Anti-Israel activists accused in lawsuit of acting as ‘Hamas’ foot soldiers’

A lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York last month claims the leaders of several radical anti-Israel groups involved in 18 months of disruptive, violent and antisemitic protests on campuses and in the streets of New York City are “accountable for aiding and abetting Hamas’ continuing acts of international terrorism.”

In purported violation of the Antiterrorism Act and the Alien Tort Statue, the defendants are said to have “acted as Hamas’ foot soldiers in New York City,” and may have had foreknowledge of the designated foreign terror organization’s devastating Oct. 7 attacks.

Defendants in the case are Within Our Lifetime and its founder Nerdeen Kiswani, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and its representative Maryam Alwan, Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and its representative Cameron Jones, and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) and its representative Mahmoud Khalil, who is currently in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The lawsuit asserts that the associational defendants have “distribute[d] Hamas-created and affiliated propaganda, incite[d] fear and violence, and attack[ed] critical academic, economic, and infrastructure centers in New York City,” as well as having “repeatedly terrorized and assaulted Jews across New York City and on Columbia University’s campus, physically assaulted Columbia University employees, and illegally seized and damaged public and private property.”

DUFFY SLAMS MTA OVER ‘FACT CHECK’ ON ANTI-ISRAEL MOB’S GRAND CENTRAL TAKEOVER

Nerdeen Kiswani, co-founder and leader of Within Our Lifetime, speaks at a demonstration near Columbia University on Feb. 2, 2024, in New York City. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

The details of the allegations are thorough. To demonstrate how the defendants “resoundingly and knowingly answered Hamas’ call to action” on and after Oct. 7, the lawsuit cites how the defendants knowingly “obtain[ed] and disseminat[ed]” a Hamas propaganda document, which contained directions created by the Hamas Media Office for spinning the narrative of their deadly attacks. By “painstakingly follow[ing]” the document, the lawsuit alleges defendants “directly responded to, and followed orders from, Hamas.” 

The lawsuit also supplies several indicators that defendants may have had foreknowledge of the heinous Oct. 7 attack, to include “a highly suggestive social media post published moments before the October 7 attack began” in which Columbia SJP posted on Instagram “We are back!!” after a months-long hiatus. 

On Oct. 7, Kiswani utilized marketing materials that “would not be released until the next day” in a National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) “Toolkit” demonstrating how SJP organizations across the country could support the Gazan “resistance.” 

Emaciated Israeli hostages, from left, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy are taken by terrorists to a stage before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Feb. 8, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Following Oct. 7, Within Our Lifetime promoted a “Day of Rage” in New York City while Columbia SJP and Columbia JVP promoted their own “Day of Resistance.” The mere announcements of these events forced closures of Jewish schools and institutions, and “even forced Columbia University – a non-Jewish institution – to close its campus as a safety precaution,” while Jewish students “were advised to lock their doors and remain inside for their own safety,” according to the lawsuit. 

The lawsuit names Khalil as the purported leader of Columbia SJP’s Day of Resistance.

COLUMBIA’S ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS SAY TRUMP PULLING $400 MILLION IN GRANTS FROM UNIVERSITY IS A ‘SCARE TACTIC’

In November 2023, the suit describes how a “’Shut it Down for Palestine’ event descended into – as planned – anti-Jewish and vitriolic hatred and threats,” with speakers shouting “Death to Jews!” and “encourage[ing] Hamas and… comrades across Columbia’s campus to hunt down and assault pro-Israel students.” 

The next day, Columbia University suspended Columbia SJP and Columbia JVP, at which time “Khalil and former members and/or organizers of Columbia SJP became leaders of CUAD.” As a result, CUAD “became the primary organizer of the violent and antisemitic protests that would foment terror, sow discord, and disrupt campus life at Columbia for over a year.” 

Hamas terrorists kidnap a bloodied Israeli woman into the Gaza Strip. (Hamas-Telegram)

Khalil would later become the lead negotiator of the Columbia encampment, which the lawsuit notes was “well-supplied with identical tents, toiletries, food, and professional signage.” Based on a statement from Shlomi Ziv, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who was held captive by Hamas for 246 days following his kidnapping at the Nova Music Festival, “Hamas and [American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)]/NSJP provided financial, organizational, and other support… for the Encampment.”

Ziv alleges that his “Hamas captors bragged about having Hamas operatives on American university campuses,” and even “showed him Al-Jazeera stories and photographs of protests at Columbia University that were organized by Associational Defendants.”

APPARENT ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVISTS SPLASH RED PAINT ON HOMES OF JEWISH OFFICIALS AT BROOKLYN MUSEUM 

Anti-Israel demonstrators attend a protest at Columbia University in New York City, just days after the Hamas slaughter in southern Israel, Oct. 12, 2023. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)

Given the “legal chasm between independent political advocacy and coordinating with a foreign terrorist organization to seed pro-terror propaganda throughout America’s largest city,” the lawsuit alleges the defendants’ “actions violate the Antiterrorism Act and the law of nations.”

According to the Jerusalem Post, the National Jewish Advocacy Center, Greenberg Traurig LLP, the Schoen Law Firm, and the Holtzman Vogel Law Firm filed the suit on behalf of plaintiffs who include Ziv, several Columbia University students who have served with the Israel Defense Forces, and a number of American and Israeli citizens whose family members, most of whom are believed dead, remain in Hamas captivity. 

People protest the banning of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace at Columbia University on Nov. 20, 2023 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The lawsuit especially states that Khalil, “on information and belief, directly coordinates with Hamas, AMP/NSJP and/or other agents and affiliates of Hamas and related terrorist organizations.” The filers state that his detention by ICE in March may have been “based on many of his actions described in this Complaint.”

Khalil’s involvement in the Columbia protests was cited as a rationale for his removal during his April 11 hearing, when Judge Jamee Comans ruled that Khalil may be deported. Khalil also withheld past employment with the Syrian office in the Beirut British Embassy and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) as well as his membership in the CUAD when applying for a green card.

This withholding of information, according to federal officials, made Khalil “inadmissible at the time of his adjustment.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Disruptive events in New York City show no signs of abating. In March, students stormed a classroom at Columbia University and took over a building in affiliated Barnard College, where they assaulted an employee. A Within Our Lifetime protest on April 7 “took over” the main concourse of Grand Central Station.

Fox News Digital reached out to CUAD, Columbia SJP, Within Our Lifetime, and Columbia-Barnard JVP for comment about the allegations contained within the lawsuit, but received no response.