The lawsuit, which was filed in Manhattan federal court, alleges that the government\u2019s actions violate the Ku Klux Klan Act, an 1871 anti-conspiracy law intended to restrict government coordination with vigilante groups. The act was also used to prosecute the 2017 Charlottesville march\u2019s organizers for planning to incite racist violence.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n The complaint alleges there had been a \u201cconspiracy\u201d among private pro-Israel entities, including the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar USA, and senior Trump administration officials to target and prosecute pro-Palestinian activists. The lawsuit names US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, former DHS secretary Kristi Noem and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.<\/p>\n \t \u201cAfter the October 7 [2023] attacks and the beginning of the Israeli genocide, these entities were appalled and scared about the burgeoning Palestine rights movement occurring on campus and the cratering support for [the] Israeli government\u2019s genocide in Gaza,\u201d Baher Azmy, the legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the complaint on behalf of Khalil, claimed during the press conference.<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cBecause they could not defend their support for the Israeli government\u2019s actions\u2026 they sought to do what cowards and bullies do, which is to repress, to punish speech that they disliked.\u201d<\/p>\n Inquiries from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency to the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar USA were not immediately returned.<\/p>\n The lawsuit comes after Betar USA, a militant pro-Israel group, agreed to halt its operations in New York after reaching a settlement with state Attorney General Letitia James, whose office found that the group had committed a \u201ccampaign of violence, harassment and intimidation against Arab, Muslim and Jewish New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n Azmy claimed that Project Esther, a 2024 plan for combatting antisemitism written by the conservative Heritage Foundation that outlined many policies undertaken by the Trump administration last year, had created a \u201cblueprint for the conspiracy.\u201d<\/p>\n He alleged that Betar and Canary Mission then worked to identify and \u201cnominate\u201d campus pro-Palestinian activists for the Trump administration to target.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like the State Department was using any reasoned judgment or deliberation,\u201d Azmy charged. \u201cThey were taking these nominations and, within a day or two, sending DHS and ICE officials to arrest Mahmoud and others and send them to faraway prisons, and so today we\u2019re here demanding accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Khalil was an organizer with Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), an alliance of campus groups that led the disruptive protests on the Ivy League campus after the start of the Gaza war. The group is no longer recognized by the university.<\/p>\n CUAD has praised<\/a> violent \u201cresistance\u201d by Palestinians, including<\/a>, explicitly, the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages. The group hosted pro-Hamas figures<\/a> on campus,\u00a0called for<\/a> the \u201ctotal eradication of Western civilization,\u201d and distributed Hamas propaganda<\/a> at a campus library.<\/p>\n Khalil served as a spokesperson<\/a> for the group in its negotiations with the Columbia administration.<\/p>\n Since his release from detention, Khalil has justified<\/a> the Hamas attack on Israel and dismissed concerns about antisemitism at Columbia<\/a>.<\/p>\n In September, he called for<\/a> the \u201ccollapse\u201d of the \u201cZionist genocidal project and the ideology of supremacy that it\u2019s built on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tAttorney Baher Azmy stands outside the Manhattan federal court after attending the deportation case of Mahmoud Khalil, in New York, March 12, 2025. (Stefan Jeremiah\/AP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP25069542691613-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tMembers of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group, including Mahmoud Khalil, center, are surrounded by members of the media outside the Columbia University campus, April 30, 2024, in New York. (AP\/Mary Altaffer)<\/p>\n
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