A group of 7 October 2023 survivors are suing the Al Jazeera network, which is based in Qatar, in a US court, alleging that it assisted Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in spreading propaganda, recruiting activists, and inciting violence.
According to an article in The Jewish Chronicle on Thursday, the survivors include Morris Schnaider, who is the maternal uncle of Shiri Bibas who was taken captive by Hamas. Schaider’s sister and brother-in-law were also allegedly murdered in the attacks.
The lawsuit was filed at a US District Court in Washington, DC, on 23 February, according to StandWithUS, which says they assisted in preparing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks “financial compensation and justice for victims and victims’ families of the October 7th attacks and ensuing war”.
The Chronicle says that the claim also alleges that Al Jazeera employed several Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members as journalists.
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The survivors are being represented by Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who founded the Israel Law Center in 2003. The website declares the law centre is “at the forefront of fighting terrorism and safeguarding Jewish rights worldwide”.
The law centre has previously tried to sue Qatari banks and charities, accusing them of funding Hamas. It has also supported victims of the 7 October 2023 attacks by calling for an investigation into the political advocacy group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
Al Jazeera has been a thorn in Israel’s side for several years, with the country’s government and military consistently targeting Al Jazeera journalists and their network operations.
Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, the network has faced repeated attempts to shut down its reporting through arrests, imprisonment, and the killing of its journalists and their family members.
In January, the Palestinian Authority suspended the broadcasting of Al Jazeera TV after accusing the news service of publishing “inciting material”, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
A ministerial committee made up of the communications, culture and interior ministries published a statement regarding the announcement, accusing Al Jazeera of violating the “laws and regulations in force in Palestine”, and saying it “decided to temporarily stop the broadcast and freeze all the work of its journalists, employees, crews and channels affiliated with it”.
“This decision came after Al Jazeera insisted on broadcasting inciteful materials and reports characterised by being misleading, inciting sedition, and interference in Palestinian internal affairs,” the statement reads.
In May 2024, Israel also implemented a ban on Al Jazeera’s website in the country after raiding its office in East Jerusalem and confiscating its equipment.
In September, Israeli forces raided Al Jazeera’s office in the West Bank city of Ramallah and ordered it to shut down operations.
Neither Al Jazeera nor the Israel Law Center had responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.
