The wave of litigation against pro-Palestine Americans could help the “non-profit killer bill” passed by Congress target opposition to Israeli policies, writes Robert Inlakesh.
Columbia student pro-Palestine encampment in April 2024. (Pamela Drew, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)
By Robert Inlakesh
MintPress News
A wave of lawsuits filed by Israeli plaintiffs against pro-Palestinian American citizens, advocacy groups and media outlets is paving the way for the “nonprofit killer bill” backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to take effect.
The claims — largely unsubstantiated — appear designed to justify what critics say could amount to a near-total shutdown of political expression around the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Last week, the latest in a series of legal actions targeted the prominent New York-based activist group Within Our Lifetime, as well as the Columbia University chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine. According to plaintiff Shlomi Ziv, the groups were allegedly funded by Hamas.
Ziv, who was previously held captive in Gaza and worked as a security guard on Oct. 7, 2023, claims that his captors told him they were financing student groups at Columbia. The accusation is based entirely on hearsay. Still, the lawsuit’s intent appears clearly aimed at dismantling the student movement at Columbia.
The complaint names Mahmoud Khalil, a U.S. permanent resident and pro-Palestine activist now in detention, who is facing deportation under an order from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Khalil’s alleged offense: exercising his First Amendment rights. Despite pro-Israel organizations accusing him of supporting Hamas, the most the Canary Mission — a group notorious for doxxing and smearing college students — could produce was a video showing Khalil standing near someone chanting, “From the river to the sea.”
The attacks on free speech and academic freedom at Columbia are not confined to deporting (or expelling) students who protest Israel. That’s a small part of it.
The administration is also demanding Columbia adopt the radically expanded definition of “anti-Semitism” that the EU… pic.twitter.com/yXmidTtamh
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 23, 2025
This is not Ziv’s first legal foray. In February, he and two other Israeli former hostages refiled an amended complaint against the U.S.-based media outlet Palestine Chronicle after their original case was dismissed for lack of evidence.
The new lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington state, is backed by the National Jewish Advocacy Center, led by Mark Goldfeder — a former adviser to Israel’s permanent mission to the United Nations. Goldfeder’s organization has attempted similar lawsuits, including one against the Associated Press for allegedly providing “material support for terrorism,” as well as cases targeting UNRWA-USA and Students for Justice in Palestine.
In the suit against Palestine Chronicle, Ziv claims that its late contributor, Abdallah AlJamal, [killed by Israeli forces in June 2024] was a Hamas operative who held Israeli captives in his home. Based on that allegation, Ziv argues that the outlet provided material support for terrorism by publishing AlJamal’s work. When Israeli forces killed AlJamal and several family members, CNN reported that Israeli officials offered no evidence for their claim that he was a Hamas fighter.
Despite the lack of evidence, neoconservative think tanks such as the Foundation for Defense of Democracies helped amplify the narrative. Qatar-funded Al Jazeera also came under fire because Al Jamal had contributed articles to its site.
In February, Israeli citizen Morris Schnaider filed a separate lawsuit targeting Al Jazeera, alleging the network aided Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in spreading propaganda and inciting violence. The legal action was supported by StandWithUs, a pro-Israel advocacy group known for coordinating with the Israeli government on similar efforts.
While few of these lawsuits are expected to succeed in court, they align with broader efforts by pro-Israel lobbyists and the Trump-aligned right to clamp down on criticism of Israel. In late 2024, Congress passed House Resolution 9495 — dubbed the “nonprofit killer bill” — despite widespread condemnation from civil liberties organizations.
For all the legitimate complains that MAGA had about Dems cracking down on free speech, nothing compares to what the Trump admin is doing to put Israel First: https://t.co/jBGap6Y22I
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) March 26, 2025
The bill empowers the U.S. secretary of the Treasury to revoke the tax-exempt status of nonprofit organizations based on classified evidence and without filing formal charges. This creates a legal gray area where lawsuits — even those lacking evidence — could be used as a pretext to strip organizations of their legal protections. Although Students for Justice in Palestine is not a registered nonprofit, it receives funding from American Muslims for Palestine, which is.
As Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues to detain and deport U.S. residents and student visa holders — many of whom are not accused of any crime but have merely spoken out against Israel’s war in Gaza — critics warn that a coordinated legal and legislative strategy is underway to criminalize dissent.
Amid a wave of ICE detentions and deportations targeting U.S. residents and student visa holders — none of whom are accused of any crime beyond speaking out against Israeli actions in Gaza — it is not difficult to imagine an AIPAC-backed bill being weaponized against American citizens. Should that occur, it would mark a dangerous escalation in President Donald Trump’s ongoing assault on the First Amendment.
Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show “Palestine Files.” Director of “Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe.” Follow him on Twitter/X @falasteen47.
This article is from MPN.news is an award winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for their newsletter. Additional material was added by Consortium News.
Views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Question: Given this article, as well as many others published, which disclose the AIPAC power, ARE the ICE personnel, who are rounding up these people OFFICIAL ICE personnel, OR are they contracted and/or individuals working for AIPAC.
The round-ups don’t look like ICE round-ups we have seen in the past. The individuals are unmarked, in unmarked vehicles, masked ;and anonymous.
Curious and curiouser.
Question: Given this article, as well as many others published, which disclose the AIPAC power, ARE the ICE personnel, who are rounding up these people, OFFICIAL ICE personnel, OR are they contracted and/or individuals working for AIPAC?
The round-ups don’t look like ICE round-ups we have seen in the past. The individuals are unmarked, in unmarked vehicles, masked and anonymous.
Curious and curiouser.
This is proof, if given an inch the Israelis will take your ruler. Hey Israel, tramp is in D.C. ! Take him please.
Enough is enough!
USA you are going to have to accept. YOU ARE ISRAEL’S BITCH.
if you do not behave you are going to get a slapping.
Make America great again!!
Perhaps it should be MAAA – Make America American Again
All of this rush to claim even mentioning anything Jewish is anti-Semitic hate speech is just fostering hate against Jews in general.
People who publicly express opposition to semites and anyone else (looking at you Joe Biden, Donald Trump and satellites) who takes part in or supports the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestine are to be commended for their courage and morality.
It becomes increasingly clear how correct those people are who point out the enormous potential of the genocide against Gaza to stoke real anti-Semitism, but as I read this alarming piece, another wrinkle occurred to me: exhaustion. People may come to associate so much drama, so much wielding of the victim card (with its attendant lawsuits), and so much political and moral tension, for lack of a better word, with the Jewish people that some may wish to avoid Jews altogether or even wish their society were free of them. Some percentage of them will believe incorrectly that all Jews are to blame for the combination of extreme Israeli violence and its’ perpetrators and defenders’ attempts to destroy the U.S. Consitution, and will likely become rabidly anti-Semitic. Either way, the result is terrible for Americans and for Jews, though some number of the latter will simply use any exhaustion or hate as an excuse for further attacks on our civil liberties. Though I in no way confuse anti-Zionist Jews, of whom there are so many, with Israeli monsters, I’m starting to understand why so many people do. I too am suffering from exhaustion when I read about Israelis attacking civil liberties (in a different country!) from yet another angle, as if their attempts to exterminate the Palestinians isn’t depraved enough. This cacophony of tension is taking up more of my bandwidth than I’m comfortable with, yet I must protest the genocide. For me not doing so isn’t an option. In any case, add exhaustion to the list of complaints many people will have against Jewish people, no matter how misguided. If I were a normal, decent, anti-Zionist Jew, I’d be furious with the cretins cited in this article who are trying to drag all of my people into the gutter with their violence, out of which they somehow manage to make themselves the victims!
The Democrats ended the filibuster, and the Republicans now take advantage of this. Writers on the Left do not see the future. They only see today’s scream about how awful their opponents are. But, consider this …
It is now precedent in America that a President can cancel spending and fire employees authorized by Congress. Now, think what WE can do with that after a victory. Bye-Bye F-B-I. The End to the War on People (aka Drugs). Now Our President can refuse to spend all that War Money that is supposed to flow to Death Industries Incorporated. Think about all the doors that this precedent has now opened for the people..
And, now, the Congress and the Republicans are establishing the power to go after non-profits. Think of all the doors that opens up. AIPAC, the entire Jewish Lobby. the NRA. In the same way that the right went after the Dems support by go after the corrupt union leaders who funnel dues money to the party of Wall Street, now the door is open to go after all those non-profits on the Right and especially the Christian Right (who opposes Jesus) and the Repubs Get-out-the-vote machine.
It is fascinating how the point-of-view of the “Left” and of the “Alternate Media” is to always assume that we will lose. The thought that we might use this after we win, never occurs to them because they never imagine that we will win.
If the people want to win, then perhaps the think to do is to start thinking about winning. Start thinking about what you are going to do when we win. Its a lot more useful than following losers who never win, and who never even sit down and plan out a New Deal for after they win. Act like a winner, and strangely enough, its a lot more likely that you win than if you constantly act like a loser.