Students file suit against AOC, Jamaal Bowman, Ilhan Omar over anti-Israel encampment and protests at Columbia University

The three lawmakers heavily criticized law enforcement for breaking up the demonstration on campus. In the height of the chaos, protesters had taken over the campus quad, were heard chanting anti-Israel slogans, burned Israeli flags, threw rocks, and occupied the school’s Hamilton Hall.

Despite this, Ocasio-Cortez criticized the decision of the police to intervene.

“If any kid is hurt tonight, responsibility will fall on the mayor and univ presidents,” Ocasio-Cortez posted on X on April 30, also calling the involvement of police “a nightmare in the making.”

Five students, including two Jewish students, filed legal action anonymously against several groups, including the anti-Israel group Within Our Lifetime, as well as Ocasio-Cortez, Bowman, and Omar. Omar's college-age daughter was arrested at the Columbia encampment while protesting at the time as well. She was a Barnard student. The students filed the lawsuit anonymously out of fear due to the violent history of the protesters.

“The Gaza Encampment was extreme and outrageous conduct. It was illegal. It violated university rules. Its occupants harassed, followed, physically blocked, intimidated, and bullied Jewish students,” the students explained in the litigation.

The lawsuit states that protesters and those who supported them “not only consciously disregarded the rights of others, but the impact on the rights of others was the point of the protest: the more disruption [they] could cause for the University and the [students], the more leverage they thought they would have for their agenda.”

One individual who filed the lawsuit explained he had “felt like he was living under an ominous cloud of doubt and uncertainty as he waited for the protestors or administration’s next move that would further impact his studies and life on campus.”

One of the Jewish students who filed the lawsuit explained to the New York Post, “During the protests, I witnessed numerous offensive and antisemitic signs and messages, including antisemitic skunk posters with the Star of David.”

“In one instance, I was walking with my non-Jewish friends when I was singled out because I was wearing my yarmulke. A leader of the pro-Palestinian protest approached our group and confronted me. He singled me out, yelling that I needed to move, and when I refused, he began to shove me out of the way,” he added.

In court papers, the students stated, “In a civilized community, one does not call for the obliteration of a major metropolitan area, praise terrorists, or threaten death and destruction upon our classmates and their families, friends, and coreligionists.” The lawsuit also alleges that the three congresspeople trespassed on campus in April by showing up “and participating in the encampment” when access to campus was only allowed for those with student IDs.