My neighbors, whose son was very seriously injured in an Arab terror attack during what’s known as “the second intifada,” were among the witnesses at the trial against the Palestinian Authority to demand compensation. These neighbors do not normally travel out of Israel. They only go for pikuash nefesh, life-saving reasons, such as when another child needed medical care that required a certain American hospital. Since then they hadn’t returned. That is until this trial, when their son was one of the .
When they came back after testifying we discussed the American judicial system. The idea of a jury, non-professionals, ordinary people who have the fate of this law suit in their hands made us all very nervous.
For us the situation is so clear, and we hoped that the jurors understood that the P. A. financially supports terrorists, besides approving the murderous acts would be accepted as legal responsibility by those twelve.
Thank G-d, the jurors were open-minded enough to declare the Palestinian Authority as responsible for terrorism against Israelis (and tourists etc.) I hope that the American Government and State Department will change its tune, but that is probably impossible.
The attacks occurred during the Second Intifada, the 2000-2005 uprising in which nearly 800 civilians were killed in terror attacks carried out by Palestinian militant groups.
The verdict in the politically sensitive trial in Manhattan federal court added a new dimension to the long-running Middle East conflict, as American victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict sought to use US courts to seek damages.
Jurors found in favor of 10 American families suing over six attacks attributed to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas. The award could be tripled under the US Anti-Terrorism Act.
Victims and their families had requested more than $350 million, or over $1 billion after tripling, over shootings and bombings from 2002 to 2004 that killed 33 people and injured over 450.
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Nobody is in this for the money. The money will be used for more trials to prove that the Palestinian Authority and murderous terrorism are synonyms.