^{A view of protesters demonstrating outside the campus of Columbia University in New York City, April 22, 2024. Credit: Evan Schneider/U.N. Photo.}

By Vita Fellig

Relatives of Oct. 7 victims and hostages held in Gaza sued Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate whom the Trump administration is seeking to deport, and anti-Israel student groups at Columbia on Monday, alleging that they are “accountable for aiding and abetting Hamas’s continuing acts of international terrorism and violations of the law of nations.”

The plaintiffs—10 of them named, and five anonymous—are seeking punitive damages under federal anti-terrorism laws in the suit, which they filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

“Defendants in this case are Hamas’s propaganda arm in New York City and on the Columbia University campus,” per the complaint. “We know this, because they advertise themselves as such and their self-described acts in furtherance of their goals to assist Hamas have included terrorizing and assaulting Jewish students, unlawfully taking over and damaging public and university property on Columbia’s campus and physically assaulting Columbia University employees.”

Anti-Israel student activists don scarves to hide their identities, per the lawsuit. 

“This case will pull down those scarves and unveil acts that violate this country’s antiterrorism laws,” the plaintiffs state. “This case will finally hold these admitted terrorists accountable for their actions. It is time for American campuses to return to being centers for learning and to be saved from the relentless occupation by Hamas’s tragically misguided cohorts.”

Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of The International Legal Forum and one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, told JNS that Khalil, a recent Columbia graduate who was a leader of anti-Israel protests on campus, is not being targeted for deportation due to his speech.

“Enough is enough. We must bring to justice not only the perpetrators of the Oct. 7 massacre but hold accountable all those who support, enable and collaborate with them in the United States, like Mr. Khalil and the defendants in this case,” Ostrovsky said. 

“In Khalil’s case, he has gone outside the realm of the First Amendment in providing material support for a U.S. designated terror group and incitement to violence, which is prohibited and outlawed,” he said. “In its deportation proceedings against Khalil, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has also charged him with leading activities aligned to Hamas.”

Mark Goldfeder, CEO and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center and another attorney for the plaintiffs, stated that anti-Israel student activists have contributed to supporting terrorism. 

“The right to advocate and even to propagandize is broadly construed in the United States, on college campuses and in a vast array of fora,” he stated. “It is not, however, unfettered and certainly does not encompass acts of violence, vandalism, physical intimidation, trespassing and breach of university rules that ensure student safety.”

“Nor does it support the provision of material support for terror,” Goldfeder added. 

Beyond Khalil, the federal lawsuit also names Within Our Lifetime, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace and Columbia University Apartheid Divest, as well as some of their representatives.

Source: JNS