Rescued hostage Almog Meir Jan’s lawsuit against a US-based nonprofit that allegedly employed his captor was dismissed Friday by a federal judge in Seattle, Washington, who ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the company was aware that its employee was a Hamas operative.
US District Judge Tiffany Cartwright did, however, allow Meir Jan to refile the suit, giving him the chance to amend his claim to provide evidence to prove the allegations against the defendant.
Meir Jan filed the suit in July 2024 against People Media Project, a United States-based nonprofit that has ties to the journalist who held him captive.
Meir Jan, 22, was held by Abdallah Aljamal, a spokesman for the Hamas-run labor ministry in Gaza who has contributed to several news outlets in the past, and who was a correspondent for the Palestine Chronicle, which is run by the nonprofit.
Meir Jan, along with hostages Shlomi Ziv, 40, and Andrey Kozlov, 27, was rescued from Aljamal’s home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat on June 8 of last year. Hostage Noa Argamani, 26, who was held some 180 meters (200 yards) away, was also rescued. Despite their buoyant appearance upon their return, the four were said to have faced harsh conditions in captivity.
The four were abducted from the Nova music festival in the forest outside Kibbutz Re’im near the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages. Three-hundred and sixty people were killed in the Nova massacre.
Aljamal, his wife Fatma and father Ahmad Aljamal were all killed during the hostage rescue mission. The family’s children survived.
The family was said to be known to have ties to Hamas, but residents told The Wall Street Journal at the time they were unaware that hostages were being held at the Aljamals’ family home.
Meir Jan’s lawsuit alleged: “Under the leadership of Defendants [editor-in-chief] Ramzy Baroud and [People Media Project governor] John Harvey, Defendant Palestine Chronicle employed Hamas Operative Aljamal and offered him its US platform to write and disseminate Hamas propaganda, ultimately subsidized, through its status as a tax-exempt charitable organization, by US taxpayers.”
The lawsuit was submitted to Washington state’s Western District court.
After review of the suit, Judge Cartwright determined that since Meir Jan’s “complaint does not allege actual knowledge, his compensation allegations must be dismissed.”
The judge added that nowhere in Meir Jan’s lawsuit does he allege that the “defendants gave Aljamal money for the purpose of committing terrorism or aiding Hamas.”
“Instead, he seeks to hold them liable for compensating Aljamal for writing articles, because Aljamal used that money to enable Jan’s imprisonment.” she added.
However, under court precedent, the judge granted Meir Jan an opportunity to amend his complaint if he can find additional evidence to prove the allegations against the defendant.
Meir Jan’s lawsuit followed others filed by victims of October 7 in US courts. On July 1, 2024, October 7 victims sued Iran, North Korea and Syria, seeking at least $4 billion in damages from the countries for aiding and abetting Hamas’s terror onslaught. A week before, victims sued for $1 billion in damages from UNRWA, the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees, accusing it of funneling money into Hamas’s coffers and letting the terror group use the agency’s facilities.
Israel has said that numerous Hamas operatives were posing as journalists in Gaza.