The Ungar Family (stopterror.org)
From AP, :
PROVIDENCE, RI — A federal judge has ruled the Palestine Liberation Organization and its governmental entity must each pay more than $116 million for their role in the murder of two Jewish settlers near the West Bank eight years ago.
Magistrate David Martin issued the ruling Wednesday in the drive-by shooting deaths of Yaron Ungar, an American citizen, and his Israeli wife, Efrat, in June 1996.
The plaintiffs argued that the PLO provided a safe haven for the militant Palestinian organization Hamas.
The Ungars’ attorney, David Strachman, downplayed the decision, saying the defendants have several requests that must be resolved in court before the case is closed.
“We’ve got a long way to go before we have a judgment,” said Strachman, a Providence attorney designated by an Israeli court to manage the Ungars’ estate.
The attorney for the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, was out of the country Thursday and did not immediately respond to faxed questions.
The lawsuit was filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1990 that allows American victims of overseas terrorism to seek monetary damages in U.S. courts.
The defendants have insisted throughout the case that the PLO is a foreign state protected from such lawsuits by sovereign immunity.
In January, a federal judge ordered Hamas to pay $116 million for its role in the Ungars’ deaths. Hamas never contested the lawsuit and had no legal representation. It remains unclear whether Hamas will honor the ruling.
The Ungars were killed in a drive-by shooting as they returned home from a wedding. One of their two children was in the car but escaped unharmed.
Now let’s see if they can collect.