A jury in Manhattan has found the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from terror attacks a decade ago, prompting one analyst to claim it's a "powerful new approach" to defeating those groups.
The verdict came Monday in a case brought by a number of American families whose members either were injured or killed in the attacks in Israel.
The verdict of damages of $218.5 million automatically was tripled to $655.5 million under a 1990s law concerning liability for terrorist organizations, attorneys explained.
"While America's Ditherer-in-Chief seems to be having difficulties fighting Islamic terrorism or even naming it, an American jury just had no such trouble in what should become a landmark case," wrote Roger L. Simon at PJ Media.
"The PLO and PA are appealing, of course, and promising they won't pay up … but there is no question this case opens a powerful new approach to dealing with terror organizations: bankrupt them.
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"Behind virtually every such organization from ISIS to Hamas is a leadership looking to get rich by exploiting their own people. Putting them out of business wounds their bloody enterprise, perhaps fatally," he wrote.
President Obama's administration declines to link terrorists who proclaim they are attacking innocent people in the name of Islam with Islam. Last week's White House conference on the topic saw Obama repeatedly state that Islamic terrorists are perverting Islam.
Wrote the New York Times: "Mr. Obama's verbal tactics have become a target for a growing chorus of critics who believe the evasive language is a sign that he is failing to look squarely at the threat from militant Islam. The vague phrasing, they say, projects uncertainty and weakness at a time when extremists claiming to fight for Islam threaten American and its interests around the world."
According to a Reuters report, the jury decision was the second in which an American court has ruled groups liable under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The law lets U.S. citizens who are hurt by international terrorism seek damages.
The report said in 2014, a Brooklyn jury found an Arab bank liable for providing support to Hamas, although a decision on damages hasn't been reached yet.
Reuters reported the jury on Monday found the PLO and PA responsible for bombings and shootings from 2002 to 2004 that killed 33 people.
More than 450 were injured.
"Now the PLO and the PA know there is a price for supporting terrorism," Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told Reuters.
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik wrote at Palestinian Media Watch that the organization had submitted expert opinions to the court as well as translations of Palestinian television videos showing "promotion of terror."
"In addition, PMW provided documentation of the PA's support for terror and acceptance of responsibility after the terror attacks. PMW showed that the PA celebrates terror attacks and rewards terrorists with high salaries and other benefits, including some of the terrorists involved in the specific terror attacks of this lawsuit."
Reuters reported Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ruling "determines the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority for the murderous terrorist attacks of the previous decade."
The report said attorneys for the defendants blamed "rogue low-level employees."
PMW said, "Having monitored, documented, and reported to governments and the media on the PA's direct promotion of murder of Israelis, glorifying and rewarding of the terrorists with high salaries, PMW is gratified to have been a part of this important fight for justice."
Simon noted: "Although heard in a New York court, the case was championed by two Israeli lawyers, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and her husband, Avi Leitner. These two extraordinary people, through their organization Shurat HaDin (the Israel Law Center), deserve all our support. True heroes of our time, they are in the process of suing terror organizations throughout the world as well as the financial institutions that enable them, including the Bank of China."