New York – Judge Unlikely To Boost Award In Israel Bombings To Over $1B

New York – A U.S. judge indicated Tuesday that he was unlikely to boost a $654 million jury award to victims of terror attacks in Israel over a decade ago to more than $1 billion by tacking on interest against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.

Judge George Daniels in Manhattan said he wasn’t seeing a compelling need to expand the award, especially since he allowed lawyers for the terrorism victims to ask the jury to fully compensate their clients at a February civil trial. He also noted that the jury’s $218 million award was automatically tripled under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act.

Daniels offered his views about interest as he set an Aug. 10 deadline for the U.S. government to decide whether to tell the judge its opinions about a request by the Palestinian groups to suspend execution of the jury award and to waive a requirement that the groups post a bond representing a portion of the award.

On Monday, an official with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington wrote to Daniels saying that the United States was “carefully considering” whether to submit papers with its views on the subjects.

Mitchell Berger, a lawyer for the PLO, said the size of the jury award was a threat to the Palestinian Authority, especially if it grows to more than $1 billion with the tripling of $165 million in interest.

“This would be the end of the Palestinian Authority, and that’s why we’re here to argue the judgment,” he said.

The jury held the Palestinian groups liable, finding that they were behind attacks in the early 2000s that killed 33 people and wounded hundreds more, including some Americans.