Three members of the left-wing 'squad' face a class-action lawsuit for encouraging the antisemitic protests at Columbia University in New York City earlier this year, the New York Post reported.
Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman and Ilhan Omar were anamed among a dozen groups in the lawsuit, which was filed by five anonymous Columbia students, in connection with the anti-Israel encampment that was set up on the campus grounds in April. Two of the students who filed the lawsuit are Jewish.
“The Gaza Encampment was extreme and outrageous conduct. It was illegal. It violated university rules. Its occupants harassed, followed, physically blocked, intimidated, and bullied Jewish students,” the lawsuit states, adding that the disruption to studies caused "real damage" to Columbia's 36,000 students.
“In a civilized community, one does not call for the obliteration of a major metropolitan area, praise terrorists, or threaten death and destruction upon our classmates and their families, friends, and coreligionists,” the litigation states.
One of the Jewish students who filed the lawsuit told the Post, “In one instance, I was walking with my non-Jewish friends when I was singled out because I was wearing my yarmulke. A leader of the pro-Palestinian protest approached our group and confronted me. He singled me out, yelling that I needed to move, and when I refused, he began to shove me out of the way.”
Anti-Israel organizations which were involved in the encampments such as Within OUr Lifetime were also named in the lawsuit.
The encampment that was set up on April 17 represented an escalation in the antisemitic incidents that rocked the Columbia campus in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre of October 7.
The protests frequently featured calls for violence against Jews. In one incident, two protesters shouted at Jewish counterprotesters that the October 7 massacre would be repeated "every day" and "10,000" times." In addition, a protester held a sign calling on the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization to murder Jewish students. on campus.
Early in the encampment protests, an Orthodox rabbi at Columbia warned Jewish students to stay away from campus for their own safety.
In another incident, an anti-Israel protester hit a counterprotester in the face with a rock.
In late April, anti-Israel protesters broke into and occupied Columbia University's Hamilton Hall, and held a janitor against his will. The following day, NYPD officers were brought in to remove the protesters from campus, and many were arrested.
Columbia ultimately canceled its university-wide commencement ceremony in response to the anti-Israel protests.
In late April, New York Democratic Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman visited the Columbia encampments to show their support for the anti-Israel demonstrators.
Ocasio-Cortez told the student-run news outlet Bwog, "Any leader who has called in enforcement and violence on folks that are peacefully organizing should be deeply ashamed of themselves. I would imagine a decision like that would follow a person for a very long time."
Also in April, Representative Ilhan Omar visited the encampments and told Fox 5, "I actually met a lot of Jewish students that are in the [anti-Israel] encampment, and I think it is really unfortunate that people don't care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry fro all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide."
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt accused Omar of engaging in a "blood libel" by accusing Zionist students of supporting a "genocide."
Omar's daughter, Isra Hirsi, a student at Barnard College, was suspended over her involvement in the anti-Israel encampment.