122 families of Oct 7 victims file $270 million lawsuit against Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem court

Family members of 122 victims of the Oct. 7 terror attack in Israel are seeking $270 million in compensation in a lawsuit filed against the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Jerusalem District Court.

The families of the victims argue that the Palestinian Authority bears responsibility for the Oct. 7 massacre, citing what they describe as the PA’s longstanding incitement against Jews and its policy of providing financial stipends to Palestinians imprisoned for carrying out attacks against Israelis.

On Oct. 7, 2023, approximately 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, were killed during a large-scale assault by Hamas terrorists and other Gazans who breached the border and attacked communities in the country’s south. In addition, 251 individuals – both living and deceased – were taken hostage. As the conflict enters its 22nd month, Hamas is believed to still be holding around 50 hostages in Gaza, including 20 Israeli nationals who are presumed to be alive.

The lawyers representing the families on Sunday stressed the importance of the lawsuit against the PA.

“This is one of the largest lawsuits of its kind against the Palestinian Authority, both in the number of plaintiffs and the claim’s scope, exceeding NIS 1 billion. We seek to hold the authority accountable for financing, encouraging and supporting terrorists through grants to Palestinian prisoners in Israel and their families, as well as families of other terrorists, as we will prove in court,” the attorneys stated.

At the time of this writing, the PA's legal representatives had not yet issued a public response to the unprecedented lawsuit.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court passed a landmark ruling that allows American terror victims to sue the PA for incitement and involvement in attacks against U.S. citizens residing in Israel.

Miriam Fuld, the widow of dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Ari Fuld, who was murdered by a terrorist in 2018, welcomed the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“It was about an hour and a half before Shabbat when my lawyer rings me and says, ‘Hot off the press, we won 9-0.’ At first, I didn’t understand what he was saying. 9-0 means unanimous. That’s amazing,” Fuld stated.

She recalled the long legal struggle against the 17-year-old terrorist, Khalil Yusef Ali Jabarin, who murdered her husband.

“This is what we are up against, a 17-year-old who woke up one day and said, ‘I’m going to go and slaughter a Jew,’” Fuld’s widow said at the time. “One thing he knew for sure that morning was that he was financing his family for the rest of his life. He was getting that bonus; he was going to get paid.”

Following her husband's murder, Jabarin received a minimum of NIS 4,000 ($1,178) per month from the PA, under its pay-for-slay policy.

Attorney Samuel Silverman, who represented the Fulds, emphasized that the PA will be held fully accountable for its incitement and sponsoring of terrorism against Israelis and Jews. “The case really demonstrates that terrorists and entities that sponsor them are not going to get away with it,” Silverman argued. “If they think they can just sponsor someone and pay money to terrorists and their families, we are going to figure out a way to make them pay."