Lawsuit accuses anti-Israel Columbia protesters of being Hamas’s ‘in-house PR firm’
Plaintiffs include relatives of people murdered or taken hostage on Oct. 7; US judge blocks immigration officials from detaining Columbia student as she fights effort to deport her
Organizers and supporters of pro-Palestinian demonstrations against Israel at Columbia University were sued on Monday in Manhattan federal court for allegedly functioning as Hamas’s “propaganda arm” and “in-house public relations firm” in New York City and on campus.
The lawsuit was filed by nine US and Israeli citizens who were victims of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, devastating attack on Israel, including relatives of people murdered or taken hostage, and two affiliated with Columbia who reported mistreatment there.
They accused the defendants of having since 2023 coordinated their efforts with Hamas, which the US State Department deems a terrorist group, to further its attacks.
The defendants include Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead the Columbia demonstrations and was a negotiator between university administrators and the student group coalition and co-defendant Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which has endorsed “armed resistance” against Israel and called “for the total eradication of Western civilization.”
Other defendants include Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (“CSJP”), Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace, and some of their leaders.
“It would be illegal for Hamas to directly retain a public relations firm in the United States or hire enforcers to impose their will on American cities,” the complaint said. “Yet those are precisely the services that the [defendant groups] knowingly provide to Hamas.”
The plaintiffs also accused some group defendants “on information and belief” of having prior knowledge of Hamas’s terror atrocities. They cited the timing and substance of statements made shortly before, during and after it occurred, including a CSJP post on Instagram three minutes before the attack that said, “We are back!!”
The defendants or lawyers who represented them in Columbia-related litigation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Khalil’s lawyers have said he has no links to Hamas. The Trump administration is trying to deport Khalil, a legal permanent resident, who is being detained in Louisiana.
Mark Goldfeder, a lawyer at the National Jewish Advocacy Center representing the plaintiffs, in an email said the defendants’ coordinating activities with Hamas were known because they have said so repeatedly.
“There is nothing wrong with being pro-Palestinian, and pro-Hamas speech is still protected speech in most contexts,” he said. “The issue here is the material support of and coordination with a designated foreign terrorist organization.”
The civil lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating US antiterrorism law and the law of nations, and seeks unspecified compensatory, punitive and triple damages.
It was filed three days after Columbia agreed to change its policies toward protesters and security, and begin a review of academic Middle East programs at various departments.
The changes were part of an effort to restore $400 million of federal funding that US President Donald Trump pulled over allegations that Columbia tolerated antisemitism. The school has been a focal point of anti-Israel activity since thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, triggering the ongoing Gaza war.
The case is Haggai et al v Kiswani et al, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 25-02400.
Judge blocks federal officials from detaining Columbia student
On Tuesday, a judge ruled that a Korean Columbia University student, who is a legal permanent US resident and has participated in pro-Palestinian protests, cannot be detained by federal immigration officials for now as she fights the administration’s attempts to deport her.
Yunseo Chung, 21, has lived in the US since she was seven and sued the Trump administration on Monday to prevent her deportation. Her legal team was informed this month that her lawful permanent resident status was being revoked, according to court records in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The US Department of Homeland Security alleged Chung engaged in concerning conduct, including when she was arrested by police during a protest at Barnard College earlier this month that DHS termed “pro-Hamas,” as demonstrators, who took over the campus, handed out Hamas pamphlets.
Chung has not yet been arrested by federal officials. Immigration agents made multiple visits to her residence looking for her.
US District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order against the government, preventing Chung from being detained, court records showed.
NEW: ICE is hunting for Yunseo Chung, a Columbia student who attended pro-Palestine protests. Chung came to the US from Korea with her family at age 7, and was her high school's valedictorian. She's a lawful permanent resident. Here's what we know so far. ???? pic.twitter.com/hyCiyiz6cW
— Jason Paladino (@jason_paladino) March 24, 2025
Along with the cases at Columbia, Badar Khan Suri, an Indian studying at Georgetown University, was detained last week. A federal judge barred Suri’s deportation.
US officials on Friday asked Cornell University student Momodou Taal to turn himself in, Taal’s attorneys said, adding his visa was being revoked.
The Times of Israel Community.