Suicide bomb victims can sue NatWest

Suicide bomb victims can sue NatWest

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voyds9

Original Poster:

8,488 posts

283 months

Thursday 28th September 2006
quotequote all
Full story here
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawsuit brought by victims and families of suicide bombings in Israel seeking damages from Royal Bank of Scotland Plc's NatWest claiming the unit knowingly provided services to a charity linked to Hamas can proceed, a U.S. federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

The suit, filed in federal court in Brooklyn in January, made claims on behalf of 15 families of Americans wounded in attacks. It said NatWest enabled U.K. charity Interpal to raise funds on its Web site knowing the U.S. government identified the charity as a fund raiser for Hamas, violating U.S. anti-terrorism laws.

Interpal was named a Specially-designated Global Terrorist in August 2003 by U.S. authorities, alleging it supports Hamas's activities.

RBS and Interpal, also known as the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund, have rejected the claims and in response the bank filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

But U.S. District Judge Charles Sifton ruled the bank's arguments, including that some transactions in question occurred too long before any attack occurred, were not strong enough to dismiss the case.

"Because each attack was preceded by at least one relevant transaction by NatWest, plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that each attack was proximately caused by NatWest," the judge wrote.

Plaintiffs in the case include relatives of victims of a suicide bomber on a bus in Jerusalem on August 19, 2003. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed 20 people.

"The court's decision again affirms the civil remedies available to American victims of terrorism," said Gary Osen, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, adding the judge said the U.S. government did not distinguish between a "terrorist wing" of Hamas and any charitable wing.

A lawyer for NatWest was not immediately available for comment. When the lawsuit was filed, the bank said the U.K. Charity Commission had investigated Interpal and found no wrongdoing in connection with Hamas.

Reuters


What next sueing the telephone people for letting the transactions go down their lines. Sueing a firm for making the clothes that the bombers wore. Sueing firms for making explosives

timsta

2,779 posts

246 months

Thursday 28th September 2006
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voyds9 said:
What next sueing the telephone people for letting the transactions go down their lines. Sueing a firm for making the clothes that the bombers wore. Sueing firms for making explosives


Well, according to their process, it seems that they could be in the fireing line. rolleyes

Let's hope they remember to look into all the funding the IRA got from their own citizens.

Andy mac

73,668 posts

255 months

Thursday 28th September 2006
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Does the US forget NorAid?

simpo two

85,422 posts

265 months

Thursday 28th September 2006
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More like:

voyds9 said:
A lawsuit brought by victims and families of suicide bombings in Israel seeking damages from Royal Bank of Scotland Plc's NatWest claiming the unit has lots of money, whilst Hamas, who actually made the bomb and set it off, are hard to get hold of and wouldn't pay anything anyway.

-DeaDLocK-

3,367 posts

251 months

Thursday 28th September 2006
quotequote all
That's a bit contrived innit?

I have decided to sue HSBC because clearly one of their minimum wage account holders in Papua New Guinea has a friend of a sister of a friend of a friend of a friend's great grandfather who has read an article in the New York Times about a bomb going off in Iraq, which clearly aggravates terrorists because that person's uncle's adopted daughter happened to pass by a wannabe terrorist in Windsor, and hence makes my life more difficult.

peetbee

1,036 posts

255 months

Thursday 28th September 2006
quotequote all
-DeaDLocK- said:
That's a bit contrived innit?

I have decided to sue HSBC because clearly one of their minimum wage account holders in Papua New Guinea has a friend of a sister of a friend of a friend of a friend's great grandfather who has read an article in the New York Times about a bomb going off in Iraq, which clearly aggravates terrorists because that person's uncle's adopted daughter happened to pass by a wannabe terrorist in Windsor, and hence makes my life more difficult.


I think you may have a case there silly

HiRich

3,337 posts

262 months

Thursday 28th September 2006
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Andy mac said:
Does the US forget NorAid?

They haven't forgotten. Why do you think Congress never approved their half of the reciprocal extradition treaty? Could it be that quite a few congressmen realised it would be like turkeys voting for Christmas?

Nuggs

4,640 posts

234 months

Thursday 28th September 2006
quotequote all
simpo two said:
More like:

voyds9 said:
A lawsuit brought by victims and families of suicide bombings in Israel seeking damages from Royal Bank of Scotland Plc's NatWest claiming the unit has lots of money, whilst Hamas, who actually made the bomb and set it off, are hard to get hold of and wouldn't pay anything anyway.

Brilliantclap