Hamas Attack Survivors Sue Student Protesters

Several survivors of Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel are suing pro-Palestinian student activists amid nationwide campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

The lawsuit, filed in the United District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Wednesday, alleges National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) are "aiding and abetting terrorists."

The plaintiffs include five U.S. citizens who survived the Hamas attack on a music festival on October 7, as well as one whose brother was killed in that attack. They "were among the many victims that suffered, and continue to suffer, at Hamas's hand," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants are "not innocent advocacy groups, but rather the propaganda arm of a terrorist organization operating in plain sight."

Newsweek has contacted AMP and NSJP for comment via their websites and email outside business hours and will update this article if comment is received. An attorney representing the plaintiffs has also been contacted for comment via email.

NSJP is "a vast and diverse network of students" that "seeks to empower, unify, and support student organizers as they push forward demands for Palestinian liberation & self-determination on their campuses," according to its website.

AMP's website says it "works to educate, organize, and mobilize the Muslim-American community, as well as allies in other communities, to advance Palestinian rights."

The lawsuit alleges that "through NSJP, AMP uses propaganda to intimidate, convince and recruit uninformed, misguided and impressionable college soldiers to serve as foot soldiers for Hamas on campus and beyond."

It alleges that the groups are coordinating the "occupation of dozens of college campuses across the country to 'force' the American government and academia to bend to Hamas' will."

It adds: "In short, the Defendants act as Hamas's public relations division and recruit domestic foot soldiers not only to disseminate Hamas's propaganda but also to foment violence, chaos, and fear across the United States to intimidate citizens and coerce change in American policy."

The nationwide campus protests began at Columbia University, where students set up a "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" on the campus on April 17, the same day the university's president spoke at a congressional hearing about antisemitism on college campuses. The following day, Columbia called in police to clear the encampment, resulting in more than 100 arrests.

But the students soon returned to rebuild the encampment and inspired a wave of similar encampments on campuses across the country. They are calling for their universities to cut financial ties to Israel and decry the rising number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip following Hamas' deadly attack on October 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostages in Hamas' attack. Since then, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, The Associated Press reported, citing the Gaza Health Ministry.

Universities have called in police to crack down on protests. On Tuesday night, police officers entered Columbia's campus and cleared an encampment, along with a building occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters, forcefully arresting dozens of people. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools, according to an AP tally. In a few cases, universities have struck agreements with protest organizers.

Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests antisemitic, and some Jewish students have reported being targeted and feeling unsafe on campus. Protest organizers—which include Jewish students—say their movement is a peaceful one protesting the war and defending Palestinian rights. Critics of Israel also say that allegations of antisemitism are being weaponized to smear student protesters and deflect from Israel's actions in Gaza.

The lawsuit claims that despite Columbia's chapter of the NSJP being suspended, the defendants "have been particularly successful at fomenting terror, sowing discord and disrupting campus life at Columbia University."

The lawsuit states that the case is "not about independent political advocacy," but organizations "whose very creation was intended to provide continuous, systematic, and substantial assistance to a Foreign Terrorist Organization and its allies."

It is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.