Pro-Israel Students Drop Case Against UMass Amherst Over Palestine Event

Nearly eight months after filing a lawsuit against the University of Massachusetts Amherst, pro-Israel Jewish students dropped claims against the university for hosting an event on Palestine and free speech in May. The lawsuit relied on the same distorted definition of antisemitism included in President Trump’s new anti-Palestinian executive order – one designed to shield Israel from criticism – in its attempt to censor the talk.

“Ironically, the lawsuit sought to censor an event on how activists supporting Palestinian rights are censored,” said Rachel Weber, an attorney representing the event’s sponsors, including Jewish Voice for Peace-Western Mass and the Media Education Foundation. “Thankfully, the judge recognized that many members of Jewish communities condemn the pernicious conflation of criticism of Israel with antisemitism, and that such misrepresentations of antisemitism do not belong in a court of law.”

The event—“Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech and the Battle for Palestinian Human Rights”—featured Marc Lamont Hill, Linda Sarsour, Roger Waters, Dave Zirin, and moderator Vijay Prashad.

In April, three students anonymously sued UMass and sought an emergency injunction to prevent the event from taking place. A Boston judge denied the request for an injunction, and 2000 people attended the lecture.

While the court allowed the event to take place, the anonymous plaintiffs persisted with their claims that UMass violated Massachusetts anti-discrimination laws and its contract with Jewish students by allowing a discussion on how people who speak out for Palestinian rights are often singled out for harassment and punishment.

In July, the judge ruled that the students could not hide behind a veil of anonymity if they wanted the case to move forward. The students’ attorney, Karen Hurvitz, asked for more time which the court granted, but the students never re-filed the case. The event organizers moved to dismiss the case in November.

Last Friday, Hurvitz stated that she would voluntarily ask the court to dismiss the case. On Wednesday December 11, the court formally dismissed the case.

Hurvitz is a member of the board of directors of LIBI, an organization which calls itself, “the official fund of the IDF.” She recently asked another court to dismiss a similar harassing lawsuit she had filed against the Newton School District in Massachusetts for what she called “anti-Israel bias” in its educational programming.

“The court correctly recognized the First Amendment right to talk about Palestine,” said Palestine Legal senior staff attorney Radhika Sainath, who provided legal support in the case. “While this should be a no-brainer, Trump’s new executive order will probably open the floodgates for this type of harassing, vexatious litigation that has no place in a democracy that values open debate.”

Read our full case page on UMass Amherst here. View the full event here.