(CN) — A federal judge in Seattle dismissed on Friday a former Israeli hostage’s complaint accusing a pro-Palestinian, U.S.-based media company of assisting Hamas by employing one of its agents and publishing his articles.
U.S. District Judge Tiffany Cartwright determined that Almog Meir Jan didn’t prove the company knew its employee was a Hamas operative involved in human rights violations and his articles published by the Palestine Chronicle are protected by the First Amendment.
“Because Jan’s complaint does not allege actual knowledge, his compensation allegations must be dismissed,” Cartwright wrote in a 24-page order.
Jan, an Israeli citizen, was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023, and was one of 254 individuals taken hostage by Hamas following the attack in Israel.
Jan accused the People Media Project — the parent company of the Palestine Chronicle — of providing his kidnapper, Abdallah Aljamal, with “support and a U.S.-based platform to publish Hamas propaganda under the guise of independent journalism.” The Palestine Chronicle is based in Mountlake Terrace, a small town in western Washington.
Filed under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law allowing foreign nationals to bring civil tort actions, Jan accused the media company, its editor-in-chief and manager of aiding and abetting Hamas’ actions by compensating Aljamal as an employee and publishing his articles.
Federal courts are directed to consider the foreign policy consequences and deference to Congress when addressing Alien Tort Statute cases.
“In this case, potential foreign relations consequences and traditional deference to Congress should not preclude Jan from pursuing his claims of accomplice liability under the [Alien Tort Statute,]” Cartwright wrote.
Since Jan’s complaint is against private U.S. defendants, it skirts the issues raised in many other Alien Tort Statute cases, Cartwright found. The media company argued that Jan’s claims raised “non-justiciable political questions,” but Cartwright was not persuaded on this point.
“Jan is not challenging foreign policy decisions that are committed to the political branches,” Cartwright wrote. “He is asserting an individual aiding and abetting tort claim against private U.S. defendants.”
However, Jan’s claims ultimately fell short of meeting the aiding and abetting standard because he didn’t accuse the Palestine Chronicle and its staff of knowing that Aljamal was a “Hamas operative.”
“Nowhere in Jan’s complaint does he allege that defendants gave Aljamal money for the purpose of committing terrorism or aiding Hamas,” Cartwright wrote. “Instead, he seeks to hold them liable for compensating Aljamal for writing articles, because Aljamal used that money to enable Jan’s imprisonment.”
Without the actual knowledge requirement, anyone working in international conflict zones could be held liable if a resident they hired to perform a legitimate task used their salary to commit a human rights violation, Cartwright noted.
Further, the articles are protected under the First Amendment, Cartwright found.
The positions taken by the newspaper, such as criticizing Israeli airstrikes and highlighting the deaths of Palestinian civilians, have been repeated by numerous other news organizations, protesters and political leaders, the judge noted.
“These articles do not cross the line from protected speech to inciting or preparing for unlawful activity. Nothing in the complaint alleges that defendants advocated for, incited, or planned specific human rights violations,” she wrote.
Cartwright said that even if the articles had unfairly characterized or falsely reported Israel’s military actions, as Jan accused them of doing, they would still be protected as political speech.
“Like the ugly celebration of the deaths of American soldiers on the picket signs from the Westboro Baptist Church, even articles sympathizing with Hamas remain protected when they speak on matters of public concern,” Cartwright wrote.
Despite the dismissal, Cartwright gave Jan until Feb. 21 to amend his complaint to continue to pursue his claims against the defendants.