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Lawsuit filed by victims of 2023 Hamas attack on Israel

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Palestinian supporters said to coordinate with Hamas

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Defendants not immediately available for comment

(Updates March 24 article to add details from complaint,

paragraph 7)

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - Organizers and supporters

of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University were

sued on Monday in Manhattan federal court for allegedly

functioning as Hamas' "propaganda arm" and "in-house public

relations firm" in New York City and on campus.

The lawsuit was filed by nine U.S. and Israeli citizens who

were victims of Hamas' October 7, 2023 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 U.S. 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.

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'

attack. 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 have 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 U.S.

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 U.S. President Donald Trump pulled over

allegations that Columbia tolerated antisemitism.

The case is Haggai et al v Kiswani et al, U.S. District

Court, Southern District of New York, No. 25-02400.