Three former hostages rescued from Gaza captivity last June have filed an amended lawsuit against the Seattle-based People Media Project, a pro-Hamas nonprofit which owns the Palestine Chronicle.
The lawsuit was filed against People Media Project chief Ramzy Baroud, who serves as editor-in-chief of the Palestine Chronicle this past Friday (Feb. 21) by Almog Meir Jan, Andrew Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv.
All three were held hostage in the private home of Abdallah Aljamal, a journalist working for the US-based Palestine Chronicle, the lawsuit notes. The IDF has confirmed the three were held in Aljamal’s home.
Baroud and Aljamal lived in the same town in Gaza. They co-authored an article in 2017 for the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera news outlet, which supports Hamas.
The three hostages were rescued from Aljamal’s home by IDF soldiers in a June 2024 raid that killed their captor, his wife and his father.
The lawsuit was first filed last year, but was dismissed by US District Judge Tiffany Cartwright in January 2025 who said the evidence was insufficient to prove the defendants were aware of Aljamal’s status as a Hamas terrorist.
However, the judge allowed the plaintiff to refile an amended complaint, which he did together with his fellow former hostages.
According to the court papers, the People Media Project provided Aljamal with “support and a US-based platform to publish Hamas propaganda under the guise of independent journalism.”
US taxpayers were subsidizing Hamas propaganda published to an American readership due to People Media Project’s nonprofit status, the complaint alleges.
Aljamal “repeatedly expressed his hatred for the State of Israel and the United States” and told the three hostages “Hamas was in contact and actively coordinating with its affiliates in the media and on college campuses,” according to court documents.
The terrorist journalist also allegedly told the hostages that “Hamas was going to ensure that the United States, as well as Jews and Israelis, are hated everywhere and that Hamas in Gaza was coordinating with its allies, including its allies in the media and on college campuses, to foment hatred against Israel and Jews.”
Aljamal began writing for the Palestine Chronicle in 2019, while serving as a spokesperson for the Hamas-run Labor Ministry in Gaza. He made no effort to hide his ties to Hamas, posting terrorist graphics and photos of his son wearing a Hamas headband on social media. Aljamal also praised the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion of Israel, during which thousands of terrorists and their civilian supporters slaughtered 1,200 people and abducted 251 others.
The lawsuit is backed by the National Jewish Advocacy Center.
