Israel Matzav

Obama chooses 'Palestinian' terrorists over American terror victims

The Obama administration has chosen to protect the 'Palestinian Authority' over American terror victims by pressuring a Federal judge to lower the bond that the 'Palestinian' terror group would have to post to appeal a verdict in favor of American terror victims in Israel.

The Obama administration urged a U.S. judge to "carefully consider" the Palestinian Authority's financial condition in determining the size of any bond it must post to appeal a jury's finding that it supported terrorist attacks in Israel.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice of interest in the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court late on Monday, after 10 American families in February won a $655 million verdict against the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority.

The Justice Department said the government "strongly supports" allowing terrorism victims to vindicate their interests in court.

Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken nonetheless asked U.S. District Judge George Daniels to "carefully consider" how requiring a multimillion-dollar bond could affect the Palestinian Authority's viability, given its delicate finances.

The Palestinian Authority's collapse "would undermine several decades of U.S. foreign policy and add a new destabilizing factor to the region, compromising national security," Blinken said.

Kent Yalowitz, the families' lawyer, said he was disappointed by the State Department position. He said that if the Palestinian Authority "has enough money to pay convicted terrorists, it has enough to pay the judgment in this case."

...

In February, jurors found the PLO and Palestinian Authority liable for six shootings and bombings between 2002 and 2004 in the Jerusalem area, which have been attributed to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas.

Those attacks killed 33 people, including several U.S. citizens, and injured more than 450.

The jury awarded the families $218.5 million, a sum automatically tripled under a U.S. anti-terrorism law to $655.5 million.

The PLO and the Palestinian Authority want the judgment stayed pending appeal, with no requirement to post bond.

The families counter that the defendants should deposit $30 million per month with the court. At a July hearing, Daniels signaled he might require a bond.

Leaving aside the obvious (maybe they should have thought of the possibility of being held accountable before they dispatched terrorists to attack Israelis), the 'Palestinian Authority' continues to pay 'salaries' to imprisoned terrorists, freed terrorists and the families of dead terrorists (whom they call 'martyrs') to this day. If they can do that, surely they can post a bond to ensure that their victims are also recompensed.

And if they cannot post a bond, let them pay the judgment. 

The Obama administration should hang its head in shame over this one. But of course they won't.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, John Kerry, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian terrorism, PLO, terror victim suits in US, US State Department

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:21 PM