New York - A first-year law student at Rutgers University filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the school and administrators claiming his rights under New Jersey's discrimination and bullying laws were violated due to antisemitism.
According to the complaint obtained by The Jerusalem Post, Yoel Ackerman, a 36-year-old New Jersey resident and father of three, faced repercussions from the Student Bar Association after speaking out when another member shared a pro-Hamas video days after the October 7 attack.
According to the complaint, Rutgers has the second-largest Jewish student of any public school in the US, though the university also has a documented history of antisemitic incidents, including professors sharing antisemitic statements on social media.
The lawsuit outlines specific instances of antisemitism that it claims the university failed to address.
Law student praises Hamas terrorists
According to the complaint, Ackerman was in a group message with the law student who shared an "antisemitic, false video parroting Hamas’ propaganda and misinformation regarding its October 7th terrorist attack."
The video praised Hamas fighters and falsely claimed that no people were raped or killed at the music festival during the attack.
According to the complaint, the video was shared on October 12, when Hamas had called for a worldwide "day of rage" against Jews and others.
"The sharing and endorsing of that false video, along with related comments defending the same, were discriminatory, harassing and intimidating towards Jewish law students, including Plaintiff Yoel Ackerman," the complaint said.
Ackerman claimed law school administrators failed to act in a timely manner to protect him from the "hostile school environment" and instead said they permitted Ackerman to become the purported bully in the situation.
Ackerman said he was harassed when he objected to the video and felt unsafe, according to the complaint.
"Mr. Ackerman shared with other Jewish law students the messages that their Law School classmates were publicly spreading and endorsing concerning the antisemitic, false video relating to the October 7th terrorist attack," according to the complaint.
According to a statement on Tuesday from Ackerman's attorney David Mazie, it's the reporting of the video that resulted in charges being brought against him.
"As a result, the Rutgers Student Bar Association has begun proceedings to impeach Mr. Ackerman so as to remove him as a member of the Student Bar Association," the statement said.
"In addition, Rutgers has doubled down and has filed charges against Yoel in an effort to suspend or even expel him from the school for objecting to being subject to antisemitism. This is all happening while Rutgers has dropped the complaints against the students who circulated the propaganda video," the statement said.
The Post has reached out to Rutgers University as well as Rutgers Law School.
The Post has also reached out to the Rutgers Jewish Law Students Association as well as the Student Bar Association.