WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Friday to settle a years-long legal dispute over whether Palestinian authorities can be sued in U.S. courts by Americans killed or wounded in terrorism attacks in the Middle East.
The federal appeals court in New York has repeatedly ruled in favor of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, despite Congress' efforts to allow the victims' lawsuits to be heard.
That court's latest decision, last year, struck down a law enacted in 2019 specifically to allow the lawsuits to move forward. The Supreme Court typically takes on cases in which lower courts have invalidated federal laws.
The question for the justices is whether the 2019 law is unconstitutional, as the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found, because it denies fair legal process to the PLO and PA. The case probably will be argued in the spring.
Both the victims and the Biden administration had urged the high court to step in.
The attacks occurred in the early 2000s, killing 33 people and wounding hundreds more, and in 2018, when a U.S.-born settler was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assailant outside a busy mall in the West Bank.
The victims and their families assert that Palestinian agents either were involved in the attacks or incited them.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals first ruled in 2016 against the victims of the attacks from 20 years ago, tossing out a $654 million jury verdict in their favor. In that earlier ruling, the appeals court held U.S. courts can’t consider lawsuits against foreign-based groups over random attacks that were not aimed at the United States.
The victims had sued under the Anti-Terrorism Act, signed into law in 1992. The law was passed to open U.S. courts to victims of international terrorism, spurred by the killing of American Leon Klinghoffer during a 1985 terrorist attack aboard the Achille Lauro cruise ship.
The jury found the PLO and Palestinian Authority liable for six attacks and awarded $218 million in damages. The award was automatically tripled under the law.
After the Supreme Court rejected the victims’ appeal in 2018, Congress again amended the law to make clear it did not want to close the courthouse door to the victims.
The U.S. Supreme Court, is seen Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight, the Health Ministry said early Thursday. The Israeli military said it had targeted a group of militants.
The strike hit a car outside the Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the territory. The journalists were working for the local Quds News Network.
The military said it targeted a group of fighters from Islamic Jihad, a militant group allied with Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel ignited the war. Associated Press footage showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings still visible on the back doors.
Several young men attended the funeral outside the hospital, many of them sobbing. The bodies were all wrapped in white shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says over 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds.
Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera network and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants. The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its war coverage, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties from Israeli military operations.
Separately, the military said a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed during fighting in central Gaza early Thursday. A total of 389 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation over a year ago.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border in a surprise attack on nearby army bases and farming communities. They killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel's air and ground offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. It says more than half the fatalities have been women and children but does not say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The offensive has caused widespread destruction and driven around 90% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps along the coast, with little protection from the cold, wet winter.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
A relative mourns over the body of one of the five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners react as they carry the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A relative mourns over the body of one of the five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and friends mourn over the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians, mostly journalists, gather around the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A woman reacts during the funeral of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
