Rescued hostage sues ‘Palestine Chronicle’ for employment of Hamas captor

Rescued Hamas hostage Almog Meir Jan filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against The Palestine Chronicle’s chief officers for the employment of his Hamas captor as a journalist.

The suit argued that the Chronicle, which does business as a US-based tax-exempt charitable organization People Media Project, aided, abetted, and materially supported Hamas and its operative and spokesperson Abdallah Aljamal by employing him as a correspondent and platforming his reports.

Meir Jan sought compensation through the Western Washington Seattle District against the news website, whose editor-in-chief Dr. Ramzy Baroud, and principal officer and manager John Harvey knew that Aljamal was a Hamas operative. Baroud and the Hamas terrorist knew each other prior to Aljamal beginning to write for The Palestine Chronicle in 2019.

During the 246-day period that the plaintiff was held hostage at Aljamal’s home, he published multiple items on the Chronicle’s website that justified and whitewashed the October 7 crimes in which  Meir Jan was captured. The Palestine Chronicle allegedly paid Aljamal for the proliferation of Hamas propaganda and hostage-taking and subsidized it with funds from US taxpayers.

Aljamal’s writings served as part of Hamas’s fundamental strategy of “war by propaganda” to exploit the international response to civilian casualties, said the filings. He eulogized terrorists, spread misinformation about mass civilian casualty events, and shared Hamas claims such as the supposed capture of Israeli soldiers in Jabalya.

Accusations against the Palestine Chronicle

When Aljamal was killed in the June 8 rescue of Meir Jan and two other hostages from the terrorist’s home, the Chronicle allegedly attempted to conceal its connection to Aljamal whose title as a “correspondent for The Palestine Chronicle” was allegedly changed to “contributor.”

Meir Jan sought legal relief under the Alien Tort Statue, arguing that it had been violated by Baroud and Harvey by aiding and abetting the taking of hostages in contradiction to Article 34 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It was also claimed that the defendants aided Hamas’s acts of terrorism that included murder, rape, torture, imprisonment, and crimes against humanity through their knowing support and employment of Aljamal.

The suit also alleged that the defendants maintained other ties to Gazan terrorist organizations. Baroud reportedly worked with the Center for Islam and Global Affairs, whose director Sami Al-Arian was deported over alleged Palestinian Islamic Jihad ties. Baroud’s daughter works for American Muslims for Palestine, which is being investigated for alleged ties to Hamas, said the suit.