The family of Israeli hostages is suing Mahmoud Khalil and other Columbia University protest organizers as they allegedly run Hamas' “propaganda arm” on campus.
The lawsuit filed Monday in the Southern District of New York, sues Halil, a graduate student at Columbia University, a leading leader in the apartheid dibust and a spokesman for the so-called “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” and is head of Columbia Students for Palestinian Justice, Lifetime co-conspirator and chairman of the committee. Cameron Jones, the representative of Columbia Bernard's Jewish Voice.
“The defendant in this case is Hamas' propaganda division on New York City and Columbia University campuses,” the lawsuit states. “We know this because they promote themselves that way. Their self-descriptive acts that promote the goals of supporting Hamas include fear and assaulting Jewish students, illegally taking over public and university property on Columbia campuses, causing damage and physically assaulting Columbia University employees.”
The complaint says the defendant “seeks to act behind the veiled scarf and be primarily anonymous, but as a group, they ask for threats.”
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Thousands of march across Manhattan demanding the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbian student in New York City, on March 18, 2025. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“This case will lower these scarves and announce actions that violate the country's anti-terrorist law,” the lawsuit states. “This incident will ultimately hold that these hospitalized terrorists are responsible for their actions. Now is the time for American campuses to return to their centres for learning and be saved from their unforgiving occupations by Hamas' tragically misplaced cohort.”
The plaintiff is the victim of the heinous and ongoing conduct of international terrorism that began in Hamas' “October 7, 2023, the most deadly day for Jews since the Holocaust,” the complaint states.
They include six relatives of hostages who remain in custody in Gaza. Hostages released or rescued joined the lawsuit, including Iris Weinstein Haggai, daughter of the murdered Israeli-American Gad and Judy Haggai. Three American Israeli Defense Forces have also been appointed plaintiffs.
Anato Alon Beck, a law professor working with the National Centre for Jewish Advocacy (NJAC), said the lawsuit highlights national security issues.
“While the United States cherishes free expression, it clearly condemns violence. Ironically, those who defend such support are silent under Hamas' oppressive regime, harshly showing the contrast between our precious freedoms and their brutal tyranny,” she said in a statement.
Palestinian-American activist and co-founder and chair of within our lifetime, Neldeen Kiswani attended an anti-Israel rally outside a Trump building on Wall Street in Manhattan, New York on March 19, 2025. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The video shows the arrest of Colombian anti-Israel ring leader Mahmoud Khalil
“This incident gives a voice to facts that have not been spoken up until now. JVP, WOL, CUAD, justice students of Palestinian group, and student leaders on campuses nationwide, serve as tools for Hamas, the foreign terrorist organizations that dislike the United States and the foreign terrorist organizations claimed by these anti-Israel University protesters. “The leadership of these campus protesters is intentionally associated with people who praise all forms of physical, emotional, or economic harm that can be inflicted on the citizens of Western democracies.”
Hundreds of anti-Israel demonstrators will gather in front of Donald Trump's Wall Street building to protest in New York on March 19, 2025. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The right to defend and promote is widely interpreted on the US, in university campuses and on the vast numbers of fora,” said Mark Goldfeder, CEO of NJAC. “But it is not freedom and certainly does not involve violence, vandalism, physical intimidation, trespassing, or violations of university rules ensuring the safety of students, nor does it support the provision of material support for fear.”
Ariel F. Klepach, former NJAC federal prosecutor and senior litigation advisor, said, “This initial lawsuit aims to be directly responsible for Colombian alumni. As a Colombian alumni and Colombian alumni, our open and unreserved support for terrorism is protected.”
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“The people in charge now begin to face the consequences of their actions,” Klepach added.
