Hamas hostages’ families sue Mahmoud Khalil, anti-Israel groups for ‘aiding and abetting’ terror group

The families of hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack are suing detained Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil and several student groups for allegedly “aiding and abetting Hamas’ continuing acts of international terrorism.”

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in Manhattan federal court, names Khalil as one of the heads of the anti-Israel protests that engulfed the Morningside Heights campus last year, which the families claimed effectively helped to spread Hamas’ hateful rhetoric.

“Defendants in this case are Hamas’ propaganda arm in New York City and on the Columbia University campus,” the suit states.

“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,” the families added.

The plaintiffs include six family members of captives who remain held in Gaza. Some hostages who were freed or rescued also joined the lawsuit — including Iris Weinstein Haggai, the daughter of slain Israel-Americans Gad and Judy Haggai — along with three American Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

Along with Khalil, the lawsuit names Nerdeen Kiswani of Within Our Lifetime-United For Palestine, Maryam Alwan of the Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine and Cameron Jones, of the Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace as defendants in the case.

Representatives for the defendants could not be reached for comment.

The families allege that as Hamas launched its brutal attack, where the terror group killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 others, it put out a message abroad for it’s supporters to “join the battle in any way they can.”

The lawsuit accuses Khalil, Kiswani, Alwan and Jones of taking up the call and preparing to launch anti-Israel rallies at Columbia University.

“Associational Defendants have distributed pro-terror propaganda produced by and literally stamped with the logo of the ‘Hamas Media Office,’” the filing claims.

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.

The suit argues that the defendants are not protected under the constitutional right to free speech and protest, claiming their actions were coordinated with a foreign terrorist group.

“Associational Defendants are not independent advocates; they are expert propagandists and recruiters for international foreign terrorist organizations and nation-state proxies operating in plain sight in New York City.” the lawsuit adds, claiming the defendants violated America’s Antiterrorism Act.

The lawsuit seeks to have the defendants charged with violating the law, as well as paying unspecified damages to the plaintiffs.

The filing comes as Khalil faces new claims from the Department of Justice, which claimed in court papers over the weekend that the Columbia graduate student, who is a green card holder, should be deported for allegedly hiding his ties to the controversial United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees on his visa application.