Israeli hostages’ lawsuit against news outlet that paid Hamas terrorist will head to trial, judge rules

Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright said the news outlet’s arguments were “unpersuasive” and ruled that the plaintiffs’ case is strong enough to move to the trial and discovery process.

By Alana Goodman, The Washington Free Beacon

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that a lawsuit filed by Israeli hostages against an American news outlet that hired a Hamas kidnapper can go to trial, rejecting the media organization’s motion to dismiss.

Three former hostages sued the Washington-based Palestine Chronicle last year, alleging that the media organization knowingly paid their Hamas-operative captor, Abdallah Aljamal, who simultaneously worked as a Gaza correspondent for the nonprofit news site.

Hamas kidnapped Almog Meir Jan, Shlomi Ziv, and Andrey Kozlov during its attack on the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023. The Israel Defense Forces ultimately rescued them from Aljamal’s home eight months later.

Palestine Chronicle leadership has claimed there is no evidence its staff was aware of Aljamal’s involvement in the kidnapping and argued that its payments to the Hamas operative had no impact on the hostages.

But Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright said the news outlet’s arguments were “unpersuasive,” and ruled that the plaintiffs’ case is strong enough to move to the trial and discovery process.

“Plaintiffs allege that Defendants had actual knowledge that Aljamal was a Hamas operative in the months following the October 7 attacks, when it was commonly known that Hamas was holding Israeli hostages in Gaza,” wrote Cartwright.

She said the facts the former hostages presented “support a reasonable inference that [the Palestine Chronicle] knew Aljamal was affiliated with Hamas and involved in the October 7 attack.”

The court also “concluded that the timing and extent of Aljamal’s employment supported the reasonable inference that the payments provided assistance with substantial effect on Jan’s captivity.”

Aljamal, whom the IDF killed during its successful rescue operation, was a former Hamas spokesman. After October 7, the Palestine Chronicle allegedly coordinated with him to publish “Hamas propaganda, including the publishing of justifications for Aljamal’s imprisonment of Israeli citizens,” according to the lawsuit.

Lawyers for the former hostages argued that Aljamal’s role as an official Hamas spokesman and his social media posts promoting the terrorist group was enough for the Palestine Chronicle and its leadership to have been aware of his involvement in the attack.

Aljamal’s posts included a photo of his son wearing Hamas headbands, a graphic advertising Hamas’s intelligence bureau, and multiple posts celebrating the events of October 7.

“We applaud the decision of the district court and recognize it as bringing our plaintiffs one step closer to securing justice for the harms they suffered at the hands of Hamas,” Holtzman Vogel’s Erielle Davidson, one of the lawyers representing the former hostages, told the Washington Free Beacon. “Under no circumstances should an American 501(c)(3) be platforming and supporting a member of Hamas.”