Canceling Columbia's Haman Banquet

President Lee C. Bollinger 
Columbia University 
202 Low Library 
535 West 116th Street, Mail Code 4309 
New York, N.Y. 10027 
Re: Criminal and Civil Liability of Columbia University
Relating to Hosting of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Dear President Bollinger, 
  SHURAT HADIN—ISRAEL  LAW  CENTER, an Israeli organization dedicated to 
enforcing basic human rights through the legal system, represents victims of terrorism in 
courtrooms around the world.  
It has come to our attention that Columbia University has arranged to host a 
banquet for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.   
Hosting Ahmadinejad at a banquet is not merely morally repulsive: it is illegal
and will expose Columbia University and its officers to both criminal prosecution and civil 
liability to American citizens and others victimized by Iranian-sponsored terrorism. 
 Iran is officially designated under U.S. law as a state-sponsor of terrorism, as a 
proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and as  a perpetrator of human rights abuses. 
Ahmadinejad is Iran’s chief executive and personally directs Iran’s terrorist and nuclear 
proliferation activities and human rights abuse.  
Accordingly, any provision of material support or resources to Ahmadinejad by 
Columbia University and/or its officers constitutes a violation of the criminal and civil 
provisions of Chapter 113B, Title 18 United States Code, and of the criminal provisions of the 
International Emergency Economic Powers Act, of numerous Executive Orders and of the 
implementing regulations (31 CFR Part 535; 31 CFR Part 560-562). 

I attach for your convenience a copy of the United States Supreme Court’s recent 
ruling in the case of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 561 U.S. ____ (2010), which found 
that providing any assistance or support to terrorists is unlawful. The planned Columbia 
University event for Ahmadinejad would constitute the type of seemingly innocuous material 
support that would render both Columbia University and you personally criminally and civilly 
liable notwithstanding any putative First Amendment claims.   
Many U.S. entities and individuals who have provided material support to 
terrorists have been sued by the terror victims and their families for aiding and abetting 
international terrorism. Many of these defendants now find themselves defending against multibillion dollar civil actions in federal courts around the United States. In addition, American 
corporations that provided material support to militant organizations in the Middle East are 
currently defendants in multi-billion dollar civil  actions in U.S. federal courts brought by the 
victims of these groups, and officers and principals of such corporations have also become 
defendants.   See e.g. Abecassis v. Wyatt, --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2011 WL 1227780 (S.D.Tex. 2011). 
It should be noted that this is not the first time that you and Columbia University 
have provided Ahmadinejad with a forum for media coverage and an air of legitimacy. In 2007, 
Columbia University invited Ahmadinejad – who calls for genocide against the Jewish people 
and denies that the Holocaust took place. Among the many terrorist groups that Ahmadinejad’s 
regime prides itself on supporting are al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas, as well as 
groups in Iraq that have killed and maimed a great many United States soldiers. Additionally, 
Iran is a ruthless violator of the human rights of its own people and continues to illegally pursue 
nuclear weapons in violation of international law and U.N. resolutions. 
While Columbia University and certain of its officers appear to believe that 
hosting Ahmadinejad at a banquet is nothing more than a harmless Radical Chic parlor game, 
such conduct is in fact very serious business that can and will have severe, real-world criminal 
and civil consequences for Columbia and its officers. 
And quite deservedly so: to host Ahmadinejad is to host an aspiring Hitler.  
In light of the above, we request that you immediately provide us confirmation 
that Columbia University has undertaken to cancel the planned banquet for Ahmadinejad.  
Our organization will feel a moral obligation to take all measures permitted to 
ensure that the laws are enforced and that anyone affiliated with Columbia University who has 
violated them is brought to justice.  

Very truly yours,  
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Esq. 
Director Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center