In June, a U.S. court of appeals ruled on the case of Fraenkel v. Islamic Republic of Iran, in which the family of Naftali Fraenkel—a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen who was kidnapped and murdered by Hamas in 2014—sued Iran and Syria over their support for the terrorist group. According to federal statute, American citizens, like Fraenkel’s mother and siblings, are allowed to sue foreign governments for their role in committing and assisting acts of terror. The federal district court that first heard their case found in the Fraenkels’ favor, but it awarded them a sum far smaller than what precedent would dictate. Michal Navoth explains:

[The district court] determined that Rachel Fraenkel and her six surviving children had provided satisfactory evidence that Iran and Syria, two state sponsors of terrorism, are legally responsible for the abduction and murder of Naftali, because of the longstanding material support and resources provided to Hamas by Iran and Syria that allowed Hamas to flourish as a terrorist organization.

The evidence demonstrated that during the time leading up to the abduction and murder, the two countries provided funds, weapons, and training to [Hamas]. The district court noted that although no evidence has been given “directly linking a weapon or a dollar provided by Iran and Syria to the kidnapping and murder of Naftali,” both countries were hostile to Israel and knew of Hamas’s tactics and ideological goals and supported its efforts. The hostage-taking and murder were foreseeable consequences of Iran and Syria’s support and assistance to Hamas. . . .

Not only did the district court deny the motion for reconsideration of [the amount awarded], but in its decision on reconsideration the district court also stated that the Fraenkels accepted the risk by living in a community built across the Green Line [that divides the West Bank from the rest of Israel], and sending Naftali for high school in Gush Etzion, which is about six miles from Hebron, a predominantly Palestinian city. In so determining, the court imposed responsibility on innocent parents of an innocent victim, who was abducted and murdered by terrorists.

Although the appeals court eventually reversed the decision, the fact that a judge could determine that Jewish blood is worth less on the West Bank is a troubling one.

While it is commendable that administrators of several universities finally called upon police to crack down on violent and disruptive anti-Israel protests, the actions they have taken may be insufficient. At Columbia, demonstrators reestablished their encampment on the main quad after it had been cleared by the police, and the university seems reluctant to use force again. The school also decided to hold classes remotely until the end of the semester. Such moves, whatever their merits, do nothing to fix the factors that allowed campuses to become hotbeds of pro-Hamas activism in the first place. The editors of National Review examine how things go to this point:

Since the 10/7 massacre, Columbia’s Jewish students have been forced to endure routine calls for their execution. It shouldn’t have taken the slaughter, rape, and brutalization of Israeli Jews to expose chants like “Globalize the intifada” and “Death to the Zionist state” as calls for violence, but the university refused to intervene on behalf of its besieged students. When an Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside Columbia’s library, it occasioned little soul-searching from faculty. Indeed, it served only as the impetus to establish an “Anti-Semitism Task Force,” which subsequently expressed “serious concerns” about the university’s commitment to enforcing its codes of conduct against anti-Semitic violators.

But little was done. Indeed, as late as last month the school served as host to speakers who praised the 10/7 attacks and even “hijacking airplanes” as “important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in.”

The school’s lackadaisical approach created a permission structure to menace and harass Jewish students, and that’s what happened. . . . Now is the time finally to do something about this kind of harassment and associated acts of trespass and disorder. Yale did the right thing when police cleared out an encampment [on Monday]. But Columbia remains a daily reminder of what happens when freaks and haters are allowed to impose their will on campus.