives on American university campuses” and showed him media reports of the Columbia protests.
Those bringing the suit are seeking damages under US anti-terror legislation on the basis that the defendants provided “material support” for Hamas.
Meanwhile, another of the defendants has been named as Mahmoud Khalil, whose arrest by immigration officials in connection with his role in the protests has proved a divisive issue in the US.
Khalil, a Syrian-born postgraduate student and green card holder, acted as a negotiator with university administrators on behalf of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which is also named in the suit.
CUAD has previously been accused of expressing support for Hamas and Hezbollah and has said that it supports “liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance” – but there is no suggestion that Khalil himself expressed similar views.
Khalil is currently being held in an immigration detention centre, with the Trump administration attempting to revoke his green card under an obscure national security law despite there being no criminal charge against him.
The deportation attempt is snarled up in judicial review, but the new suit is attempting to set a precedent against Khalil by accusing him of providing “material support for terror”, going beyond the bounds of protection under the First Amendment.
Elsewhere, a court has blocked an attempt to detain Yunseo Chung, another student involved in the protest movement, as the administration seeks to deport her.
As with Khalil, Chung’s case is likely to cause the Trump team some legal headaches as she holds a green card, having emigrated to the US from South Korea as a child.
The deportations are also set to face political resistance from some Democrats in Congress, with Senator Bernie Sanders labelling the Chung as a “political dissident” and claiming that the administration is attempting to “exile” her based on her beliefs.
He added: “Trump is trying to deport a Columbia University student who has been a permanent resident in the U.S. since she was 7.
“Her ‘crime’? Attending a protest against the war in Gaza. No, Mr. President. This is a democracy.”
