Palestinians sue Trump adviser, Netanyahu for terrorism

Charlotte Silver Rights and Accountability 2 February 2017

President Donald Trump speaks next to Jared Kushner, his senior advisor and son-in-law, in the White House on 31 January. Kushner’s family foundation is among several defendants named in a lawsuit over the financing of Israeli settlements and violent extremism.

Molly Riley UPI

A group of US citizens and Palestinian nationals is suing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and key members of US President Donald Trump’s administration for perpetrating and enabling war crimes.

Their lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, alleges a money laundering scheme that involves the US defendants raising charitable donations to send to Israeli government leaders.

Based on the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Alien Torts Statute, the complaint alleges that the Israeli officials use the money to fund settlements and violent extremism in the occupied West Bank, which the complaint identifies as “international terrorism.”

It comes as Netanyahu vowed that Israel would soon build an entirely new settlement in the occupied West Bank. Since Trump took office last month, Israel has announced plans for 6,000 additional settler housing units.

Israel’s current and former defense ministers Avigdor Lieberman and Ehud Barak are named as defendants, as is former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who recently evaded a war crimes summons from Belgian prosecutors.

The lawsuit also names the family foundation of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and now his adviser on the Middle East and Israel.

Other defendants are David Friedman and his charity, American Friends of Beit El Yeshiva Center. Friedman, Trump’s ambassador-designate to Israel, is a major fundraiser for Israeli settlements.

Pandering to Christian Zionist leaders

The lawsuit aims to use anti-terrorism statutes and laws governing tax-deductible charities to hold accountable those sending huge sums to fund Israeli colonization.

It was filed just one day before Trump told a group of religious leaders that he would “totally destroy” the amendment to the US tax code that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from engaging in direct political activity to influence elections.

Trump made the repeal of the Johnson Amendment a tenet of the Republican Party platform during his presidential campaign, drawing the support of right-wing Christian Zionist leaders, including John Hagee, head of Christians United for Israel.

Hagee is a defendant in another pending lawsuit filed last year over the funding of settlements and occupation.

Real-estate fraud

The several dozen plaintiffs include residents of the US, the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. They say they have been directly injured by the alleged war crimes enabled by the defendants.

For example, Palestinian Americans Linda Kateeb and Ali Ali claim to have lost from $2 to $3 million worth of real estate in the occupied West Bank due settlement activity the complaint describes as real-estate fraud.

According to the lawsuit, tax-exempt organizations currently raise $2 billion dollars to fund Israeli colonization of the occupied West Bank.

“Courtesy of the $2 billion in laundered funds that they receive every year, Israeli-based beneficiaries are able to inflict wholesale violence on their Palestinian neighbors and steal more of their real property,” the complaint alleges.

While Jared Kushner was a director of the Kushner Family Foundation, the group sent nearly $60,000 to West Bank settlements between 2011 and 2013 and more than $315,000 to Friends of the IDF, a group the Israeli newspaper Haaretz describes as “the army’s US fundraising arm.”

The foundation sent a small amount to the Yitzhar settlement, home to some of the most violent settlers in the West Bank.

Yitzhar’s rabbi, Yosef Elitzur, has advocated for settlers to commit so-called “price tag” attacks on Palestinians and co-authored a book justifying the killing of non-Jewish babies.

Until recently, Kushner also sat on the board of the New York-based Friends of the IDF, which holds gala fundraisers to support Israeli soldiers.

On 25 January, The Forward reported that Kushner’s name was removed from the website.

David Friedman’s Americans Friends of Beit El Yeshiva Center raises about $2 million a year that mostly goes to the Beit El settlement, near Ramallah.

The seventh defendant is the accounting firm Billet, Feit, & Prince, P.C., which the complaint claims knowingly concealed the nature of the charities on documents filed with the US Internal Revenue Service, therefore committing tax fraud.

Follow the money

The complaint was prepared by attorney Martin McMahon, who has filed three other lawsuits that are currently before the courts, targeting the stream of funding from the US to Israeli colonialism.

“They’re designed to cut off the money that’s going to the settlements,” McMahon told The Electronic Intifada. “If you cut off the money going to the settlements, they’re dead.”

One of his lawsuits already accuses American Friends of Beit El Yeshiva Center along with other individuals and companies of profiting from Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Another charges the US Treasury Department with failing to enforce the laws on charitable contributions.

“Our tax code is being abused, and the Treasury is not doing its job,” McMahon said.

The latest lawsuit argues that for the last 20 years, settlements in the occupied West Bank have been fueled by the “personal agenda” of the defendants, in contravention to Israel’s sovereign interests.

“When financing, encouraging, or engaging in acts of international terrorism the Israeli defendants were not implementing Israeli official government policies but pursuing their own personal agenda,” the complaint states.

Like previous attempts to invoke US laws in favor of Palestinians, this lawsuit must argue that the settlement activity and violence is distinct from state violence.

