Latest news with #PalestinianAuthority
France 24
5 hours ago
- Politics
- France 24
Supreme Court allows US victim suits against Palestinian authorities
The court issued a unanimous 9-0 decision in a long-running case involving the jurisdiction of US federal courts to hear lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Americans killed or injured in attacks in Israel or the West Bank or their relatives have filed a number of suits seeking damages. In one 2015 case, a jury awarded $655 million in damages and interest to US victims of attacks which took place in the early 2000s. Appeals courts had dismissed the suits on jurisdiction grounds. Congress passed a law in 2019 -- the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act (PSJVTA) -- that would make the PLO and PA subject to US jurisdiction if they were found to have made payments to the relatives of persons who killed or injured Americans. Two lower courts ruled that the 2019 law was a violation of the due process rights of the Palestinian authorities under the US Constitution but the Supreme Court ruled on Friday to uphold it. "The PSJVTA reasonably ties the assertion of federal jurisdiction over the PLO and PA to conduct that involves the United States and implicates sensitive foreign policy matters within the prerogative of the political branches," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. The PA announced in February that it would end its system of payments to the families of those killed by Israel or held in Israeli prisons, responding to a long-standing request from Washington. In 2018, during his first term as US president, Donald Trump signed into law rules suspending financial assistance to the PA as long as it continued to pay benefits to Palestinians linked to "terrorist" entities, according to the criteria of the Israeli authorities.
Axios
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Axios
Supreme Court allows terrorist attack victims to sue Palestinian Authority
The Supreme Court upheld a law Friday that allows Americans victims injured in terrorist attacks in Israel, and the families of deceased victims, to sue the Palestinian Authority. The big picture: The unanimous ruling clears the legal pathway for victims to seek damages in the U.S. for attacks abroad connected to two political entities representing Palestinians. Driving the news: A 2019 law intended to facilitate lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization does not violate the Constitution, the Supreme Court found in their decision. "The Federal Government has an exceedingly compelling interest in providing a forum for American victims to hold accountable the perpetrators of acts of international terror that harm U.S. citizens," U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion. "We have also recognized the national government's interest in holding accountable those who perpetrate an 'act of violence against' US nationals—who, even when physically outside our borders, remain 'under the particular protection' of American law," he said. "So too the national government's corresponding authority to make 'the killing of an American abroad' punishable as a federal offense 'that can be prosecuted in (US) courts." Context: A federal appeals court had reversed a verdict awarding victims of an attack$650 million under the Anti-Terrorism Act, citing violation of the Fifth Amendment.
Al Jazeera
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Top court revives lawsuits against Palestinian authorities from US victims
The Supreme Court has revived long-running lawsuits against Palestinian authorities from Americans killed or wounded in attacks in Israel and the occupied West Bank. The United States Supreme Court has upheld a statute passed by Congress to facilitate lawsuits against Palestinian authorities by Americans killed or injured in attacks abroad as plaintiffs pursue monetary damages for violence years ago in Israel and the occupied West Bank. The 9-0 ruling overturned a lower court's decision that the 2019 law, the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, violated the rights of the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization to due process under the US Constitution. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the ruling, said the 2019 jurisdictional law comported with due process rights enshrined in the Constitution's Fifth Amendment. 'It is permissible for the federal government to craft a narrow jurisdictional provision that ensures, as part of a broader foreign policy agenda, that Americans injured or killed by acts of terror have an adequate forum in which to vindicate their right' to compensation under a federal law known as the Anti-terrorism Act of 1990, Roberts wrote. The US government and a group of American victims and their families had appealed the lower court's decision that struck down a provision of the law. Among the plaintiffs are families who in 2015 won a $655m judgement in a civil case alleging that the Palestinian organisations were responsible for a series of shootings and bombings around Jerusalem from 2002 to 2004. They also include relatives of Ari Fuld, a Jewish settler in the Israel-occupied West Bank who was fatally stabbed by a Palestinian in 2018. Advertisement The ruling comes even as Jewish settlements on Palestinian-owned land are considered illegal under international law. 