A lawsuit filed in USA by some families of victims of 7 October Hamas terror attack claims that several US-based anti-Israel groups had prior knowledge of the attack. The lawsuit has been filed seeking damages from the pro-Hamas groups and activists operating in the USA.
Six relatives of victims kept hostage by Hamas have filed the suit against detained Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil and several student groups for allegedly “aiding and abetting Hamas’ continuing acts of international terrorism.” In the most shocking claim, the suit reveals that Columbia University’s Students for Justice in Palestine had prior knowledge of the terror attack by Hamas.
The claim is based on an Instagram post by Columbia SJP, posted just before the Hamas terror attack on Israel, which states “We are back”. The lawsuit states, “. 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 “Say tuned.” Before the post, Columbia SJP’s account had been dormant for months.
While the suit states that the Instagram post was made just 3 minutes before the attack, later it has been revealed that it was 4 hours before the attack. The confusion occurred due to different time zones.
The petitioners accuse Columbia SJP of being part of American propaganda arm of Hamas, adding that it is US-based in-house public relations firm of Hamas, “which has changed forms several times to evade criminal and civil liability.”
“Columbia SJP was the leading organizer of pro-Hamas disruptions, encampments, and riots on Columbia’s campus, including virulent antisemitic protests that harassed and physically intimidated Jewish students and faculty, glorified Hamas, engaged in dangerous premeditated unlawful acts, and significantly impaired Columbia University’s ability to provide educational services to its students,” the suit states.
While the group was suspended by the university in November 2023, the lawsuit says that it continues to operate covertly.
The lawsuit also mentions a “toolkit” disseminated by National Students for Justice in Palestine on October 8, 2023, and signing of the Towfan Al-Aqsa Statement to conclude that the groups named in the suit had prior knowledge of the attack.
The suit also names other groups as respondents such as Mahmoud Khalil of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Nerdeen Kiswani of Within Our Lifetime-United For Palestine, Maryam Alwan of the Columbia SJP and Cameron Jones of the Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace.
