Members of Harvard Kennedy School of Government Dean Council resigned from his position on October 7, 2023 after being sued by nearly 200 American families killed in the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli concert participants.
According to the lawsuit, Palestinian-American billionaire Bashar Masri has been accused of Hamas of “aid and beg” by helping terrorist groups build tunnel and rocket launch sites, allowing top Hamas leaders to use the facility at his facility in Gaza.
Masli resigned from his Harvard post after the allegations. Kennedy Government School confirmed his resignation in an email to Fox News Digital on Thursday.
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Harvard faculty and staff are holding signs from inside Harvard Yard at a press conference by faculty supporters at Harvard University, the Palestinian Union, outside Harvard Yard. (John Tlumaki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“After a conversation with the Kennedy government school, Bashar Masri has resigned from his role in the dean’s council, but he is seeking the rejection of false claims made against him,” Masri’s office told Fox News Digital.
“Neither he nor the companies associated with him have engaged in illegal activities or provided support for violence or extremists,” the statement said. “Bashar Masri has been involved in development and humanitarian work for decades. His continued efforts to promote peace and stability in the region have been widely recognized by all concerned people in the US and in the region. He is clearly opposed to all kinds of violence.”
The lawsuit draws a different picture.
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Bashar al-Masri, chairman of Palestinian Development and Investment Company Ltd., will speak at the launch ceremony of a large-scale solar energy project in Eastern, Gaza city on March 10, 2021. (Xinhua/rizek abdeljawad byotty images)
“Masuri and the companies he manages – including the defendant’s Palestinian Development & Investment Company (“Padico”), the Palestinian Real Estate Investment Company (“PRICO”), and the Palestinian Industrial Real Estate Development Company (“Piedco”) – developed and operated major properties in Gaza for apparently legitimate purposes. Litigation, It was filed April 7th in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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“But in reality they were also used to construct and hide Hamas attack tunnels, store and launch rockets to train Israel, host Hamas leadership and foot soldiers, Hamas naval commanders, and also to produce electricity for Hamas attack tunnel infrastructure,” according to the lawsuit. “Just before the attack on October 7th, Masli set up an individual closely tied to Hamas as the chairman of Peedco.”
The leader was identified in the lawsuit in 2017 as Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip in Hamas. The lawsuit alleges that Masri’s luxurious beachfront hotel will be used to “host public and private Hamas events.” The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) killed Singhwar in October last year.
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On April 5th, 2025, Palestinian businessman Bashar Masri stands among participants during an event at QASR AR Rawabi in Palestine. (AFP via Mohammad Nazal/Middle East Images/AFP)
Masri is the man behind the $350 million Rawabi project, an effort to create the first modern industrial area on the West Bank. The lawsuit alleges that the project is primarily funded by Qatar’s state-owned real estate investment company.
“In 2018, he established and currently funded the Graduate Rawabi Fellowship for Palestinian Leaders at Harvard University Kennedy School. The fellowship program offers tuition, health insurance and scholarships to graduate students in Palestinian at Harvard University,” the lawsuit states.
The Gaza Industrial Park (GIE) is known as the “Crown Jewel” of Masuri’s development. The lawsuit says it was funded through Masuri’s company with money from USAID in Washington, the United Nations, the European Union and most recently the International Finance Company (IFC).
“In developing Gie, Masri and other defendants worked directly, openly and intentionally, with Hamas senior leaders, including Hamas officials responsible for developing the military industrial base in Hamas in the months prior to the attack on October 7th,” the lawsuit says.
Views of the Harvard Yard camp. The “liberated zone” had several indications that denounced the genocide and called for a sale from Israel. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)
According to the lawsuit, Gie looked like a completely legal company that produced products to meet the needs of ordinary people, but Hamas and the companies he manages were hiding in the border as Hamas delves into nearby Interlilia and attacks Israel near Israeliers.
The lawsuit alleges that GIE was used to “investigate the fences at the border and test the IDF’s response times and countermeasures up to the October 7 attack,” claiming that “Hamas installed an anti-tank battery in one of Gie’s water towers facing the border.”
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Masuri’s office called the complaint “baseless.”
“He was shocked to learn that through the media that an unfounded complaint was filed today, referring to false allegations against him and the specific businesses he is involved in,” his office told Fox News Digital. “Neither he nor those entities engage in illegal activities or provide support for violence or extremists.”
