The College Station Smash Bros tournament has lifted its ban on Jewish professional gamer Felix Hasson after a civil-rights lawsuit was filed alleging he was barred from competitions because of his Zionist views.
Hasson, a 21-year-old globally ranked player of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, was previously banned from tournaments in New York and Texas, as well as certain online gaming forums, following social media posts expressing support for Israel after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.
In December 2024, the National Jewish Advocacy Center announced it had filed a federal lawsuit on Hasson’s behalf, alleging violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
According to the complaint, which NJAC provided to JNS, Hasson was banned from tournaments organized by CStat Smash at the Legends Event Center in College Station, Texas. The suit alleges that Hasson was deregistered and later permanently banned from “Battle for Bryan” tournaments because of his pro-Israel statements.
“Prominent leaders in the Smash and greater gaming community have made clear that if you are a Jew whose Jewish identity entails supporting Israel and opposing those who seek its destruction, you will be ostracized,” NJAC litigation counsel Matthew Mainen said at the time.
“But if you are a non-Jew spewing vile antisemitism and supporting the destruction of Israel, you will be welcomed with open arms,” Mainen stated. “This sort of blatant double standard is exactly the kind of situation civil-rights law is designed to eliminate.”
On Feb. 23, CStat Smash announced Hasson was welcome back to competitions, condemned the campaign against him and warned that continued cyberbullying would result in disciplinary action.
The announcement stated Hasson has been “subjected to the spread of defamatory statements aiming to paint him as a dangerous individual regarding his beliefs as a Zionist Jew and regarding tweets he made about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Mainen called the reversal a “welcome development for our client, who is eager to return to these video game tournaments without having to worry about being discriminated against for being a Jew who supports Israel.”
Mark Goldfeder, CEO and director of NJAC, said that for most Jews, Zionism—the belief that there should be a sovereign Jewish nation in its ancestral homeland—is an integral part of Jewish ethnic heritage and of racial and national-origin identity.
“As such, it is a protected part of their identity, and they cannot be excluded on the basis of holding that belief,” he said.
