October 7 survivors are suing pro-Palestinian groups. But what is the aim?
Al Jazeera
Experts fear lawsuits against pro-Palestine student groups could stifle free speech and deplete resources for activism.
Nine survivors of the October 7 attacks on southern Israel have filed a civil suit against pro-Palestinian groups in the United States, alleging their advocacy work on college campuses constitutes “material support” for “terrorism”.
But the defendants have pushed back, warning that the case is part of a pattern of legal attacks meant to put pro-Palestinian groups on the defensive and curtail free speech at US universities.
“It is absolutely a threat to free speech, and it’s a threat to free speech on any front, on any issue, not just on Palestine,” said Christina Jump, a lawyer for American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), one of the two defendants in the case.
The lawsuit, filed on May 1 in a federal court in Virginia, describes how the nine plaintiffs dodged gunfire and lost loved ones during the October 7 attacks, led by the Palestinian group Hamas.
It then alleges that AMP and another campus group, National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), acted as “Hamas’s propaganda division”, targeting US students.
