We are besieged, our lives are threatened, and the danger of our
destruction has not yet passed.
Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, “Out of the Depths” (p. 247)
- Introduction
- Private Litigation Involving Attacks Against U.S. Citizens in Israel
- U.S. Domestic Civil Cases & Criminal Terror Prosecutions
Terror attacks target innocent civilians going about their everyday activities – visiting a holy site, attending a celebration, riding a bus to work, having lunch at a pizza parlor.
One example, as told by Rabbi Lau (ibid, pp. 266-267):
In July 2001, almost one year after the Second Intifada began, at two in the afternoon, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded pizza restaurant, Sbarro, in the heart of Jerusalem. Fifteen people were killed, and about one hundred injured. At nine that evening, the phone rang in my home in Tel Aviv, and the voice of a young woman, choked with tears, spoke on the other end of the line: “I’m calling from Bikur Cholim Hospital in Jerusalem. Do you remember Tzira Schijveschuurder? This is her sister speaking. Tzira was killed today at the Sbarro restaurant. Her husband, Moti, was also killed. It’s summer vacation, so they took a day off and went to Jerusalem with the kids. They went into Sbarro to have pizza for lunch. Three of the five children with them in the restaurant were killed: Ra’aya, Avraham Yitzhak, and Hemda. The youngest was two years old, the oldest fourteen. The three older boys were saved. Two were in the army, and the third was not with the family. The two little girls that survived, Leah-le and Chaya-le, are wounded and hospitalized.”
A comprehensive list of terror attacks in Israel from 1993 to the present is maintained at the Jewish Virtual Library. The lawsuits in the tables below account for only a small portion of those attacks, the families and victims who brought those lawsuits having sought some measure of justice.
This database of lawsuits and litigation documents should be seen not just as a dry listing of cases, but as a memorial to those individuals who were murdered or maimed by acts of hatred. The lawsuits were typically brought by family members of the terror victims, or the victims themselves. The documents record not only the legalities of each case, but contain the stories of the terror attacks.
Private Litigation Involving Attacks Against American Citizens in Israel
I. Lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
In these cases, the primary defendants are the Palestinian Authority (PA) or the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). For the most part, the plaintiffs have been stymied on jurisdictional grounds, though at least two were settled for undisclosed sums. The U.S. Congress passed legislation in an effort to ameliorate the jurisdictional situation, but it is not yet finally settled how the courts will treat that legislation.
Significantly, in one of the cases against the PA – Sokolow – there was a full jury trial on the merits, the jury finding the PA and PLO responsible and awarding $218,000,000 in damages, trebled by the District Court. Notwithstanding this historic verdict, the case may ultimately be dismissed because of the jurisdictional issues.
Lead Plaintiff Description Status Type of Incident Documents Biton, Avigail Withdrawn Bus Bombing Fuld, Miriam Dismissed - Lack of
JurisdictionStabbing at a Mall Gilmore, Reuven Summary Judgment
DismissedShooting at Office Building
JerusalemKlieman, Esther Pending After
RemandShooting Attack - Bus Knox, Leslye Settled After Default Shooting Attack
Banquet HallLivnat, Rivka Dismissed - Lack of
JurisdictionMachine-Gun Attack at
Holy SiteParsons, Mark Voluntary Dismissal Roadside Remote Bomb Safra, Yitzhak Dismissed - Lack of
JurisdictionMachine-Gun Attack at
Holy SiteSaperstein, Moshe Dismissed - Lack of
JurisdictionShooting Attack
RoadsideShatsky, Shabtai I Dismissed - Lack of
JurisdictionSuicide Bomber - Pizzeria Shatsky, Shabtai II Dismissed - Lack of
Jurisdiction - AppealedSuicide Bomber - Pizzeria Sokolow, Mark Dismissed - Lack of
Jurisdiction - AppealedSuicide Bombings
Shooting AttacksUngar, Yaron Settled After Default Shooting Attack
Roadside
II. Lawsuits against Iran, Syria, North Korea, etc.
In these cases, in which there were typically default judgments and the primary defendants were Iran and/or Syria, the default awards were granted after a fact-finding inquiry convinced the court that these defendants were implicated in the terror crimes. The multitude of litigation and complex efforts to collect on those default judgments are beyond the scope of this database.
