Law firm with LI offices sues two groups for alleged collaboration with Hamas

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A global law firm that has offices on Long Island, along with several other groups, has filed a lawsuit against two organizations, alleging that they collaborated with Hamas in the United States.

The suit was filed Wednesday by the law firm Greenberg Traurig, the National Jewish Advocacy Center, the Schoen Law Firm, and the Holtzman Vogel law firm against the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).

Seeking compensatory damages for nine American and Israeli victims of the Oct. 7 attack in Israel, the suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Virginia, Alexandria Division.

The suit claims that through “NSJP, AMP uses propaganda to intimidate, convince, and recruit uninformed, misguided, and impressionable college students to serve as foot soldiers for Hamas on campus and beyond.”

The suit comes at a time when more than 2,000 protesters have been arrested over the last two weeks on universities across the country. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has been in Israel trying to advance a truce that would free hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a halt to the fighting and delivery of much needed food, medicine and water into Gaza.

Here on Long Island, Stony Brook University officials said 29 people were arrested early Thursday morning, including students, faculty members and others not affiliated with the school. School administrators said the protests began peacefully but escalated to include intimidation, harassment and an encampment.

Upon filing the lawsuit Wednesday, Richard Rosenbaum, executive chairman of Greenberg Traurig, said in a news release that he “couldn’t be prouder of our firm for taking on this important representation.

“It is an honor to lend our voice and resources to this fight in support of plaintiffs who have suffered greatly at the hands of terrorists,” he said. “We have assembled a formidable team who will make certain that the strong evidence showing the defendants have violated the rule of law is presented in an American courtroom. Our team will work tirelessly to hold these organizations accountable for their actions carried out in concert with terrorists.”

LIBN has not yet been able to reach AMP, and sought comment from NSJP, which did not immediately respond.

The suit alleges that “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.”

“It is time that Hamas and all of its agents, like AMP and NSJP, be held responsible for their horrific actions,” the plaintiffs said in a joint statement. “We want to go on record to expose these groups for the terrorists they are and make certain that they are stopped from operating in the United States and other countries they infiltrate.”

On Thursday, President Joe Biden defended the right to free speech but says “order must prevail” on college campuses. Biden’s remarks broke days of silence as police crack down on encampments erected to show solidarity with Gaza.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.