“I don’t want Netanyahu or the Ministry of Defense to claim immunity,” McMahon explained, citing past cases in which lawsuits against Israeli military commanders have been thrown out on the grounds that they were acting as agents of the state.

“All defendants have been violating US and Israeli criminal statutes for at least twenty years,” the complaint claims, “by engaging in money laundering … and funding settlement expansion, arms trafficking, ethnic cleansing and genocide.”

Controversial law

The complaint invokes, but is not based on, the recently passed Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which allows victims to sue state actors for knowingly contributing material support to people or organizations “that pose a significant risk of committing acts of terror.”

Until now another law, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act has protected states and their agents from civil claims in US courts. This law has repeatedly shielded Israeli leaders.

The Senate unanimously passed the controversial JASTA statute last May, with the specific intention of allowing families of victims of the 9/11 attacks to seek damages from the state they believe bore responsibility: Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis reportedly lobbied heavily against the bill. President Barack Obama vetoed the bill, only to see Congress override his veto for the first and only time during his eight-year presidency.

The bill was strongly supported by Senator Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney-general.

While arguing against the bill, Obama warned it “threatens to create complications in our relationships with even our closest partners.”

McMahon intends to use it to do just that.

The lawsuit argues that by funding belligerent settlements and the Israeli army through Netanyahu and Israel’s defense ministers, Kushner, Friedman and other donors are violating JASTA.

Past attempts to claim Israeli leaders and military officials violate the Anti-Terrorism Act have failed to overcome the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, while US courts have accepted numerous lawsuits against Palestinian groups.

This lawsuit stops short of accusing President Trump, but suggests he could be found to be violating federal criminal statutes if his tax returns are released.

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Comments

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tom hall replied on

The accusation appears to be incontrovertible. Let's hope that the court doesn't rule that Palestinians have "no standing" in the case. That's been the tactic U.S. judges have adopted on a host of issues brought before the bench. It's tough enough when you're Chris Hedges or Noam Chomsky. It's doubly difficult to obtain an honest hearing if the complainants are named Ali and Zahra.

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John Costello replied on

The suit places Trump’s son-in-law in a money laundering scheme which sends money to Israeli officials, who use it to fund settlements and violence in the ‘occupied West Bank’, which the complaint identifies as “international terrorism.”
It seems to me that basing the suit on all of these acts - JASTA, ATA and ATS – and by virtue of the ‘international’ terrorism accusation; it might have to be shown that the alleged terrorist activity crossed national boundaries. My understanding is that ‘Palestine’, while enjoying observer status at the UN, is still designated a “nation de jure”. Will these statutes pertain? What about UNSCR 2334, is this particular financial support for settlement activity liable to sanction or some other action?
Can anyone clarify that?

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George K Kardouche replied on

President's Trump's son in law is not correct.
Netanyahu and his ilk are terrorists and have been killing Palestinians for years and stealing their lands.
Netanyahu wants more settlements and will not stop!
Thank you.

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D. replied on

[Martin F. McMahon & Associates is proud to announce the filing of a lawsuit against the United States Department of Treasury requesting the court require Treasury to do its job in investigating American 501(c)(3)s and other tax-exempt entities which are sending money to settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to promote wholesale violence and ethnic cleansing.

Court Documents:
Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint
Treasury's Motion to Dismiss
Plaintiffs' Opposition to Treasury's Motion to Dismiss and Exhibit 1, Affidavit

Media references:
Haaretz, Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Arabic, Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, and MSNBC Road Map among others.

Individuals interested in joining the lawsuit as plaintiffs can do so by contacting mm@martinmcmahonlaw.com.
There is a $150 administrative fee to join.

Once the law firm gives you permission to join the suit as a plaintiff, payment of the administrative fee can be made by mailing a check to Martin F. McMahon & Associates, 1150 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 900, Washington, D.C. 20036 or by credit or debit card via Paypal at the link below: ]

Here's a look at the Plaintiffs:

[http://www.martinmcmahonlaw.co...

[9 Most Americans have no idea that: (a) their hard-earned dollars have subsidized criminal activity in the OPT for at
least 40 years; (b) this activity violates at least eight different federal criminal statutes and at least five applicable
Treasury regulations; and (c) if Treasury would start enforcing its own tax regulations governing these tax-exempt
entities, it would be able to recoup at least $1 trillion in back taxes, penalties, and interest. After reading this
complaint, it is hoped that more Americans will join in this suit to reiterate the request that senior Treasury
officials simply do their job."]

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D. replied on

2d email reply:

["Pls publicize the suit on the Internet and all donations r appreciated see paypal on our website or send a check tx"]

PLEASE SPREAD FAR AND WIDE. LET THE US LAW DICTATE AND JUDGE THE BLATANT CORRUPTION...AND HOPEFULLY END THIS DEPLORABLE ABOMINATION!!!

THANK YOU

Charlotte Silver

Charlotte Silver's picture

Charlotte Silver is an independent journalist and regular writer for The Electronic Intifada. She is based in Oakland, California and has reported from Palestine since 2010. Follow her on Twitter @CharESilver.