Court Tosses Guilty Verdict Against Arab Bank For Financing Hamas Terrorism
Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — A federal appeals court has thrown out a verdict that found the Jordan-based Arab Bank guilty of helping finance the terrorist activity of Hamas, but the plaintiffs in the case will still receive compensation.
On Friday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York determined that the federal jury that arrived at the verdict in 2014 had been improperly instructed, Bloomberg News reported.
Three hundred victims of terrorism during the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in the early 2000s, including Americans, had sued the bank with accusations that it helped Hamas create a “death and dismemberment benefit plan” for terrorists. The suit was first filed in 2004.
It was the first time that a bank had been tried under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows victims of attacks by U.S.-designated terrorist organizations to seek damages.
Before the damages phase, the bank and the victims who had filed the lawsuit agreed to a settlement in 2015 that the bank would pay if the verdict was upheld and a smaller amount if it was reversed.
“The plaintiffs will receive meaningful and very substantial compensation for their injuries, and today’s decision doesn’t diminish the fact a jury found Arab Bank liable for knowingly supporting Hamas,” Gary Osen, a lawyer for the terror victims, told Bloomberg.
The United States has identified Hamas as a terrorist organization.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
