The families of six hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas and other terrorists on October 7, 2023, have filed a lawsuit against many of the most prominent antisemitic organizations that have worked to spread Hamas propaganda and call for the genocide of the Jewish people, alleging that these groups not only support Hamas, but had knowledge of the October 7 massacre before it happened. The lawsuit cites the curious timing of an Instagram post by the Columbia chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine organization announcing its return less than five minutes before Hamas launched its surprise attack. “Three minutes before Hamas began its attack on October 7, Columbia SJP posted on Instagram ‘We are back!!’ in an announcement about its first meeting of the semester, and urging viewers to ‘stay tuned,’” it states. As the lawsuit notes, the SJP account had been “dormant for months” before suddenly announcing its return just as thousands of Hamas terrorists were about to break through the border and carry out a day of wanton slaughter. Among the defendants listed in the lawsuit is Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and CUAD whose detention by ICE and potential deportation led to crocodile tears about free speech and accusations of “Nazi” against those who are finally acting to protect Jewish students. Representatives of Within Our Lifetime-United For Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace were also named. Whether SJP or any of its chapters had prior knowledge of the massacre, there is no question that they and their fellow antisemitic activist groups supported and continue to support Hamas and its genocidal aims and sought to indoctrinate others into supporting a second Holocaust. One flyer shared on Columbia’s campus stated, “This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the Thawabit and the Palestinian Resistance movement overall. By transmitting the words of the Resistance [Hamas] directly, this material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.” That same flyer shared more direct quotes from Hamas, including a quote from Hamas’ Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades stating that “We will emerge upon you from where you least expect it.” CUAD actually celebrated the October 7 massacre on its first anniversary, publishing a ‘newspaper’ that described the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust as a “moral, military and political victory.” It also published material containing talking points from Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh and a tribute to the butcher of Khan Yunis, Yahya Sinwar. Not to be outdone, Within Our Lifetime leader Nerdeen Kiswani put on a “performance of Yahya Sinwar’s last will and testament,” a celebration of the mastermind of October 7. The national SJP called on its chapters to issue a pledge of loyalty to Hamas in its “Towfan Al-Aqsa statement,” so named for Hamas’ codename for its massacre, the ‘Al Aqsa Flood.’ According to the hostage families’ lawsuit, this statement called on the chapters and other organizations to “pledge loyalty to the cause: providing knowing and substantial assistance to Hamas’ prior and ongoing acts of international terrorism. It requires chapters to declare their ‘unwavering support of the resistance in Gaza.’” More than 80 organizations signed this document replacing the Pledge of Allegiance with the Pledge of Hamas. As Seth Mandel expertly detailed in Commentary Magazine , these organizations, SJP, CUAD, and Within Our Lifetime, are more than mere supporters of Hamas, but are an inherent part of a decades-long strategy to turn public opinion in favor of another Jewish genocide. They emerged from direct Hamas propaganda efforts, first via the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), which was founded by a Hamas leader, Khaled Mashal, and then by American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), the reconstituted version of IAP after the initial organization was forced to disband for fundraising for Hamas. Their loyalty was always to Hamas. This loyalty was demonstrated in action. Violence became an expected feature of the pro-Hamas demonstrations on college campuses and throughout the US. Calls for genocide, whether through chants of “From the River to the Sea” or explicit calls for mass murder, were daily occurrences, including calls for “10,000 October 7s” and signs calling on Hamas to murder local Jewish students. Things got so bad at Columbia that a campus rabbi had to tell Jewish students to stay away from campus for their own safety and a course on Israel had to be held underground as if the students were hiding from the gestapo in 1940s Europe. This is the evil which the Trump Administration is now attempting to fight in its crackdown on campus antisemitism. This is why Columbia lost $400 million in federal funding and why Mahmoud Khalil and others like him face arrest and deportation. They are more than merely wrong about a political issue. People and organizations whose only loyalty is to genocidal terrorist organizations, people who seek to facilitate and import mass murder, are a threat to not only the Jewish people, but to America and all the ideals America stands for, such as freedom and democracy. If they are allowed to have their way, colleges would soon become Judenrein places devoted to preaching genocide. Their ultimate goal, beyond a genocide in the Middle East, is an Islamist dictatorship in America aligned with Hamas, where pogroms are the law of the land and Jew-hunts are the national pastime. This is a crucial fight for the future of academia, for the future of Jews in America, and for America as a whole. Those who have decided to side with the Jew-haters, the genocide-lovers, the Hamas loyalists, have chosen the wrong side, the side of evil, the side of Nazis, the side of death. If the violence and hate of SJP, CUAD, and their fellow Hamas loyalists is allowed to succeed without pushback as colleges like Columbia have cravenly allowed for the last year and a half, how many students will be indoctrinated to believe killing Jews is good? What world will we live in if college students are taught first and foremost to recite, “I pledge allegiance to Hamas and the genocide for which it stands?” Gary Willig is a veteran member of Arutz Sheva's news staff.
