The Palestinian Authority was found guilty of inciting terror attacks that led to the deaths of US citizens in Israel during the Second Intifada. A landmark victory for Israel!
Kent Yalowitz, lead prosecuting attorney of a landmark trial against Palestinian terror, proudly declared that “the Palestinian Authority and the PLO have been found liable by an American jury for six heinous terrorist attacks that killed and injured hundreds of civilians.”
The Israel Law Center, an Israel-based legal rights organization (known as Shurat Hadin in Hebrew), represented 10 families that took the Palestinian Authority to court for inciting, planning and carrying out six terror attacks that killed American citizens in Israel during the Second Intifada, or specifically between 2002 and 2004.
Following the landmark decision by a US court, Shurat Hadin’s director, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, and Yalowitz were elated with the jury’s verdict.
Darshan-Leitner declared on Facebook: “BREAKING: Palestinian Authority & Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) FOUND GUILTY ON EVERY COUNT!”
“We are truly grateful that an American court has heard the evidence against the Palestinian Authority and the PLO and determined that suicide terrorism was indeed their official policy during the Second Intifada,” Darshan-Leitner stated.
“The defendants have already been boasting that they will appeal the decision and we will never collect on the judgment. We will not allow them to make a mockery of the US court process, however, and we continue to pursue them until it is paid in full.”
“If the PA and PLO have the funds to pay the families of the suicide bombers each month, then they have the money to pay these victims of Palestinian terrorism,” she said.
Yalowitz explained: “If you have a policy that says [that] if you commit a terrorist act, you keep your job,” get a promotion and get paid while you’re in jail, “that says something about who you are and what you believe in,” the Jerusalem Post reports.
He hoped that “after years of difficult and emotional effort, we secured for the families today a small measure of justice.”
Israeli terror victims. (Photo: Flash90)
A large sum of $218.5 million in damages was awarded to the victims. According to applicable anti-terrorism laws, this amount will likely be tripled to a whopping sum of over $655 million.
Darshan-Leitner said “This historic verdict against the defendants will not bring back these families’ loved ones nor heal the physical and psychological wounds inflicted upon them but it truly is an important measure of justice and closure for them after their long years of tragic suffering and pain.”
This landmark verdict will likely have a major impact on the Palestinian Authority’s effort to prosecute Israel for alleged war crimes in the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Israeli government has already indicated that it intends to use the same court to charge the Palestinian Authority with terrorism and crimes against humanity.
Upon hearing the verdict, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “The US federal court decision determines the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority for the murderous terrorist attacks of the previous decade. Instead of drawing the requisite lesson, the Palestinian Authority is advancing steps that endanger regional stability such as the hypocritical application to the International Criminal Court even as it is allied with the Hamas terrorist organization. We expect the responsible elements in the international community to continue to punish those who support terrorism just as the US federal court has done and to back the countries that are fighting terrorism. Today as well, we remember the families that lost their loved ones; our heart is with them and there is no justice that can console them.”
By: United with Israel Staff
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