Three members of the far-left Congressional Squad are being sued by a group of students for vocally supporting anti-Israel encampments that were most prominent at Columbia University in New York in the spring. Others named in the class-action lawsuit include Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY). Also named in the lawsuit are 12 vehemently anti-Israel groups, including Within Our Lifetime, which encourages participants to “globalize the intifada” against Israel and other Western nations.
“Inciting and encouraging” protests
The lawsuit alleges that the left-wing lawmakers are guilty of “inciting and encouraging” the sometimes violent protests, and that the three Democrats were among the “outside defenders” of virulent anti-Israel forces. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are five unnamed students, two of whom are Jewish, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation.
AOC specifically called on New York City leaders and university officials not to intervene in the unrest. “If a child gets hurt tonight, the responsibility falls on the mayor and the university president,” she said on X. She continued:
“Other leaders and schools have found safe, de-escalating paths. This is the opposite of leadership and puts public safety at risk. A nightmare is in the making. We call on the Mayor to reverse course.
Bowman called the violent protests “non-violent” and condemned the police actions.
I am outraged by the level of police presence that has been called out in response to nonviolent student protests on the campuses of Columbia University and CCNY. As an educator who has experienced firsthand the excessive policing of our schools, this is personal to me.
Bowman was censured by the House of Representatives last year for raising the fire alarm.
During a visit to Colombia in the spring, Omar called some Jews “pro-genocide,” and her daughter, Isra Hirsi, a college student, was arrested in Colombia during the unrest.
According to the lawsuit:
The actions at the Gaza encampment were extreme and outrageous; they were illegal and in violation of university rules. Encampment residents harassed, followed, physically obstructed, threatened and bullied Jewish students. …
Not only did they consciously disregard the rights of others, but their protest was aimed at the impact on those rights, and they believed that the more chaos they could cause for the university and for the students, the more they could advance their own agenda.
Harassment of Plaintiff by Protesters
The plaintiffs described to the New York Post some of the horrors they faced during the camp. One student, who identified himself as “Tim Doe,” said:
During the protests, I saw numerous offensive anti-Semitic signs and messages, including an anti-Semitic skunk poster with a Star of David. At one point, I was walking with some non-Jewish friends and was wearing a yarmulke, which drew special attention to me. A pro-Palestinian protest leader approached our group and confronted me. He drew special attention to me, yelling that we needed to move, and when I refused, began shoving me.
Another student, “Eric Doe,” claimed he felt like he was “living under an ominous cloud of doubt and uncertainty, waiting to see what the next moves from protesters and university officials would be that would further impact my academic and campus life.”
“Michael Doe” was allegedly told to “keep walking the walk as a Zionist” and was also harassed by the mob.
The two-week anti-Israel camp has restricted many students' access to campus and forced some classes to be held online. Final exams have also been significantly disrupted by protests, many of which were not student-led but were brought to Columbia by outside anti-Israel groups.
“In a civilized society, one does not call for the annihilation of major metropolitan areas, praise terrorists, or threaten death and destruction against one's classmates, their families, friends, and co-religionists,” the lawsuit states.
Unfortunately, that is not the community we live in anymore, and part of that is due to the inflammatory rhetoric of people like AOC, Omar and Bowman.
