We've seen a lot of unhinged actions on campuses across the country, from Columbia to UCLA regarding protests over Gaza. Police have had to go in to deal with the situations after there was violence and occupying buildings.
Now there's a group taking action at what they think is the heart behind the protest effort.
October 7 victims - nine people including survivors and relatives of those who were massacred during the Hamas attack on Israel - have now filed a big lawsuit against the Nationals Students for Justice in Palestine group (SJP) and their parent organization (AMP). SJP has been active in protests/actions across the country on campuses.
The complaint accuses the groups of violating the Antiterrorism Act and the Alien Tort Statute and seeks damages because of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and continuing actions by the group.
Through NSJP, AJP Educational Foundation Inc. – also known as American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) – allegedly "uses propaganda to intimidate, convince, and recruit uninformed, misguided, and impressionable college students to serve as foot soldiers for Hamas on campus and beyond," according to the lawsuit filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Virginia, Alexandria Division.
The litigation, brought by major U.S. and global law firm Greenberg Traurig, alleges AMP "serves as Hamas’s propaganda division in the United States" and "was founded from the ashes of disbanded organizations created by senior Hamas officials after those organizations and related individuals were found criminally and civilly liable for providing material support to Hamas and other affiliated terrorist groups."
The complaint also alleged that the groups had "intentionally instigated a mass culture of fear, threats, violence, and overt hatred to intimidate politicians and institutions for Hamas' substantial benefit."
AMP and NSJP are – among other things – coordinating the occupation of dozens of college campuses across the country to ‘force’ the American government and academia to bend to Hamas’s will."
This allegation in the complaint was particularly concerning.
The complaint states that the day after Hamas slaughtered 1,200 people and took 240 others hostage, NSJP and AMP were "prepared and responded to Hamas’s ‘call for mass mobilization’ by disseminating a manifesto and plan of attack ('NSJP Toolkit') which includes materials that appear to have been created before the attack."
According to the complaint, the toolkit talks about being part of a "Unity Intifada," how to popularize and push the movement, how to recraft "resistance" as justified, and about "liberation." It also provides instructions on messaging and framing and even contains colorful graphics to use to help push the agenda. We've seen the efforts on campuses where the students seek to normalize "resistance." The suit claims the groups are liable because they are "knowingly" helping Hamas.
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