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U.S. Supreme Court Revives Potential $655.5 Million Judgement Against PA

(Jerusalem Post) Sander Gerber and Ezra Husney - On April 27, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a little-noticed order in the Sokolow v. PLO case, in which American victims of the Second Intifada in Israel and their families sued the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The victims initially won a significant monetary judgment at trial, only to lose it when an appellate court reversed the decision in 2016. Congress passed the Anti-Terrorism Act in 1992, after an elderly, wheelchair-bound Jewish man, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot, killed and thrown off a ship by Palestinian terrorists. The law was explicitly designed to allow American citizens who are victims of terrorist attacks abroad to sue the perpetrators in U.S. courts. The Supreme Court has now overturned the appellate court's decision and instructed that court to revisit the case in light of new amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act. In December, Congress passed the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act of 2019. The act subjects to the authority of U.S. courts any entity that offers monetary rewards to those who commit terrorist attacks that kill Americans. The PA provides monthly salaries to those convicted of terrorist attacks. Sander Gerber is a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Ezra Husney is a student at Yale Law School and a former legal clerk to the Supreme Court of Israel.
2020-05-14 00:00:00
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