Lead Plaintiff Description Status Type of Incident Documents Baxter, William Jack I Default - Pending
on DamagesSeveral (10) Baxter, William Jack II Default - Pending
on DamagesSeveral (10) Beer, Harry I Default
$13,000,000Suicide Bombing - Bus Beer, Harry II Punitive Damages
$300,000,000Suicide Bombing - Bus Belkin, Lawrence Default
$18,525,763Suicide Bombing
Shopping MallBen Haim, Seth Default
$16,000,000Suicide Bombing - Bus Bennett, Michael Default
$12,904,548Bombing - University
CafeteriaBluth, Nethanial Default
$43,500,000Shooting and Grenade
Attack - ClassroomBodoff, Jeffrey I Default
$316,988,300Suicide Bombing - Bus Bodoff, Jeffrey II Default
$316,988,300Suicide Bombing - Bus Boim, Stanley Jury Trial
$156,000,000Shooting Attack
Bus StopBorochov, Eli Dismissed -
on AppealSeveral (3) Botvin I Partial Default
$1,704,457Suicide Bombing
Pedestrian MallBotvin II Default
$40,890,000Suicide Bombing
Pedestrian MallBraun, Shmuel Default
$178,500,000Car Ramming
Train StationCalderón-Cardona, Ruth Default
$378,000,000Shooting and Grenade
Attack - AirportCampuzano, Diana Default
$153,463,608Suicide Bombing
Pedestrian MallCohen, Ilana Default
$10,050,000Shooting Attack - Bus Cohen, Ora Default
$208.950,000Suicide Bombing - Bus Eisenfeld, Leonard Default
$327.161,002Suicide Bombing - Bus Felber, Nathaniel Default Pending Shooting Attack Flatow, Steven Force, Stuart Fraenkel, Abraham Default
$60,500,000Kidnapping and Murder Gill, Mati I Default
$30,000,000Shooting Attack Goldstein, Shalom Default
$13,062,500Suicide Bombing - Bus Greenbaum, Steven Default
$19,879,023Suicide Bombing
PizzeriaHalperin, Shimshon Henkin I Default
$90,000,000Shooting Attack Henkin II Default
$231,097,560Shooting Attack Hirshfeld, Yonadav Jakubowicz, Akiva Pending Several (5) Kaplan, Chaim Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael Dismissed -
On AppealSupport of Terror Kirschenbaum, Jason Leibovitch, Shlomo Lelchook, Ester I Default
$20,535,665Rocket Attack Levinson, Christine Licci, Yaakov Mark, Chava Mark, Natanel Newman, Noach October 7 Massacre Roth, Arnold Rothstein, Rachel Rubin, Jenny Default
$259,000,000Suicide Bombing
Pedestrian MallSalzman, Stan Sasi, Avraham October 7 Massacre Schwartz, Ruth Shoham, Batsheva Sisso, Avraham Sotloff, Arthur Spetner, Temima Steinberg, Max Stern, Shaul Tamam, Zivie Tratner, Baruch Default - Pending
on DamagesMortar Attack
Suicide Bombing - BusUngar, Yaron Wachsman, Esther Weinstein, Susan Weinstock, Sharon I Default
$78,873,000Shooting Attack Weinstock, Sharon II Default
$78,873,000Shooting Attack Wultz, Sheryl Default
$332,068,634Suicide Bombing
Restaurant
III. Lawsuits against Banks, etc.
Bank/Lead Plaintiff Description Status Incident Documents Arab Bank Afriat-Kurtzer, Gila Almog, Oran Bennett, Michael Coulter, Robert, Sr. Gill, Mati II Dismissed Shooting Attack Jesner, Joseph Linde, Courtney Confidential
SettlementAttacks During
2nd IntifadaLitle, Phillip Miller, Aharon Pam, Nathan Roth, Arnold Weiss, Steward Bank Saderat Henkin III Pending Shooting Attack Lelchook, Ester II Binance Raanan, Judith October 7 Massacre BLOM Bank SAL Honickman, Michal Cairo Amman Bank Averbach, Julie Central Bank of Iran Kaplan, Chaim Lelchook, Ester III Commerzbank Lelchook, Alexander Credit Lyonnais Strauss, Moses Wolf, Bernice Lebanese Canadian Bank Kaplan, Chaim Lelchook, Ester IV Licci, Yaakov National Westminster Bank Applebaum, David Weiss, Tzvi Palestine Investment Bank Spetner, Temima Pending Material Support
for TerroristsQatar National Bank Force, Stuart II Henkin IV Pending Material Support
for HamasSociete Generale de Banque Lelchook, Ester V UBS AG Goldberg, Karen Settled Rothstein, Rachel
U.S. Domestic Civil Cases & Criminal Terror Prosecutions
Terrorist criminal prosecutions and domestic civil cases in the U.S. typically do not have a connection to Israel. However, the extent of these cases demonstrates the pervasiveness of the problem. The Investigative Project on Terrorism maintains an extensive database of terrorism prosecutions and civil cases in the U.S., including documents from those cases.
