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May 2, 2003
Winning the case versus terror
Lawyer Nitsana Darshan-Leitner tries to get compensation for victims.
SHARON KANON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
On the morning of Oct. 10, 2002, two Israeli reservists, Cpl. Vadim
Novesche from Or Yehuda – married just a week previously –
and Sgt-Maj. Yosef Abrahami from Petah Tikva – the father of
three young children – lost their way near Ramallah. They were
apprehended and taken to the police station in Ramallah, where they
were first interrogated, then horribly and cruelly brutalized.
"When the bodies were turned over, there was almost nothing
to say Kaddish over," said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, a 29-year-old
Israeli lawyer who is fast making a name for herself as a legal
fireball on behalf of Israeli victims of terror and their families.
The Modi'in lawyer, however, has her legal guns aimed not only at
the perpetrators of terror, but at the countries and organizations
that support and reward them with cash as well.
On behalf of the Novesche family, Darshan-Leitner filed a suit against
the Palestinian Authority and, in a precedent-setting decision,
the court recently agreed to put a lien on PA assets for about $13
million. The money will be deducted from PA funds that were frozen
by Israel early in the intifada and which are now being released.
"Each bullet costs the terrorists one dollar. If we deprive
the PA of $13 million, we are depriving them of 13 million bullets,"
said the lawyer.
To make people aware of the importance of the legal battle against
terrorism, the maverick lawyer has been a guest on Israeli talk
shows, the Voice of Israel radio station, CNN, the BBC and European
television, and has spoken to many Jewish communities in Israel
and abroad. She has also established a nonprofit centre, Shurat
HaDin (Israel Law Centre), to help families of terror victims
fight court battles. The centre tracks funding and material support
for terrorist groups, serves as a legal resource for courtroom struggles
and is a clearinghouse and litigation base for ever-increasing legal
fights against terror organizations and their patrons.
The Bar-Ilan University Law School graduate has gone for big stakes
in the U.S. courts, in cases involving dual citizens. Although no
money has been handed over yet, the Federal District Court in Washington,
D.C., awarded a judgment of $183 million to the family of a victim
in the 1996 bombing of bus No. 18 in Jerusalem. Iran, which has
assets in the United States, was found guilty of training and paying
for the terrorist groups who executed the attack. Eight American
families, including the family of Aliza Flatow, who won judgments
against Iran, have received a total of $213 million through a special
law passed by Congress. Darshan-Leitner is optimistic that her client
will also collect.
Darshan-Leitner is currently involved in suits in Israel and the
United States against Iran, Syria, Iraq, the PA, Yasser Arafat,
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the European Union. Her docket includes
more than 100 terror cases, among them families of the 29 people
who were killed last Pesach in a suicide bombing in Netanya's Park
Hotel where a Hamas terrorist walked into the dining room of the
hotel and detonated an explosive device.
Efrat and Yaron Ungar were 25 years old when they were killed in
June 1996 while driving home from a wedding. In the drive-by shooting
near Beit Shemesh, their car was splayed with bullets which hit
the car seat, but miraculously missed their baby. Blond-haired Yishai
and his brother are being raised by their grandparents. Three Hamas
militants were convicted in the double murder, but the family decided
to sue for damages.
"This was my first anti-terror case," said Darshan-Leitner.
The family of Yaron Ungar, U.S. citizens, is seeking $250 million
in damages. The case is being tried in a Rhode Island Court with
a co-counsel from the United States.
The court's legal jurisdiction for the U.S. trial is based on the
U.S. Anti-Terrorist Act passed in 1991, which grants American citizens
the right to sue in district courts for acts of international terrorism.
Another act, passed in 1996, allows for suits against sponsors of
terrorism. Both acts were partly triggered by the murder of wheelchair-bound
Leon Klinghoffer, who was shot and thrown overboard the Achille
Lauro in 1985. (That case was settled out of court after 12 years.)
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General, tried to get his clients
– Hamas, the PLO and the Palestinian Authority – off the
hook on a plea of sovereign immunity. In a landmark ruling, in November
2002, the Rhode Island judge rejected their claim.
"It was decided that the defendants have to answer under oath
in court," said Darshan-Leitner.
The activist lawyer is also going after the European Union, which
has been handing more than $10 million a month to the PA; more than
$1.5 billion since 1994. Many in Israel accuse the PA of using the
money to support the PLO's Fatah Tanzim and al-Aqsa Martyr Brigade
terrorist groups.
Darshan-Leitner is representing Steve Blumberg, a physicist and
dual Israeli-British citizen, who filed a $20 million lawsuit against
the European Union for providing funds to the PA, which he claimed
were being used to fund terror attacks. These included the murder
of his pregnant wife, Tehiya, in a terror attack that left him and
his 14-year-old daughter wheelchair bound for life.
"Why does the EU hide behind the claim of sovereign immunity
in the Tel-Aviv court if it is not guilty?" asked Darshan-Leitner.
If the Israeli courts give in to the claim, she will take the case
to Brussels. "No immunity there," she said.
Using the courts to prove that terror doesn't pay seems like a Sisyphean
task. But the feisty lawyer pursues the perpetrators and patrons
of terror relentlessly.
Some cases seem to be dragging in the court system.
"It is two years since my son Motti and nephew Etgar Zatuni
were lured into a restaurant in Tulkarm and murdered," said
Ellie Dayan. Motti, 27, and Etgar, 35, were restaurateurs from Tel-Aviv.
"Terrorism still has not stopped," said the bereaved father
and uncle, "but if the terrorists have to pay for their crimes,
that might deter them."
Sharon Kanon is with the Israel Press Service.
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