Antisemitism and Anti-Terrorism

The attorneys in Holtzman Vogel’s Antisemitism and Anti-Terrorism practice represent victims of terror, students, families, and organizations confronting antisemitism, extremist violence, and unlawful support for terrorist activity. The practice brings focused litigation, investigative, and advocacy experience to matters involving civil rights, campus and workplace discrimination, public records, terrorism financing, and claims arising from terrorist attacks and related support networks.

Holtzman Vogel has been at the forefront of efforts to combat antisemitism in educational, professional, and civic institutions nationwide. The firm pursues accountability and meaningful institutional change for clients facing antisemitic harassment, discrimination, or intimidation, and represents American and Israeli victims of terrorism in matters involving alleged financing and material support for terrorist organizations.

Across this practice, Holtzman Vogel handles the following types of engagements:

Title VI
Title VII
Anti-Terrorism Act
Alien Tort Statute
Freedom of Information Act (state and federal)
FACE Act
First Amendment Antisemitism Matters

Representative Matters

Title VI Cases

Columbia University: We filed a Title VI complaint against Columbia University on behalf of Jewish students who alleged a discriminatory and hostile educational environment.
George Washington University: We filed a Title VI complaint against George Washington University on behalf of Jewish students who alleged a hostile educational environment.
Harvard University: We filed a Title VI complaint against Harvard University on behalf of the Brandeis Center and its members, alleging discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students. We also represented a Jewish-Israeli student who was assaulted on campus in related criminal proceedings and internal campus investigations. Media coverage of the matter appeared here in the Harvard Crimson and here in the Boston Globe.
University of Massachusetts Amherst: We represented a Jewish student who was assaulted on campus in proceedings before the U.S. Department of Education and within the school’s administrative discipline system. The complaint detailed the alleged Title VI violations.
Colorado College: We filed a complaint with the Department of Education alleging Title VI violations.

Anti-Terrorism Cases

PA/PLO: We filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization over their “Pay for Slay” program, which allegedly incentivized and supported terror attacks. The plaintiffs were American victims of those attacks and their families.
AMP/NSJP: We filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia against NSJP/AMP for allegedly aiding and abetting Hamas’s acts of terrorism. The plaintiffs were Israeli and dual-citizen victims of the October 7 attacks.
UNRWA USA: We filed a complaint in the District of Delaware against the domestic charity arm that raised money for UNRWA under anti-terrorism statutes. The plaintiffs were Israeli and dual-citizen victims of the October 7 attacks.
Palestine Chronicle: We filed a lawsuit on behalf of three rescued Israeli hostages against the Washington State-based nonprofit The Palestine Chronicle. The nonprofit allegedly employed as one of its “correspondents” the Hamas operative who held our clients hostage in Gaza.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest: We filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on behalf of American and Israeli victims of October 7 against Within Our Lifetime, Columbia SJP, Columbia JVP, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, and their leaders for allegedly aiding and abetting acts of international terrorism by terrorizing and assaulting Jewish students and fomenting chaos on Columbia University’s campus and throughout New York City.

Title VII Cases

UCLA: We filed a series of EEOC and California state discrimination claims on behalf of Jewish faculty and staff.

Freedom of Information Cases

Rutgers University: We filed a public records request seeking records from a Rutgers University professor. After the request was improperly denied, we filed suit against Rutgers University.
University of Virginia: We filed public records requests seeking records from professors and staff who made antisemitic comments.
Brooklyn College: We filed public records requests seeking records from a professor who made antisemitic comments.

FACE Act Cases

Los Angeles Riots: We filed a lawsuit on behalf of StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice, its members, and individuals who were blocked by rioters from accessing Adas Torah Synagogue in Los Angeles on June 23. We sued CodePink, Palestinian Youth Movement, and WESPAC Foundation under the federal and state FACE Acts, seeking $4,000,000 in damages, attorney’s fees, and class certification.

First Amendment Antisemitism Matters

West Bank Executive Order: We filed a lawsuit on behalf of the pro-Israel nonprofit Texans for Israel, the Israel-based think tank Regavim, and individual plaintiffs challenging the Biden Executive Order that prohibited funding to Jewish advocacy groups in Judea and Samaria.

Amicus Briefs

UNRWA: We filed an amicus brief on behalf of former senior government officials in support of litigation against UNRWA and its leadership.
Governor Greg Abbott, University of Houston, et al.: We filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National Jewish Advocacy Center and the Israeli-American Coalition for Action in support of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the University of Houston, and others in litigation challenging, among other actions, an executive order adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
Governor Greg Abbott / CAIR: We filed an amicus brief in the Eleventh Circuit supporting Governor Greg Abbott against CAIR.
Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization: We filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court addressing jurisdiction over the Palestine Liberation Organization.
MIT / StandWithUs: We filed an amicus brief supporting rehearing in the First Circuit.
American Victims of Palestinian Terrorism: We filed an amicus brief on behalf of 17 Jewish, pro-Israel, and civil rights groups in support of American victims of Palestinian terrorism and their families, as the Supreme Court considered whether they could sue the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization for their “Pay for Slay” program under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
National Security Officials and International Jewish Organizations: We filed an amicus brief on behalf of former national security officials and international Jewish organizations in support of an Israeli-American citizen who sought discovery from an NGO that allegedly tried to shield information about its role in providing false information that supported the wrongful imposition of sanctions against him.

Antisemitism and Anti-Terrorism

Representative Matters

News & Insights

Related Professionals

Related Practice Areas