Bashar Masri, a Palestinian-American billionaire, has stepped down from his position on the dean’s council at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Why? A lawsuit filed by 200 family members of the victims of the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack alleges that Masri has used his businesses and money to aid and abet Hamas in its antagonism toward Israel.

These allegations, if true, are especially nefarious since Masri is reportedly an adviser to the Trump administration team that’s helping to negotiate with Hamas for hostages and planning the post-war rebuilding of the Gaza Strip. He has even traveled with Adam Boehler, Donald Trump’s former envoy on hostage negotiations, on several missions. Masri was the mind behind the city of Rawabi, the West Bank’s first planned city. It is described as “futuristic” and was the lucky recipient of $5 million in USAID grants.

In other words, Masri is just the sort of real estate developer who would be a great pick for President Trump’s vision to turn the ruined Gaza Strip into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

“Beneath the surface,” the suit alleges, “Masri and the companies he controls worked with Hamas to construct and conceal an elaborate subterranean attack tunnel network which Hamas used to burrow under the border into Israel, to attack nearby Israeli communities, and to ambush Israeli military personnel.”

Masri owns several businesses in the region named in the suit: Palestine Development & Investment Company, Palestine Real Estate Investment Company, and Palestinian Industrial Estate Development Company. These companies oversee two prominent hotels — The Ayan Hotel and the Blue Beach Resort — as well as an industrial park called the Gaza Industrial Estate.

These businesses were riddled with terror tunnels and used by Hamas to train its soldiers, make terror plans, and even launch missiles and install an anti-tank battery.

For his part, Masri denies the allegations. A statement from his office claimed that Masri “was shocked to learn through the media that a baseless complaint was filed today referring to false allegations against him and certain businesses he is associated with. Neither he nor those entities have ever engaged in unlawful activity or provided support for violence and militancy.” The statement added, “Neither he nor those entities have ever engaged in unlawful activity or provided support for violence and militancy. Bashar Masri has been involved in development and humanitarian work for the past decades.”

Masri has a history of being a part of Gaza’s intifadas. He admitted to taking part in the 1987 intifada. He could still be sympathetic to the idea that Gaza is an “open-air prison” and that Hamas is the best way to achieve Palestinian liberation.

Furthermore, Masri probably wouldn’t have been permitted to build in Gaza if he hadn’t bowed to the wishes of Hamas. That terrorist group controls the Strip with a ruthless and brutal hand. It uses women and children as human shields, builds tunnels under schools and hospitals, and callously murders Gazan civilians who protest against the war. If the allegations are true, Masri’s buildings and properties were used to support terrorism and directly fund Hamas and its military goals.

The allegations are serious enough that Masri stepped down from his role at Harvard. A Kennedy School spokesperson explained, “The lawsuit raises serious allegations that should be vetted and addressed through the legal process.” As tepid and noncommittal as that statement is, it does raise the question: Did Harvard pressure the resignation? After seeing what President Trump was willing to do to Columbia University, that would hardly be surprising. Harvard itself has a history of Hamas support on campus and would probably like to avoid taxpayer funding cuts.