NEW YORK — Five Palestinian students and faculty on Monday sued Columbia University in New York City for alleged discrimination based on their Palestinian identity.

The lawsuit, filed in a New York State court, claimed the university had failed to protect Palestinians on campus and “actively encouraged” harassment against them.

The plaintiffs said the campus atmosphere had harmed their academic work, life on campus, and physical and mental health.

The claims are part of the ongoing fallout from the anti-Israel protest movement that rocked the campus after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack and start of the war in Gaza.

Columbia has been hit with a series of lawsuits related to the protests from both pro- and anti-Israel students. The school has also come under sustained criticism from Jewish and pro-Israel leaders for not doing enough to curb pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit claimed that Palestinian students had been “physically accosted,” targeted with ethnic slurs on campus and subject to discriminatory treatment from the university.

The university told The Times of Israel that it cannot comment on pending litigation.

In one of the incidents, the lawsuit says, protesters were attacked with a “foul-smelling chemical substance” causing “severe physical injuries.”

That claim is a repeat of allegations that have been rehashed at length. Protesters at the time had claimed the incident was a........

© The Times of Israel