October 7 victims sue Iran, Syria, North Korea for billions in US court
More than 125 plaintiffs claim that all three countries provided Palestinian terror group with financial, military and tactical support it needed to carry out devastating assault
NEW YORK — Victims of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel sued Iran, Syria, and North Korea on Monday, saying their governments supplied the terrorists with money, weapons, and know-how needed to carry out the assault that precipitated Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, seeks at least $4 billion in damages for “a coordination of extrajudicial killings, hostage-takings, and related horrors for which the defendants provided material support and resources.”
“While nothing will ever undo the unbearable pain Hamas caused our family or the brutal losses we’ve suffered, we hope this case will bring some sense of justice,” plaintiff Nahar Neta, whose American-born mother Adrienne Neta was killed on October 7, said in a statement.
Filed by the Anti-Defamation League, it is the largest case against foreign countries in connection with the attack, and the first backed by a Jewish organization, the ADL said in a press release.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations declined to comment on the allegations, while Syria and North Korea did not respond.
The United States has deemed Iran, Syria, and North Korea to be state sponsors of terrorism, and Washington has designated Hamas as what is known as a “specially designated global terrorist.”
Because such countries rarely abide by court rulings against them in the United States, if the lawsuit’s plaintiffs are successful, they could seek compensation from a fund created by Congress that allows American victims of terrorism to receive payouts. The money comes from seized assets, fines, or other penalties leveled against those who, for example, do business with a state sponsor of terrorism.
The lawsuit draws on previous court findings, reports from US and other government agencies, and statements over some years by Hamas, Iranian, and Syrian officials about their ties. The complaint also points to indications that Hamas fighters used North Korean weapons in the October 7 attack.
But the suit does not provide specific evidence that Tehran, Damascus, or Pyongyang knew in advance about the assault. It accuses the three countries of providing weapons, technology, and financial support necessary for the attack to occur.
Iran has denied knowing about the October 7 attack ahead of time, though officials up to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have praised the assault.
Iran has armed Hamas as a counter to Israel, which the Islamic Republic has long viewed as its regional archenemy.
In October, the Wall Street Journal reported that 500 Palestinian terrorists underwent “specialized combat training” in Iran weeks before the group’s murderous onslaught against Israel. In January, Israel released a video of a captured member of the Hamas-allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group saying he was trained in Iran, arriving there after a stopover in Syria.
In the years since the collapse of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran and Israel have been locked in a shadow war of attacks on land and at sea. Those attacks exploded into the open after an apparent Israeli attack targeting what Iran said was an embassy annex in Damascus, Syria, during the Israel-Hamas war, which sparked Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel in April.
Neighboring Syria has relied on Iranian support to keep embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad in power during a grinding civil war that began with the 2011 Arab Spring protests. Like Iran, Syria also offered public support for Hamas after the October 7 attack.
North Korea denies that it arms Hamas. However, a terrorist video and weapons seized by Israel show Hamas fighters likely fired North Korean weapons during the October 7 attack
South Korean officials, two experts on North Korean arms, and an Associated Press analysis of weapons captured on the battlefield by Israel point toward Hamas using Pyongyang’s F-7 rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-fired weapon that fighters typically use against armored vehicles.
The lawsuit specifically cites the use of the F-7 grenade in the attack as a sign of Pyongyang’s involvement.
“Through this case, we will be able to prove what occurred, who the victims were, who the perpetrators were — and it will not just create a record in real time, but for all of history,” said one of the attorneys, James Pasch of the ADL. The rights advocacy group frequently speaks out against antisemitism and extremism.
“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of antisemitism and terror – along with Syria and North Korea, they must be held responsible for their roles in the largest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust,” ADL Chief Executive Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.
Hamas fighters killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 during the October 7 attack. Israel responded with a military offensive in Gaza to destroy Hamas and free the hostages.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of over 125 plaintiffs, including the estates and relatives of people who were killed, plus people who were physically and/or emotionally injured. All are related to, or are themselves, US citizens.
Under US law, foreign governments can be held liable, in some circumstances, for deaths or injuries caused by acts of terrorism or by providing material support or resources for them.
The 1976 statute cited in the lawsuit, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, is a frequent tool for American plaintiffs seeking to hold foreign governments accountable. In one example, a federal judge in Washington ordered North Korea in 2018 to pay $500 million in a wrongful death suit filed by the parents of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died shortly after being released from that country.
People held as prisoners by Iran in the past have successfully sued the Islamic Republic in US federal court, seeking money earlier frozen by the US.
The new lawsuit joins a growing list of Israel-Hamas war-related cases in US courts.
Last week, for example, Israelis who were taken hostage or lost loved ones during Hamas’s October 7 attack sued the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians for $1 billion, claiming it has helped finance the terrorists by paying agency staffers in US dollars and thereby funneling them to money-changers in Gaza who allegedly give a cut to Hamas.
It also said UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, let Hamas use its facilities for weapons storage, and allowed tunnels and command centers to be built under its sites.
The agency, known as UNRWA, has denied that it knowingly aided Hamas or any other terror group.
Chicago-based law firm MM-Law LLC and New York firm Amini LLC filed the suit against UNRWA in the Southern District of New York on behalf of 101 victims or their families.
Israel has also accused UNRWA, the largest employer in the Palestinian territories, of turning a blind eye to Hamas activities and employees of actively aiding terror groups.