'The plaintiffs, US families who had loved ones maimed or murdered in PLO-sponsored terror attacks, have been waiting for justice for many years,' said Kent Yalowitz, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. 'I am very hopeful that the case will soon be resolved without subjecting these families to further protracted and unnecessary litigation,' Yalowitz added. Israel's ongoing war in Gaza, and now Iran, served as a backdrop to the case. Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, more than 55,000 people have been killed and 130,000 wounded, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Sign up for Al Jazeera Americas Coverage Newsletter US politics, Canada's multiculturalism, South America's geopolitical rise—we bring you the stories that matter. Subscribe Your subscription failed. Please try again. Please check your email to confirm your subscription By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy protected by reCAPTCHA US courts for years have grappled over whether they have jurisdiction in cases involving the Palestinian Authority and PLO for actions taken abroad. Under the language at issue in the 2019 law, the PLO and Palestinian Authority automatically 'consent' to jurisdiction if they conduct certain activities in the United States or make payments to people who attack Americans. Roberts in Friday's ruling wrote that Congress and the president enacted the jurisdictional law based on their 'considered judgment to subject the PLO and PA (Palestinian Authority) to liability in US courts as part of a comprehensive legal response to 'halt, deter and disrupt' acts of international terrorism that threaten the life and limb of American citizens'. New York-based US District Judge Jesse Furman ruled in 2022 that the law violated the due process rights of the PLO and Palestinian Authority. The New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling. President Joe Biden's administration initiated the government's appeal, which subsequently was taken up by President Donald Trump's administration. The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case on April 1.
New York Post
6 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Supreme Court revives lawsuits against Palestinian authorities from US victims of terrorism attacks
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday revived long-running lawsuits against Palestinian authorities from Americans who were killed or wounded in terrorism attacks in the Middle East. The justices upheld a 2019 law enacted by Congress specifically to allow the victims' lawsuits to go forward against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. The attacks occurred in the early 2000s, killing 33 people and wounding hundreds more, and in 2018, when a U.S.-born settler was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assailant outside a mall in the West Bank. The victims and their families assert that Palestinian agents either were involved in the attacks or incited them. Ari Fuld (right) and Miriam Fuld (left). Ari was an Israeli-American national who was murdered on Sunday by a Palestinian terrorist in Gush Etzion Facebook / Ari Fuld The Palestinians have consistently argued that the cases shouldn't be allowed in American courts. The federal appeals court in New York has repeatedly ruled in favor of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, despite Congress' efforts to allow the victims' lawsuits to be heard. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals first ruled in 2016 against the victims of the attacks from 20 years ago, tossing out a $654 million jury verdict in their favor. In that earlier ruling, the appeals court held U.S. courts can't consider lawsuits against foreign-based groups over random attacks that were not aimed at the United States. Palintiff lawyer Kent Yalowitz (Right) makes his opening statement in this court sketch during Sokolow v. Palestine Liberation Organization. REUTERS The victims had sued under the Anti-Terrorism Act, signed into law in 1992. The law was passed to open U.S. courts to victims of international terrorism, spurred by the killing of American Leon Klinghoffer during a 1985 terrorist attack aboard the Achille Lauro cruise ship. Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! The jury found the PLO and the Palestinian Authority liable for six attacks and awarded $218 million in damages. The award was automatically tripled under the law. After the Supreme Court rejected the victims' appeal in 2018, Congress again amended the law to make clear it did not want to close the courthouse door to the victims.
Wall Street Journal
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Supreme Court Upholds Law Allowing Americans to Seek Damages From Palestinian Authorities
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that American citizens injured during terrorist attacks, and the survivors of those who were killed, could bring lawsuits seeking monetary damages from Palestinian authorities in U.S. courts. In a unanimous decision, the court said a 2019 law meant to facilitate lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization, two political entities representing the Palestinian people, didn't violate the Constitution.
