| Immunity Claim for
UN Assistance to Hamas Oct 7
Attacks Now Amicus Briefs Sept
27
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Sept 23 - For the UN's role in
Hamas' October 7 attacks,
non-US citizen plaintiffs and
estates on June 24 filed a
lawsuit in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York against
UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini,
Pierre Krahenbuhl, Filippo
Grandi, Leni Stenseth, Sandra
Mitchel, Margot Ellis and
Greta Gunnarsdottir.
The
individual plaintiffs are sued
for, inter alia, their
"constant travel to New York"
to raise and get money and
"their material support of
Hamas' terror infrastructure."
Also cited, for jurisdiction
and venue, is "over one
billion dollars from UNRWA's
New York bank account in
Manhattan that Defendants then
caused to be delivered to Gaza
in cash U.S. dollars to
benefit Hamas."
Inner City
Press, which daily cover the
SDNY court in-person and the
UN from outside the gate,
banned from entry by SG
Antonio Guterres, asked
Guterres' spokespeople
Stephane Dujarric and Melissa
Fleming about the lawsuit,
without any response per
usual.
Nor have they
responded to Inner City Press'
June 19 application
to enter the UN to ask these
questions.
On July
30, the US State Department -
at the request of the UN -
filed a letter asserting
complete impunity: "At the
request of the United Nations
and in accordance with the
United States’ treaty
obligations to respect the
immunities of the United
Nations and its officials, we
explain the application of
those immunities in this
case.1 In light of the United
Nations’ immunity, the Court
lacks subject matter
jurisdiction over the United
Nations. See Georges v. United
Nations, 834 F.3d 88, 98 (2d
Cir. 2016). Similarly, the
individual U.N. defendants
enjoy immunity for their
official actions, and two of
the individual defendants, by
virtue of their high-ranking
positions, also enjoy
diplomatic immunity." Letter
on Inner City Press'
DocumentCloud here.
Judge Torres has
set a schedule.
On September 13,
the plaintiffs filed their
response memo, including that
the Convention on the
Privileges and Immunities of
the UN does not apply to
UNRWA, much less to Lazzarini
and Grandi.
On September 20,
a proposed amicus brief
arguing that UNRWA is not
entitled to immunity under the
CPIUN, nor according to jus
cogen.
On September 23,
Judge Torres granted the
request; the briefs are due
September 27: "ORDER granting
[27] Letter Motion for Leave
to File Document. GRANTED. By
September 27, 2024,
StandWithUs and the Raul
Wallenberg Centre for Human
Rights shall file their brief.
SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge
Analisa Torres on 9/23/2024)."
We'll have more on this.
The UNRWA case is
ESTATE OF TAMAR KEDEM SIMAN
TOV, BY HEIR-AT-LAW GAD KEDEM
v. UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND
WORKS AGENCY (UNRWA) et al.,
24-cv-04765 (Torres)
***
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