20 No. 76 JUSTICE Shalom v. Masri Our first case alleges that Bashar Masri and several companies under his control knowingly supported Hamas’s attack tunnel infrastructure in Gaza. Masri is one of the richest Palestinians in the world. He has friendly ties with both the current and prior administrations in Washington and has reportedly served as a “mediator” between Hamas and the West; he has been named as a potential leader in a future Palestinian government. Prior to our filing of Shalom, he served as a member of the Deans’ Council of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He has since resigned that seat, and a Kennedy School representative acknowledged that our suit “raises serious allegations.”21 Masri owns a myriad of companies. The Palestine Development & Investment Company (“PADICO”) is named in this suit as are two of its subsidiaries and an investment holding company. Properties operated by these companies include Gaza’s (formerly) ritzy Blue Beach and Al Mashtal hotels and the Gaza Industrial Estate – all of which have been destroyed in the fighting in Gaza. The hotels had regularly hosted foreign dignitaries and Hamas officials. A news video shows the head of Egyptian intelligence visiting the hotel accompanied by his heavily armed entourage. Greeting him at the entrance of the hotel are Yahya Sinwar, the principal architect of the October 7 massacres, and Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas’s current Political Bureau based in Qatar. The letters “UN” and “EU” were painted in massive letters on the roof of the Al Mashtal Hotel, intended to dissuade Israel from striking the hotel which served as a periodic Hamas command center and cover for multiple rocketlaunching sites nearby. Hamas’s use of the hotels extended far beyond merely utilizing their facilities. Attack tunnels ran between the hotels and extended from the hotel properties to the beach, as well as to the neighboring Qassam Brigades’ base and training facility where Hamas trained its fighters to launch its amphibious assaults on October 7.22 Additional tunnels also led to nearby Hamas rocket launching sites, with a 2014 aerial photograph showing a launch site located on the Al-Mashtal grounds. Following October 7, Hamas used the hotels as a strategic “kill zone” intended to ambush Israeli forces that would inevitably target the nearby Qassam Brigades base. The IDF announced that it located and destroyed “a Hamas terrorist quarters under the Blue Beach Hotel,” which was used by Hamas to “plan and execute attacks both above and below ground.”23 The IDF further reported that “during the course of combat, dozens of Hamas terrorists entrenched in the hotel fired anti-tank missiles at IDF forces, who returned fire” and eliminated the terrorists.24 Masri’s properties also included the Gaza Industrial Estate, a large industrial facility on Israel’s border, about one mile from the Nahal Oz kibbutz. The estate was billed as a model of success for developing Gaza, housing local businesses and providing thousands of jobs. At the same time, it housed and shielded Hamas infrastructure. For example, in 2018, the IDF discovered and destroyed an attack tunnel originating from the estate and extending under the Gazan border into Israel.25 Despite multiple pre-October 7 IDF strikes targeting Hamas assets on the premises, the Gaza Industrial Estate allegedly worked with Hamas to rebuild them. Aerial photographs of the estate from 2022 and 2023 show pergolas installed above tunnel shafts to block surveillance of Hamas’s tunnel excavation. These tunnels running under the estate were also intended to ambush IDF infantry and armor that would inevitably enter the Gaza Strip following the anticipated attacks on Israel. Hamas also installed an anti-tank battery facing Israel in a water tower situated near the entrance of the estate. 20. Parizer v. AJP Educational Found., No. 24-cv-724 (E.D. Va. May 1, 2024); Haggai v. Kiswani, No. 25-cv-02400 (S.D.N.Y. March 24, 2025). 21. Elise A. Spenner and Tanya J. Vidhun, “Bashar Masri Resigns From HKS Dean’s Council After Suit Alleges He Aided Hamas,” HARVARD CRIMSON (April 11, 2025), available at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/4/11/ hks-dean-council-resignation/ 22. The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades constitute the “operational” arm of Hamas that carries out attacks. 23. Israel Defense Forces (@Israel Defense Forces), X (Jan. 5, 2024), available at https://x.com/IDF/ status/1743355674455613758; see also Press Release, “Hamas Terrorist Tunnel Located Under Blue Beach Hotel in the Gaza Strip,” ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (Jan. 5, 2024), available at https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/ idf-press-releases-israel-at-war/january-24-pr/hamasterrorist-tunnel-located-under-blue-beach-hotel-in-thegaza-strip/ 24. Id. 25. Stuart Winer, “IDF destroys ‘longest and deepest’ Hamas cross-border attack tunnel,” TIMES OF ISRAEL (April 15, 2018), available at https://www.timesofisrael.com/idfdestroys-hamas-cross-border-attack-tunnel-extendinginto-israel/
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgzNzA=