As soldiers fight in Gaza, lawyers take on terror funding in court

The IDF is fighting the Israel-Hamas war to release the hostages taken during the October 7 massacre, ensure that such a pogrom can never happen again, and secure justice against the perpetrators. The physical battlefield is not the only arena in which these objectives can be achieved – the courtroom is also a vital front in the war against terrorism.

“Israel is fighting this war on multiple fronts, not only against Hamas in Gaza but in the ‘war of narratives’ and the legal arena as well,” Human Rights lawyer and International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovsky said. 

“It is imperative that we are unwavering in using every legal tool at our disposal to change the paradigm in pursuing justice by holding not only the perpetrators of October 7 accountable but all those who supported, enabled, and funded this massacre and ongoing captivity of hostages.”

Ostrovsky and his coalition of thousands of attorneys are among the many actors who have taken the fight to the courtroom. Since October 7, NGOs, activists, survivors, and the families of victims have sought justice and the prevention of future horrors, by filing lawsuits against those who facilitated Hamas’s crimes.

At the end of January, 67 US and Israeli October 7 victims filed a lawsuit with a US federal court, seeking restitution from Iran as a sponsor of Gazan terrorist organizations. On February 14, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Hamas for genocide, kidnapping, sexual violence, and torture.

Additionally, on behalf of family members and victims, the National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC) and several firms, on February 23, sued the Associated Press (AP) before the Southern District of Florida for allegedly knowingly supporting terrorism by purchasing photos from Hamas-linked journalists, including Gazans who participated in the October 7 massacre. 

“If you block the flow of the money, you can block the flow of the terrorism"

NJAC also worked with ILF and attorneys David Schoen and Ben Schlager to file a suit in Alabama on behalf of October 7 victims against cryptocurrency platform Binance, for facilitating Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) funding and financial transactions.

Representatives of the parents of Shani Louk, May Naim, Lotan Abir, Guy Gabriel Levi, and Shalev Madmoni filed a lawsuit in the Jerusalem District Court on February 28 against AP and Reuters for their employment of photo-journalists who accompanied the terrorists on their pogrom. 

In another suit on behalf of victims, Schoen, attorneys David Finger and Jason Torchinsky, NJAC, and ILF launched a March 10 Delaware lawsuit against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) USA National Committee, for alleged support of Hamas. 

The Shurat Hadin-Israel Law Center also filed a lawsuit in Jerusalem, on March 11, on behalf of 124 family members of October 7 victims, against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas. Shurat Hadin founder Nitsana Darshan-Leitner said the barrage of such lawsuits can serve to cut off the financial oxygen that terrorist organizations need to breathe.

“If you block the flow of the money, you can block the flow of the terrorism, and the only way to do so is by bringing legal actions against the terror organizations and their financial patrons,” said Darshan-Leitner. 

“The players in this fight are the terror victims who were harmed as a result of terror attacks. They are seizing billions of dollars of terror funds, and putting liens on hundreds of millions of dollars of terror assets. This fight grants the terror victims a way to fight back. Money cannot bring back life, but money gives a measure of closure, a measure of justice to the terror victims. In Shurat HaDin we’ve been fighting terror funding for two decades and we’ll continue to do it until we dry all the sources for their money.”

As noted by Darshan-Leitner, such legal efforts on behalf of terrorism victims are part of a long war against terrorists.

Richard Heideman has been fighting on the frontlines of this battle for decades. Heideman hasn’t just served as ex-president of the American Zionist Movement and B’nai B’rith International and founding chairman of The Israel Forever Foundation, he is also senior counsel for the DC law firm, Heideman Nudelman & Kalik, PC. Over several decades, the firm has frequently been asked to represent the victims of terrorism.

“Terrorism didn’t begin with October 7 or the Second Intifada or September 11,” said Heideman.

He explained that there are two alternate but not competing paths when pursuing legal action and justice for terrorism victims: Action against states and action against non-state actors.

Normally, states do not fall under the jurisdiction of US courts, but under the terrorism exception in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, any country designated by the US State Department as a State Sponsor of Terrorism can be sued by American victims. The current list includes Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba. Spouses, children, parents, and siblings of terror victims all have claims against these countries, said Heideman.

Libya used to be on the list but was removed in 2006 after a series of agreements with the United States and United Kingdom, which included settlements for litigation against it for support of terrorism.

