Supreme Court Hands Major Victory To Families Of Terrorist Victims

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled unanimously that victims of Palestinian terrorism can sue the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization in United States courts.

In 2019, Congress passed the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act (PSJVTA), which permitted victims of terror attacks to sue the groups responsible.

“The PSJVTA names the PA and PLO specifically and provides that they ‘shall be deemed to have consented to personal jurisdiction’ in ATA (Anti-Terrorism Act of 1990) cases under two circumstances,” the Court noted. “The first jurisdictional predicate relates to respondents’ practice of paying salaries to terrorists in Israeli prisons and to families of deceased terrorists — conduct Congress has condemned as ‘an incentive to commit acts of terror.’ The second ties jurisdiction to respondents’ activities on U.S. soil.”

The Court’s ruling encompassed two cases, the first being Fuld et al v. Palestine Liberation Organization et al, which involved Ari Fuld — a father of four who held dual American-Israeli citizenship — being fatally stabbed in the back by a 17-year-old terrorist whose family received compensation as part of the Palestinian Authority’s “Pay for Slay” program.

“Palestinians and Israeli Arabs who are convicted by Israel of involvement in terror attacks in Israel” are “entitled to monthly ‘salaries’ commencing with their arrest — and continuing for life for men who serve at least five years and women who serve at least two,” along with other financial incentives, Endowment for Middle East Truth explains.

A second case involved a group of 11 American families representing citizens injured during terror attacks in Israel, and the estates or survivors of those killed in the attacks between 2002 and 2004. That case initially won the victims a $655 million settlement against the Palestinians’ government, but then the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the PSJVTA’s personal jurisdiction provision violated the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

But on Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the PSJVTA’s personal jurisdiction provision did not violate the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, adding, “The Federal Government may craft a narrow jurisdictional  provision ensuring American injured or killed by acts of terror have an adequate forum in which to vindicate their right to ATA compensation.”

The case from the 11 families encompassed a number of incidents, including the January 22, 2002, Jaffa Road Shooting in which a Palestinian Authority police officer opened fire on a pedestrian mall in Jerusalem, killing two individuals and wounding 45 others. It also included the January 29, 2004, Bus No. 19 Bombing, in which a Palestinian Authority officer detonated a suicide vest on a crowded bus, killing 11 people, including one of the plaintiffs.