Survivors of Jerusalem terror attack, families of Beirut terror victims seek to collect from Iranian relics
A group of survivors of a 1997 Jerusalem bombing and the families of people murdered in the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut are both seeking to collect default judgments against the government of Iran from the Persepolis tablets - ancient relics from Persian society that have been on long-term loan to a Chicago museum. The twin lawsuits have what we call the yfei ha'nefesh (cultural elites) in an uproar. But don't the terror victims deserve to collect? Here's more. This case stems from a horrific September afternoon in 1997 in Jerusalem when three suicide bombers blew themselves up on the city's Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, a crowded, open-air gathering spot.Read the whole thing.
The bombs, packed with rusty nails, screws, glass and poisons, killed five and wounded nearly 200. The Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas, took responsibility. Two Hamas operatives were convicted in Israeli court.
Two groups of Americans sued. Several were critically injured: One teen, burned over 40 percent of his body, had more than 100 shrapnel wounds; a nail still pierced his skull years later. Another, just 18 at the time, was severely burned, suffered permanent hearing loss and breathing and walking problems. A third man had a burned cornea, a partially severed ear, leg wounds, large scars and chronic headaches.
Others sustained nerve damage, partial loss of vision and psychological trauma -- one of the wounded later tried to kill himself.
"These were absolutely life-changing injuries," says David Strachman, the lawyer for the bombing victims. "The problem with terrorism is (after the attack is over), it looks like you're sort of done with it. But these people have problems that are going to be with them for years and years."
In taking on Iran and some of its high-ranking officials, Strachman -- whose suit was consolidated with another filed by other victims -- offered testimony that Iran had provided financial aid and terrorist training to Hamas.
The presiding judge found "clear and convincing evidence" Iran was liable for the injuries.
But he didn't say whether Iran's assets can be seized. That decision revolves around the commercial use of the tablets -- an arcane question that's key to resolving this case, according to Thomas Corcoran, a Washington attorney representing the Iranian government.
Iran, though, has an unlikely ally in its fight: The Justice Department. In three statements, the agency has generally agreed the tablets shouldn't be seized, Corcoran says.
It turns out, though, there may be competition for the tablets.
Another lawyer is trying to seize the Persepolis collection and other Iranian assets to compensate more than 150 families of 241 U.S. service members killed in a suicide bombing of a Marines barracks in Beirut in 1983.
The families hope to collect a $2.6 billion default judgment against Iran, which has been blamed for supporting the militant group, Hezbollah, believed responsible for the Beirut attack. A special measure passed in Congress last year made it easier for families to receive compensation.
"If Iran wants to protect these things ... they're going to have to do something to pay their judgments," says Thomas Fortune Fay, a lawyer for the families.
Some argue this approach is misguided because it could deprive a nation of its heritage -- and have no impact on those responsible for the bombing.
"The ones feeling the pain are not the ones behind these terrorist attacks," says Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council. "
But Strachman says his clients are the ones in pain.
"They don't want to mention the people who were horribly victimized," he says. "Their lives were shaken forever. ... All Iran has to do is pay the judgment. If they came to terms with us, we wouldn't be here."
...
Over the decades, tens of thousands of tablets were returned to Iran after scholars finished studying and cataloguing them.
When the Oriental Institute announced it was delivering more to Iran in 2004, Strachman heard about it.
He had been able to collect just a small part of the judgment from Iranian bank accounts and a house in Texas once owned by the shah of Iran.
This, he realized, could be an opportunity.
There are a number of things that are striking about this article. First, there is no response from the government of Iran. Unlike the western cultural elites, the Iranians seemingly have no interest in their own heritage. If that's the case, why shouldn't it be taken away from them?
Second, Iran ought to be made for the terror it has supported, condoned, encouraged, financed and solicited for the last thirty years. If it wanted to, it could pay for the judgments and have itself readmitted to the community of nations. Of course, it would also have to drop its nuclear program to be able to afford to pay those judgments. And therein lies the problem. To Iran, sowing terror and fear among the infidels is much more important than 'silly' things like culture and history. Shouldn't they be allowed to wallow in their own rejectionism?
Third, why should the terror victims suffer further to preserve the cultural heritage of a nation that sent messengers to murder them?
Sorry but I have very little sympathy for Iran. If having their 'cultural heritage' traded in a souk like a bag of beans from one museum to another is going to bring cash to terror victims, I'm all in favor. The Elgin marbles are still in the British museum and that hasn't robbed Egypt of its history.
By the way, the picture at the top is of the aftermath of the 1997 Ben Yehuda terror attack. Someone I worked with at the time was on Ben Yehuda Street when the attack happened and was lucky enough to escape unharmed.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:23 PM
3 Comments:
There's the point seldom raised, that Islam has no interest in pre-Islamic history. One would expect Iran's fundamentalist regime to have no interest in the era before the Arab Conquest of Iran and indeed that's reflected in its treatment of its own relics.
It follows then that it has no interest in the well-being of infidels either. Should it be made to pay? Yes. A country for whom history is unimportant is a country that will never learn the difference between right and wrong - precisely why the only way its regime is going to "get it" is to hurt it in the pocketbook.
And therein lies the greater problem. Sanctions against Iran could have a profound impact on its behavior if only the West too them seriously and it still does business as usual with the country.
Both individuals and collective victims of Iranian terror - Jews and Americans and Israel and America deserve justice. No, Iranian blood money won't bring back their loved ones or make them whole but it will make Iran realize their are costs involved with its support of evil. And its the right thing to do.
My brother was hurt in that bombing.
My condolences, Yishai. Its not really about the money. Its the principle being that evil must not go unpunished. Jews and Israel are on the receiving of lawfare from their enemies. Now its high time the tables were turned.
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