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Saturday, November 2, 2024

Jewish student sues pair after attack during Israeli rally at Tulane

Federal Court
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A Jewish student from Tulane University has sued two men for injuries he sustained last year during a pro-Palestine rally that turned violent.

Dylan Mann filed his lawsuit October 17 in federal court against Abraham Quraan of Metairie and Alaa M. Salem of Harvey.

Mann, who is from New York, was a freshman undergraduate student studying homeland security at Tulane on October 26, 2023, when he took part in a peaceful demonstration in support of Israel in uptown New Orleans in response to a pre-planned anti-Israel protest organized by non-Tulane students and specifically targeted at Tulane because of “the significant number of enrolled Jewish students,” according to the complaint.

During the protest, Mann says an orange Toyota pickup truck owned and driven by Quraan arrived with Quraan’s two minor sons in the flatbed of the truck, according to the complaint. It says Quraan then drove back and forth slowly on Freret Street between the two groups and in front of the students’ peaceful demonstration “with a specific intent to cause a disturbance and provoke/engage in physical violence against the Tulane students.”

“At some point, defendant Quraan illegally parked his truck in the middle of Freret Street, exited the truck and suddenly, violently and without warning assaulted plaintiff, including kicking plaintiff in the left side, punching plaintiff in the head and ripping an Israel flag off of plaintiff’s body,” the complaint states. “At the same time, co-defendant Alaa M. Salem suddenly, violently and without warning struck plaintiff in the face with a bullhorn.”

During the attack, Mann says the defendants verbalized their hatred of Jewish people. Before and after the incident, he says Quraan used social media “to espouse his hatred of Israel and Jewish people, including implied threats of violence.” These posts included harassment and threats against Mann personally after the incident, according to the complaint.

Mann says he didn’t encounter, confront, provoke or communicate with either defendant before the assault. He says he sustained numerous injuries, including blunt force facial trauma resulting in facial swelling, a nose laceration, nasal bleeding, headache and acute bilateral nasal bone fractures that required medical treatment. He also says he suffered extreme mental and emotional distress and fear for his life.

In all, four people were arrested at that October 26 rally, and several Tulane students injured. Freret Street cuts through the middle of Tulane’s campus but is public property.

At the time of the incident, Mann told the Jewish News Syndicate website he saw Jewish students waving Israeli flags and handing out fliers about kidnapped hostages. Across the street, he said others were rallying against Israel and its actions in the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.

The two groups soon were fighting in the streets of New Orleans.

The protesters “were screaming hateful things like, ‘From the river to the sea’ and calling us ‘genocide supporters,’” Mann told JNS at the time. “I knew at that point I wasn’t going to leave. I was going to stay.”

Mann told JNS someone in a pickup truck with a Palestinian flag began to burn an Israeli flag, and a pro-Israel student tried to grab it. One of the people in the truck started hitting that student with a flag pole, and Mann intervened.

“The driver starts punching me, and there were a couple of people who joined them,” Mann told JNS. “That’s where someone blindsides me with the megaphone and hits me in the face. And they instantly broke my nose with that. …

“Thank God, there were two girls on the Jewish side who were able to pull me out; they risked their safety for that. They are true heroes for that. …

“It was just unlike anything that I’ve ever experienced before. I was mostly just in shock. You see the monsters and what they do on videos, and you hear on the news, but when you’re really experiencing it, it’s a new level of shock.”

Mann seeks compensatory damages, interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief. He is being represented by Paul M. Skerbcow of Lewis Kullman Skerbcow & Abramson in New Orleans.

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana case number 2:24-cv-2499

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