Following US Win, Terror Victim Seeks to Set Precedent in Israel
19 Adar Bet 5768, 26 March 08 11:21
by Ezra HaLevi (IsraelNN.com) A Gush Katif expellee and terror victim who won a US court battle against the Palestinian Authority (PA) says the battle has only begun.
Moshe Saperstein and his wife, Rachel, have just returned from America, where they attended the proceedings that ended in a ruling awarding them $16 million in damages from the PLO and its current manifestation, the PA. That figure was tripled by a congressional act aimed at punishing terror groups.
The court ruled that the Fatah-run PA was liable for the attack that left US citizen Saperstein wounded due to its funding of the Al-Aksa Brigades terror group, which dispatched the terrorist.
The Sapersteins say they will turn down any settlement offer short of the ruled amount – even if it is in the millions of dollars and despite the fact that, as Gaza expellees, they could certainly use the funds. "Terrorists must be made to pay a steeper price," Rachel Saperstein told Arutz-7. "There are millions in international aid that pour into the PA, including from Israel. Those funds should go to piece together the shattered lives of the victims and not to the coffers of those who dispatched the murderers."
The Sapersteins say that the real battle is for a verdict in Israel's courts that would then open the door for all of Israel's thousands of terror victims' families to sue terrorist groups. Israel also has the ability to retain customs taxes collected for the PA in order to pay the authority's debts to its victims.
They also hope Israel's Supreme Court will work with the US Judiciary to enforce Congress's decision to hold terror groups accountable for attacks on US citizens. The congressional act grants federal courts jurisdiction in cases related to international terrorism, giving every US national affected by an act of international terrorism the right to sue in US district courts and be assisted by court-ordered subpoenas and the tools necessary to locate and confiscate terrorists' assets.
Moshe Saperstein and his wife, Rachel, have just returned from America, where they attended the proceedings that ended in a ruling awarding them $16 million in damages from the PLO and its current manifestation, the PA. That figure was tripled by a congressional act aimed at punishing terror groups.
The court ruled that the Fatah-run PA was liable for the attack that left US citizen Saperstein wounded due to its funding of the Al-Aksa Brigades terror group, which dispatched the terrorist.
The Sapersteins say they will turn down any settlement offer short of the ruled amount – even if it is in the millions of dollars and despite the fact that, as Gaza expellees, they could certainly use the funds. "Terrorists must be made to pay a steeper price," Rachel Saperstein told Arutz-7. "There are millions in international aid that pour into the PA, including from Israel. Those funds should go to piece together the shattered lives of the victims and not to the coffers of those who dispatched the murderers."
The Sapersteins say that the real battle is for a verdict in Israel's courts that would then open the door for all of Israel's thousands of terror victims' families to sue terrorist groups. Israel also has the ability to retain customs taxes collected for the PA in order to pay the authority's debts to its victims.
They also hope Israel's Supreme Court will work with the US Judiciary to enforce Congress's decision to hold terror groups accountable for attacks on US citizens. The congressional act grants federal courts jurisdiction in cases related to international terrorism, giving every US national affected by an act of international terrorism the right to sue in US district courts and be assisted by court-ordered subpoenas and the tools necessary to locate and confiscate terrorists' assets.
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