US families accuse Palestinian-American billionaire of facilitating Hamas attacks

By David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American families of victims of the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel filed a lawsuit on Monday against a prominent Palestinian-American businessman, Bashar Masri, charging that he provided assistance in constructing infrastructure that allowed Hamas militants to carry out their cross-border rampage.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., is thought to be the first case of a U.S. citizen being accused of providing major support for the attacks that triggered a wider Middle East conflict and upended the region. 

Masri's office called the lawsuit "baseless."

According to a statement announcing the lawsuit, properties Masri owned, developed and controlled, including two luxury hotels and the leading industrial zone in Gaza – the Gaza Industrial Estate - "concealed tunnels underneath them, and had tunnel entrances accessible from within the properties, which Hamas used in terrorist operations before, on and after October 7th."

"Defendants facilitated the construction and concealment of those tunnels and even built above-ground solar panel installations that they then used to supply Hamas with electricity to the tunnels," it said.

The October 7 attacks killed some 1,200 Israelis, including more than 40 Americans, and prompted Israeli retaliation against Gaza that has since killed more than 50,000 Palestinians.

The lawsuit, which targets Masri and his companies, was filed on behalf of nearly 200 American plaintiffs, including survivors and relatives of victims.

"Our goal is to expose those who have aided and abetted Hamas and to try and bring accountability to individuals and companies that have presented a legitimate and moderate image to the Western world but have actively and knowingly helped Hamas," Lee Wolosky of the Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP law firm, lead attorney representing the plaintiffs, said in the statement.

It said GIE was originally established with the help of U.S. taxpayer funding via the U.S. Agency for International Development to promote economic growth in the region. 

It said of that "as a result of defendants’ deception," Hamas' tunnel network was built with the help of infrastructure and energy projects financed by international institutions, including the World Bank's International Finance Corporation.

A statement from Masri's office called the allegations against him and his businesses false and said he would seek their dismissal in court. It said Masri had been involved in development and humanitarian work for the past decades and "unequivocally opposes violence of any kind."

"Neither he nor those entities have ever engaged in unlawful activity or provided support for violence and militancy," it said.

A March 10 article in the Jerusalem Post cited unnamed diplomatic sources as saying that Masri had served as a close adviser to Adam Boehler, U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy seeking release of hostages held in Gaza, and had flown on Boehler’s private jet as he shuttled across the region.

It called Masri "a seasoned entrepreneur" who "shares a business-minded approach with Trump, making him a natural fit in the administration’s economic vision for the region."

The State Department and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment when asked about the newspaper report. 

In a Reuters interview in October 2020, when he was 59, Masri spoke in favor of Gulf Arab ties with Israel, condemned by Palestinian leaders, saying they could be an opportunity to apply fresh pressure to halt Jewish settlement in occupied land.

When speaking to Reuters in 2020, Masri said Palestinians must not give up hope. "Our enemies want us to give up hope. If we give up hope, they have exactly what they want, and there will be no Palestine, and no Palestinian people," he said.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Additional reporting Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Emily Rose in Tel Aviv; Editing by Don Durfee and Matthew Lewis)