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Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
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September 23, 2014
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N.Y.
Jury Finds Arab Bank Liable for Terror Financing
by IPT News • Sep 22, 2014 at
6:05 pm
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A New York federal jury on Monday found Arab Bank liable for enabling terrorist attacks by Hamas by
routing money to the players involved. It's a landmark decision – in the
first trial of its kind against a financial institution under the
Anti-Terrorism Act– which advocates already are hoping will have a
deterrent effect.
"Every bank, every company and every government in the world now
has to decide whether it is willing to continue doing business with an
institution proven to have knowingly supported terrorism and proven to have
helped murder Americans," said plaintiffs' attorney Gary Osen.
The civil verdict comes after just two days of deliberations, following
a six-week trial. The lawsuit was filed a decade ago on behalf of nearly 300
victims of Palestinian terrorist attacks and their families, many of whom
are Americans. It alleged that Arab Bank violated the U.S. Anti-Terrorism
Act by knowingly providing banking services to terrorist groups like Hamas
"that allowed those organizations to flourish and to engage in a
campaign of terror…" That included money from a Saudi charitable group
which allegedly was used as "death insurance" for families of
Hamas suicide bombers.
In a move which shows the political obstacles terrorist victims often
face in civil litigation, the U.S. State Department waited until after jury
deliberations began to release a memorandum saying the U.S. gave Saudi
officials evidence in 2003 showing that a charity there "was
forwarding millions of dollars in funds to the families of Palestinians
engaged in terrorist activities, including those of suicide bombers."
It was information sought by the plaintiffs for six years, attorney
Michael Elsner said in a Jerusalem Post report.
"We don't expect the State Department to take sides in a civil
case, but by withholding critical evidence until the jury began its
deliberations, the State Department continues its unfortunate pattern of
siding with foreign interests against American victims of terrorism,"
Elsner said.
The bank's lawyers promise an appeal, saying, "The trial was
infected by scores of errors..."
Damages against the bank, which has $46 billion in assets, will be
determined later.
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