American Citizens File Reply Brief in Suit Against the State Department Over Palestinian Aid

As the IDF and Israeli security branches continue their massive search operation for the 3 teenagers kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists last week, the 24 Americans living in Israel who had sued the United States Department of State over American aid to the Palestinians have filed their reply brief to the DC Court of Appeals.  In their civil action, filed in the United States District Court in Washington, DC, the plaintiffs alleged that aid money to the Palestinians is not being carefully scrutinized nor administered and as a result winds up funding Palestinian terrorism such as the kidnapping of innocent civilians by Hamas. The lawsuit was originally filed in November, 2012. On August 26, 2013, however, the District Court dismissed the case, ruling that the two dozen plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the lawsuit as they themselves had not been harmed and that their claim of injuries and fear was too "speculative."  Moreover, the Court held that foreign policy matters of this sort were exclusively in the hands of the Executive Branch. The plaintiffs had argued that far from "speculative" they unfortunately maintained a solid basis for their fears of personally being harmed by the Palestinian terrorist groups.  As we have now seen, tragically, one of the kidnapped children, Naftali Frankel, 16,  is indeed an American citizen.  The appellants contend that the State Department has recklessly ignored congressional safeguards and transparency requirements which govern US aid to the Palestinian Authority ("PA").   The 24 Americans argue that as a result of White House non-compliance with federal regulations, funds have been flowing to terror groups like Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. These Americans call on the US government to stop all funding to the Palestinians until the latter "fully comply with federal prohibitions against support for terrorism." It is estimated that since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the United States Department of State, via USAID has given over $4 billion to the PA. During the last four fiscal years, average aid has been roughly $600 million per year. Additionally, the United States gives approximately $200 million to the United Nations body UNRWA, each year, and during the fiscal years 2008 and 2009, UNRWA gave roughly $500 million of their funding to recipients in the West Bank and Gaza. Under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Department of State is required to certify that the PA is committed to a peaceful co-existence with Israel before distributing funds, and ensure that no portion of the funding is used for terrorism. The plaintiffs are represented by NY attorney Robert Tolchin and Israeli attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner. As the reply brief sets out: "Plaintiffs have made it clear that their challenge is not to the policies behind US Government aid to the Palestinians, but to Defendants’ failure to comply with the federal statutory limitations and conditions on such aid. Moreover, even if the Defendants have the best of intentions in providing such aid, their failure to take the required statutorily mandated steps to insure that US financial assistance does not end up in terrorist hands is actionable by Plaintiffs who are directly and concretely affected by Palestinian terrorism. The Defendants do not deny the applicability of such statutory limitations and conditions or that the Defendants are in violation of such statutory limitations and conditions. The Court should not be taken in by Defendants’ efforts to obscure the real issue behind the veil of their “foreign policy” justification." For a copy of the appellate brief click here. And click here for more information on the upcoming November 2014 Ultimate Mission to Israel.

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