December 11, 2006

Making the Terrorists Pay Huge Costs: Law Center Does What Governments Haven’t Done

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner

Avi Leitner

Last weekend, at a private residence in L.A., Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, and her husband Avi Leitner, spoke about the work of the Israel Law Center. What they had to say was astonishing.

They are doing what no one else has done: they are suing terrorists for killing people. And they've met with great success. From my handwritten notes of Nitsana's remarks (not expected to be verbatim):

The Arab Bank has over $30 billion in assets. This bank has a reward program by which the relatives of suicide bombers can go to the Arab Bank, and receive a $25,000 reward. The Bank published ads all over the Arab world, asking people to give money to this account, to reward the families of suicide bombers. The Arab Bank has a branch in New York, and so the Israel Law Center filed suit in New York against the Arab Bank on behalf of terror victims, seeking $5 billion.

The Arab Bank tried to close their New York branch. But the U.S. Congress didn't let them close the branch - and froze $750 million of their assets.

...Credit Lyonnais [and another bank - I didn't get the name] have also been providing financial services to help terrorists. As a result of a lawsuit filed by the Center, these banks are changing their way of doing business. They now go to the Mossad before approving a loan to a charity, in order to make sure the charity is not a cover for terrorists.

The Center sued Iran in a court in Italy and put a lien on the state's money that was held in Italian accounts. On a technicality, the Center was told to refile the lawsuit; in the meantime, the lien was removed, and in the immediate next hour Iran moved millions out of the Italian banking system, to banks in Thailand that don't trade in euros or dollars. The result is that it is very difficult at this time for Iran to keep dollars or euros in banks outside of Iran.

The Center achieved an order by the U.S. courts to Hamas to pay $160 million to the victims of terrorism. The Center then went to the U.S. banks holding Hamas funds and requested the funds so as to deliver the funds to these victims. Most of the U.S. banks are fighting this in court - but in the meantime, all the Hamas funds at all these banks - $300 million in total - are frozen and unavailable to the terrorists.

Additional info, from the Center's web site:

• In February 2002, Shurat HaDin's [the Israel Law Center's] attorneys won a judgment in an American court of $183 million against Iran for its role in a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Since then they have won judgments of over $702 million against terrorist organizations, including the Palestinian Authority, and their state sponsors.
• In January 2006 Shurat HaDin's attorneys succeeded in convincing an Israeli court to give a verdict to the victims and family members in an amount which reflects the heinous and tragic nature of the Palestinian terrorist attacks. The court awarded a $20 million judgment against HAMAS, an unprecedented sum in Israel for cases involving physical injuries.
• In the course of 2005 and 2006, Shurat HaDin has assisted in filing numerous other court liens in Israel and the U.S. which successfully blocked more than $300,000,000 in Palestinian money from falling into the hands of the Palestinian terror organizations and the HAMAS Palestinian government.
• As a result of lawsuits Sjurat HaDin has filed along with American co-counsel against Arab and European banks, who, it is alleged, were assisting Islamic charities transfer money to the terrorist groups in the West Bank and Gaza, a shock-wave echoed across the international banking field with financial institutions now refusing to wire funds to Islamic and other groups in the Palestinian Authority.

Here we see private citizens using the Court system to show the terrorists that the costs of blowing up busses, trains, planes, etc. is in the tens of millions, potentially approaching a billion dollars.

The U.S. Congress deserves great credit for the refusing to let the Arab Bank close its New York office.

The Center needs your support. You can make a tax-deductible donation to them here.

Why Ed Koch is Wrong About Dennis Prager

"Koch Calls for Pundit's Ouster from Shoah Council":

Former New York City Mayor Edward Koch has called for Dennis Prager to resign or be removed from United States Holocaust Memorial Council, in response to the pundit's recent insistence that a Muslim congressman should not be sworn in using a Quran.

You know what else is a religion? Jedi Knight:

Umada and Yunyun, also known as John Wilkinson and Charlotte Law, want the UN to acknowledge "The Force" is worthy of being called a religion.

The couple claim to be part of the UK's fourth largest religious group, after 400,000 people recorded their faith as "Jedi" in the 2001 Census.

They say that as a religion, they deserve tolerance and respect. November the 16th is the annual International Day for Tolerance.

And as part of a global battle worthy of Luke Skywalker's efforts against the Empire, the band of self-styled Jedis want the UN to re-name the day as Interstellar Day of Tolerance.

More people claim their religion to be Jedi in England and Wales than those who follow Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism. And the cause has global support.

There are also 70,000 Jedi knights in Australia, 53,000 in New Zealand, and 20,000 in Canada.

By Koch's reasoning, a congressman could be sworn in on a stack of Star Wars DVD's.

Koch can't deny that the vast majority of terrorists in the world state outright that they are intentionally blowing up planes, busses, resturants, etc. in the name of Islam. Koch can't deny that Muslim leaders hold no major rallies, marches, or vigils, in which their leaders say that anyone who purposely blows up a train, bus, restaurant, etc., in the name of Islam, is lost to Islam. Koch can't deny that religious leaders throughout the Arab world regularly appear on TV and urge Muslims to kill non-Muslims in the name of Islam.

So Koch has blinders on. Claiming that Islam is just like every other religion is ignorant to the point of absurdity.

Koch has made a mistake. He should own up to it.

Once again I'm seeing a lot of extra visitors on the site at the moment. Was this site mentioned on the radio today by any chance? If so, please leave a comment to let me know - and welcome to the site!