Claim Can Go Forward Against American Publisher That Allegedly Knew Knew Author It Paid Was Hamas Hostage-Holder
From Jan v. People Media Project, decided Tuesday by Judge Tiffany Cartwright (W.D. Wash.):
This case arises from the kidnapping of Plaintiffs Almog Meir Jan, Shlomi Ziv, and Audrey Kozlov by Hamas during the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023. Plaintiffs are Israeli citizens who were kidnapped at the Nova Music Festival and held hostage by Hamas operative Abdallah Aljamal before being rescued by the Israel Defense Forces. Defendants are People Media Project, doing business as the Palestine Chronicle, its individual officers Ramzy Baroud and John Harvey, and unnamed Doe Defendants 1 through 10.
Plaintiffs allege that Defendants employed and compensated Aljamal for work as a journalist before and after the October 7 attack, despite knowing Aljamal was a Hamas operative. Plaintiffs assert that through these actions, Defendants aided and abetted their kidnapping and imprisonment as well as aided and abetted terrorism in violation of the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) ….
The following facts are those alleged in the amended complaint. Because the Court is considering a motion to dismiss …, Jan’s factual allegations must be taken as true and construed in the light most favorable to him ….
Plaintiffs allege that beginning in May 2019, Aljamal worked as a journalist for the Palestine Chronicle, which regularly published his articles. However, “Aljamal also served as an official spokesperson for Hamas’s Ministry of Labor” and “Defendants knew that … Aljamal was an operative and official spokesperson for Hamas.” For example, Plaintiffs allege that Aljamal’s Facebook page included a photo of his son wearing Hamas headbands posted on June 6, 2023, and a graphic that is the symbol for Hamas’s internal security bureau. Following October 7, Plaintiffs allege that Aljamal posted on his Facebook page and TikTok account a message supporting the attack. They assert that individual “Defendants regularly viewed and interacted with” Aljamal’s social media posts.
After October 7, Aljamal’s publications on the Palestine Chronicle “increased exponentially, often publishing two to three pieces per day[.]” And to receive and publish Aljamal’s articles, Plaintiffs allege that “Defendants were in consistent, direct, and substantial contact with Aljamal, using electronic and internet means.” Specifically, “Defendants used electronic and internet means, including, but not limited to, WhatsApp and Skype, to communicate with Hamas Operative Aljamal following October 7, 2023 to coordinate Defendants’ publishing of Hamas propaganda, including the publishing of justifications for Aljamal’s imprisonment of Israeli citizens.” Plaintiffs further assert that “De
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