Heideman also served as counsel for victims of the 1985 EgyptAir Flight 648 hijacking, after three Palestinian Abu Nidal terrorists seized the flight from Athens to Cairo, diverting it to Malta. They separated Americans, Israelis, Europeans, and Australians, putting them at the front of the plane. Sixty hostages, including an American, were killed during a shootout with Egyptian special forces. Heideman said that a surviving terrorist told him that he had received the weapons through a Libyan diplomat and that they had trained in the Beqaa Valley. Heideman worked on the suit against Libya and Syria. 

That same year, terrorists simultaneously attacked the El Al ticket counters in Rome and Vienna. In Rome, Americans waiting at the Trans World Airlines (TWA) counter were killed. Heideman served as counsel to some of the American victims. He spoke to terrorists in prison, who gave affidavits stating that the attack was sponsored by Libya and that they had been trained by Syrian intelligence along with the flight 648 terror cell. As part of Libya’s claims settlement agreement that Heideman worked on, Libya, in 2008, settled with $1.5 billion, dispersed to victims of those attacks.

This demonstrates that while it may take decades of work, judgments against rogue states such as Syria can eventually yield fruit. Yet because victims and their families can’t wait decades for financial and emotional relief, Heideman said, in 2014 the US Congress created the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund for American claimants to be awarded according to court judgments.

Lawyers expect October 7 cases to go on for years

THE OTHER path for suing those supporting terrorist activities is through the Anti-Terrorism Act as amended by the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, allowing victims to sue NGOs, corporations, banks, charities, and foundations for material support in aiding and abetting terrorism. Heideman said that such cases can be difficult since they require proof of the use of funding in terrorism and prior knowledge that the funds would be used in such a capacity. Under the Alien Tort Statute, foreign citizens can bring lawsuits before American courts.

Heideman took part in legal action against Arab Bank in 2018 when it was accused of facilitating Hamas terrorist attacks by knowingly providing funds to Hamas through charities. The bank settled. Heidman said that one of the terrorists who received funds through Arab Bank was Tamer Rimawi, an alleged al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades terrorist who murdered special-needs kindergarten teacher Esther Klieman in 2002. On behalf of her family, Heidman sued the PA, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The case has gone on for years as the PA and PLO have contested jurisdiction, demanding the case be tried in Ramallah.

The slaughter of so many people on October 7 shocked Heideman, who visited the towns that had been attacked.

“Americans, Israelis, and the citizens of 42 other countries deserve to seek and obtain justice,” he said. “Our firm has been engaged to litigate against Iran and Syria for providing aid to Hamas.”

Heideman said that they had already consulted with experts who were willing to opine to the court that Hamas was sponsored by Iran – and had engaged a number of investigators to collect more information on material and funding support. 

As a general rule, judges look to precedent in their decision-making, and if a court has accepted research findings, they can be applied to other cases. Heideman pointed to the case of Eitan and Naama Henkin who were murdered by a Hamas cell in 2015. He represented Eitan's side of the family against Syria, Iran, and Iranian military and financial bodies for their support of the Hamas terrorist attack, resulting in a judgment in their favor. 

Heideman is also co-counsel representing the mother, father, wife, children, and most of the siblings of Ari Fuld, who was murdered by a terrorist in 2018. The family is also suing Iran and Syria in a pending case.

“We anticipate we will be engaged for many years with the multiple legal actions we will be launching” over October 7, said Heideman.

The attorney said that his firm was looking at different non-state entities operating in Qatar and anticipated taking action over UNRWA-related issues. Heideman has been in contact with the families of soldiers killed or injured during IDF service. He had previously represented the family of American-born IDF soldier Max Steinberg, who was killed in Gaza during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge. They successfully sued Iran for providing material support to his killers, Heideman said.

Many avenues remain open to possibility in the war on terrorism, and in the legal realm, warriors like Ostrovsky, Darshan-Leitner, and Heideman are intent on pursuing victories.

“Israel is not only taken to task on the battlefield and the diplomatic front, Israel and the Jewish people face a continuing battle of public opinion and we hope that our quest for truth and justice will help not only pursue the guilty but protect the good name of Israel,” said Heideman. 

“Justice, justice, you shall pursue (Deuteronomy 16:20),” he concluded.