Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate, is suing the US government and several private groups.
He alleges they were part of a conspiracy to suppress criticism of Israel through a coordinated campaign to jail and deport student activists.
The civil rights suit, filed in federal court Tuesday, names the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, as the architect of what it describes as an ongoing conspiracy to silence members of the pro-Palestinian movement by smearing them as antisemites.
Those efforts were aided by Canary Mission and Betar, two pro-Israel groups that maintain online lists of Israel’s critics, often alongside unsubstantiated claims that they are affiliated with Hamas, according to the lawsuit.
Activists placed on those lists “were nearly automatically targeted by the Federal Defendants for arrest and removal,” the suit claims, adding that the “process of nomination to punishment was frictionless.”
Lawyers for Khalil argue this “public-private partnership” could violate the Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction-era law that sought to restrict government coordination with vigilante groups.
The suit, led by the Center for Constitutional Rights, seeks unspecified damages and a judicial order to end the alleged conspiracy.
According to Associated Press, inquiries to the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar were not immediately returned on Tuesday.
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, did not comment on the lawsuit, but said in an email that the executive branch “has the lawful authority to take actions that will protect the public and to ensure the integrity of our immigration system.”
The suit comes as Khalil’s deportation case appears headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Khalil described the purpose of the latest filing as “exposing the network of organizations, particular actors and institutions that work together to criminalize solidarity with Palestine and to make an example of those who refuse to stay silent.”
“If constitutional protections can be cast aside under political pressure today, they can be cast aside tomorrow against anyone,” he added.
Prince Harry’s case
The Heritage Foundation is the same think tank that filed a request against Britain’s Prince Harry.
It filed a Freedom of Information Act request, arguing the public had a right to know if the British royal disclosed the prior drug use that he detailed in his memoir, “Spare,” on his application.
Last year, immigration officials said the Heritage Foundation had not established that the public interest outweighed the right to privacy for Harry, the Duke of Sussex.
In his 2023 memoir, Harry said he had used cocaine and marijuana.
Harry and his American wife Meghan dropped their royal duties in Britain and moved to the United States in 2020. —AP/Web Desk
