The Supreme Court announced Friday it will consider upholding a 2019 law enabling Americans injured in terrorist attacks to seek justice by suing Palestinian leadership groups—the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)—in U.S. courts.

The law, enacted by Congress in response to court rulings dismissing similar lawsuits for lack of jurisdiction, specifically aimed to hold the PA and PLO accountable for providing payments to terrorists or their families who carried out attacks that injured or killed Americans.

At stake in the case is whether the law violates the Fifth Amendment’s due process protections by forcing the PA and PLO to submit to U.S. federal jurisdiction.

Among the cases being considered is an appeal by the family of Ari Fuld, an Israeli American who was fatally stabbed by a terrorist at a shopping mall in the West Bank in 2018. Fuld, a father of four and a staunch advocate for Israel, was attacked while shopping but managed to chase down and shoot his attacker before collapsing.

The Fuld family’s lawsuit is one of many targeting the PA and PLO for their financial support of terrorists. These lawsuits argue that the Palestinian leadership incentivizes violence against Americans and Israelis by rewarding attackers and their families with payments.

Fuld’s case has drawn bipartisan support, with lawmakers from both parties submitting briefs urging the Supreme Court to uphold the law. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) joined forces to support the victims’ families, emphasizing the importance of ensuring accountability for those who fund terrorism.

The Biden administration has also backed the law, with U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar calling a lower court’s decision to dismiss the lawsuits a “misconceived application” of the law.

“That due-process holding is incorrect and undermines Congress’s judgment that the [law] is an important measure to further U.S. interests and protect and compensate U.S. nationals,” Prelogar wrote.

The Justice Department highlighted the PA and PLO’s ongoing financial support for terrorists as justification for allowing U.S. courts to exercise jurisdiction over the groups. In one landmark case, 11 American families sued the Palestinian leadership two decades ago for a series of terrorist attacks in Israel, securing a $650 million judgment in 2015.

The PA and PLO argue that the law violates their due process rights, claiming the financial and operational conditions outlined by Congress do not amount to legitimate jurisdiction. Their attorney, Gassan Baloul, dismissed the lawsuits as based on “fiction,” asserting that holding the groups accountable would “make a mockery of the Due Process Clause.”

Victims’ families and their supporters, however, see the Palestinian arguments as an attempt to escape accountability for their direct role in incentivizing and rewarding terrorism.

The Supreme Court will hear the consolidated cases during its current term, with a decision likely by summer 2025.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)