The families of Israeli hostages have initiated legal action against Mahmoud Khalil and other protest organizers at Columbia University, accusing them of operating as Hamas’ “propaganda arm” on the campus.

The lawsuit was lodged in the Southern District of New York on Monday and targets Khalil, a former Columbia graduate student who led Columbia University Apartheid Divest and served as a spokesman for the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” It also names Nerdeen Kiswani, co-founder and chair of Within Our Lifetime; Maryam Alwan, a representative for Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine; and Cameron Jones, a representative for Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice For Peace.

The lawsuit claims, “Defendants in this case are Hamas’ propaganda arm in New York City and on the Columbia University campus.” It further explains, “We know this because they advertise themselves as such. Their self-described acts aimed at aiding Hamas have involved terrorizing and assaulting Jewish students, unlawfully seizing and damaging public and university property at Columbia, and physically attacking Columbia University staff.”

The complaint says the defendants “act behind veiled scarves and largely seek to be anonymous individually, yet seek to intimidate as a group.” 

“This case gives voice to heretofore seldom spoken facts. JVP, WOL, CUAD, the Students for Justice in Palestine collective, and student leaders on campuses throughout the country, are serving as instruments of Hamas, a foreign Terrorist Organization that hates the United States and the very values these anti-Israel college protestors claim to represent,” NJAC Associated Director Ben Schlager said. “The leadership of these campus protestors knowingly affiliates with those who applaud any form of physical, emotional or economic harm that can be inflicted upon citizens of a western democracy.”

Hundreds of anti-Israel demonstrators gather in front of Donald Trump’s Wall Street building to protest in New York on March 19, 2025.  (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“The right to advocate and even to propagandize is broadly construed in the U.S., on college campuses and in a vast array of fora,” NJAC CEO Mark Goldfeder, said. “It is not, however, unfettered and certainly does not encompass acts of violence, vandalism, physical intimidation, trespassing and breach of university rules that ensure student safety. Nor does it support the provision of material support for terror.”

Arielle F. Klepach, a former federal prosecutor and Senior Litigation Counsel at NJAC, said “this first-of-its-kind lawsuit seeks to hold accountable the entities and individuals directly responsible for wreaking havoc on Columbia for the last year and a half. As a Columbia alumna, the open and unaddressed support for terrorism has been disturbing to watch.” 

“Those responsible will now begin to face consequences for their actions,” Klepach added.