| UNRWA Moved to
Dismiss Case for UN Aid to Hamas
Oct 7 Attacks Now US Says Not So
Fast
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Feb 18 - For the UN's role in
Hamas' October 7 attacks,
non-US citizen plaintiffs and
estates on June 24 filed a
lawsuit in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York against
UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini,
Pierre Krahenbuhl, Filippo
Grandi, Leni Stenseth, Sandra
Mitchel, Margot Ellis and
Greta Gunnarsdottir.
The
individual plaintiffs are sued
for, inter alia, their
"constant travel to New York"
to raise and get money and
"their material support of
Hamas' terror infrastructure."
Also cited, for jurisdiction
and venue, is "over one
billion dollars from UNRWA's
New York bank account in
Manhattan that Defendants then
caused to be delivered to Gaza
in cash U.S. dollars to
benefit Hamas."
Inner City
Press, which daily cover the
SDNY court in-person and the
UN from outside the gate,
banned from entry by SG
Antonio Guterres, asked
Guterres' spokespeople
Stephane Dujarric and Melissa
Fleming about the lawsuit,
without any response per
usual.
Nor have they
responded to Inner City Press'
June 19 application
to enter the UN to ask these
questions.
On November 14,
after the election, UNRWA used
public money to hire Curtis,
Mallet-Provest. On December 16
they filed a 38 page memo now
on Inner City Press'
DocumentCloud here
On January 21,
2025, hours after UNRWA's
actions on October 7, 2023
were repeatedly raised to
Elise Stefanik in the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee,
UNRWA's and Guterres' lawyers,
with taxpayer funds, filed a
reply that "the U.S. has taken
the position that Defendants
qualify for immunity. Dkt. No.
17. Nothing more is needed." Reply
memo on
DocumentCloud
here.
Will
that remain the US' position?
No. On February
18, the (new) SDNY wrote in,
"The Government is currently
reviewing the views expressed
in the July 30 and October 18,
2024 letters. For that reason,
the Government respectfully
requests that the Court defer
taking any action concerning
the immunities of the
defendants until the
Government has had time to
complete this review. The
Government respectfully
requests the Court’s
leave to provide an update in
sixty days, by April 21, 2025,
regarding its review process."
Letter on Inner City Press' DocumentCloud
here
The UNRWA case is
ESTATE OF TAMAR KEDEM SIMAN
TOV, BY HEIR-AT-LAW GAD KEDEM
v. UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND
WORKS AGENCY (UNRWA) et al.,
24-cv-04765 (Torres)
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station,
NY NY 10013
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2024 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
|
,
