Israel Sues Terrorist’s Widow, Children To Compensate Victims’ Families

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JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel has filed a civil lawsuit against the wife and children of a Palestinian terrorist to recover the cost of his attack in Jerusalem.

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Jerusalem filed the lawsuit last month over the attack from last January, the first in a number of lawsuits expected to be filed against the families of Palestinian terrorists, Haaretz reported Sunday.

The first suit to be filed, called “precedent-setting” by Haaretz, was filed against the estate (including the family) of Fadi al-Qanbar, 28, who killed four soldiers in a truck-ramming attack in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood on the border of eastern and western Jerusalem on Jan. 8.

The lawsuit calls for $572,000 compensation to the families of each killed soldier, and reimbursement for each soldiers’ funeral and headstones and for the benefits paid by the state to the soldiers’ families.

“This lawsuit, which stems from a terrorist incident in which soldiers were murdered, is designed to recover the expenses incurred in events of this kind to the state’s coffers, as well as sending a clear message that the state will also settle accounts on a civil level with the perpetrators of hostile acts,” the Jerusalem District Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.