UNRWA Not Immune US Told Judge for Aiding Hamas Oct 7 Attack now June 29 Date Set

UNRWA Not Immune US Told Judge for Aiding Hamas Oct 7 Attack now June 29 Date Set by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack SDNY COURTHOUSE, May 29 - 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. On August 26 the law firm the UN is paying with taxpayers' money wrote asking to push back its time to respond, bragging that "no proof of service has been filed with respect to Philippe Lazzarini, Pierre Krahenbuhl, Filippo Grandi, Leni Stenseth, Sandra Mitchell and Greta Gunnarsdottir" - like mobsters, hiding from service of court papers. On May 29, 2026, Judge Abrams set a date for the UN to argue for dismissal and immpunity: "ORDER: Oral argument will be held on the pending motion to dismiss on June 29, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, Courtroom 1506, 40 Foley Square, New York, NY 10007. If this day is inconvenient for the parties, they shall so advise the Court by June 5, 2026. SO ORDERED." This is Atzili v. UNRWA, 1:25-cv-5677 (Abrams) 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 Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station, NY NY 10013 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.  Copyright 2006-2026 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com