Israel Matzav

Wulz family: Netanyahu's office promised

The family of 16-year old terror victim Daniel Wulz HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) has accused the Prime Minister of reneging on a commitment made by his office to allow a Mossad agent to testify against the Bank of China in a terror financing case. Wulz died several weeks after being critically injured in a suicide bombing in April 2006. This is from the second link.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised a terror victim's family, through a telephone call from Jordana Cutler of his office, that he would allow former government agent Uzi Shaya to testify against the Bank of China in a major US terror financing case, according to a response filed by the family's lawyers on Tuesday.

The response said that the telephone call was from Cutler in Israel to the parents of terror victim Daniel Wulz in Florida in April 1, 2012.

Also, on May 14, 2012, then Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren called US Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to confirm that Shaya would testify - all of this after Ros-Lehtinen had personally delivered Netanyahu a letter from the Wultz family in March 2012, said the response.  

...

Shaya's testimony was planned to be a major part of the terror victims families' case against the bank.

More specifically, he was due to testify about Israeli warnings to China that the bank was being used to fund attacks on civilians in Israel.

...

The Wultz's also discussed personal communications in which they say they were encouraged to pursue the case by senior Israeli government and intelligence officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, former National Security Council head Yaacov Amidror and Shaya himself.

In addition, the response says that the government actively participated in preparing Shaya to be deposed in the case, including by arranging a face-to-face meeting between Daniel Wultz's father, Yekutiel (Tuly) Wultz, and Shaya.

It continued stating that the government directed Shaya to "review government files, instructed Shaya to meet with senior government lawyers, and prepared a letter that set the government's ground rules for Shaya’s testimony."

Further, the response says that the government provided the Wultzes bank account numbers and details about how money was being laundered for Palestinian terrorists through the bank.

Most importantly, says the response, the government disclosed "the content of discussions between Israeli officials and officials of the People’s Republic of China" which made filing the case possible.

In related developments, Shurat Hadin, an NGO representing 22 families of victims in a parallel case, demanded the depositions of Israeli Ambassador to China Matan Vil'nai and Amidror.

Arutz Sheva adds:

The brief filed Tuesday by David Boies, lead attorney for the Wultzes, states "the State of Israel should not be allowed to sabotage a case, which it set in motion in the courts of the United States to advance its own national agenda, by using the expansive pretense of national security – an interest that it has never previously raised during the five-year pendency of this lawsuit, or in any similar case."

Much more than that, Mr. Boies (whose name I recognize from my days practicing law in New York in the 80's and early 90's). The State of Israel should not be trying to block victims of terror attacks in Israel from seeking justice through American courts whether or not the State of Israel had a role in setting the case in motion. We're just plain taking the wrong side in this case.  And it's shameful. Downright shameful.

Labels: Bank of China, Binyamin Netanyahu, China, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Mossad, Palestinian suicide bombers, Tel Aviv, terror victim suits in US

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:21 PM