by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 9 - 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, 2025 application to enter the UN to ask these questions.
On February 18, the (new) SDNY wrote in, "The Government is currently reviewing the views." Letter on Inner City Press' DocumentCloud here
On April 17 DOJ wrote in asking for one more week to finalize. Inner City Press, still banned from the UN by Antonio Guterres, tweeted it.
On April 24 the Administration wrote in that it "has since reevaluated that position, and now concludes UNRWA is not immune from this litigation. Nor are the bulk of other defendants" - 10 page filing on DocumentCloud here.
On June 27 the UN's lawyer while citing the immunity of Ruud Lubbers for sexual harassment also argued "While Halk Bankasi is irrelevant, Plaintiffs’ case is not predicated on any commercial activity by Defendants." This while Guterres and others are pitching hard for funds... 17 page UN filing on DocumentCloud here.
On July 9 a second case, noted as related, was filed by US citizens under the Anti-Terrorism Act, naming UNRWA, Lazzarini, Krahenbuhl, Grandi, Leni Steseth, Sandra Mitchell, Morgot Ellis and Greta Gunnarsdottir.
It is Atzili v. UNRWA, 1:25-cv-5677 (Unassigned) Inner City Press has put the 215 page complaint on its DocumentCloud here
The first 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
