ADL files fresh suit in US court over October 7 atrocities

The Anti-Defamation League and law firm Crowell & Moring LLP have filed a federal lawsuit in the US holding multiple Palestinian terror groups and their state sponsors accountable for the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on Israel, the second such suit in as many years.

The lawsuit invokes the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which allows US victims to sue state sponsors of terrorism, and the Anti-Terrorism Act, which enables claims against foreign terror groups and their supporters.

Plaintiffs include more than 140 US citizens who were killed, injured, or lost relatives in the massacre. They are seeking compensatory and punitive damages in order to both deliver justice and deter future attacks, ADL says.

The suit names Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, and the Popular Resistance Committees as defendants, along with state sponsors Iran, Syria and North Korea.

“The world must never forget what happened on October 7,” say David and Hazel Brief, whose son Yona died of injuries sustained in the attack. “We believe it is critical that those responsible for the horrific terror inflicted that day are held accountable in a court of law, to ensure the record is clear as to who helped support, plan and carry out the violence that day.”

One year ago, ADL and Crowell filed a separate lawsuit on behalf of 180 other plaintiffs alleging state sponsors of terror Iran, Syria and North Korea provided material support to Hamas, which enabled it to commit the October 7 atrocities. That case is still ongoing, ADL says.