Let US victims, families sue PLO, Palestinian Authority for terror, Jewish groups tell Supreme Court

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) was one of 14 Jewish groups that filed a brief on Tuesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow U.S. victims of Palestinian terror and relatives of those victims to sue for damages in American courts.

“American citizenship has many benefits. One of them is the obligation of the government to protect its citizens when they are abroad,” stated Marc Stern, the AJC chief legal officer.

The Anti-Defamation League, Zionist Organization of America, Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America were among the petitioners, as were pro-Israel and civil rights groups.

The groups filed the brief in Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization.

The groups say the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority “have been leaders in the planning, funding and rewarding of terrorism against Jews,” including “through a so-called martyrs’ fund, which has become known as a ‘pay-for-slay’ program.”

A Palestinian terrorist stabbed and killed Ari Fuld, a 45-year-old Israeli American, at the Gush Etzion junction in Judea and Samaria in 2018. His family is the named petitioner in this case.

“Each year, a substantial portion of the P.A.’s overall budget—approximately 8%—goes to terrorists rather than to assisting civilians or encouraging peace,” according to the brief.

“According to reports from 2017, the P.A.’s Foundation ‘has an annual budget of $173 million and operates within the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Social Affairs,’” it adds. “In 2017, a report found that 13,000 men and women are beneficiaries of the prisoner payments, for a total of about $160 million, and approximately 33,700 families shared in about $183 million of ‘martyr’ payments.”

“Facing recent economic challenges, the P.A. and the PLO nonetheless have continued to funnel money through their terrorism financing system, spending roughly $350 million each year on ‘martyrs’ while spending just over $200 million on welfare programs for the rest of Palestinian society,” it added.

Congress passed the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act in 2019, which lets victims of terror attacks overseas sue for damages if there are “pay-for-slay” programs or if the terror groups have U.S. officers or promote their cause on college campuses. However, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in 2024 that the law was unconstitutional since the PLO and P.A. are beyond American jurisdiction.

Stern, of the AJC, stated that the court interpreted the law too narrowly. “Our brief argues that there is nothing in the Constitution that prohibits Congress from allowing American victims of terror abroad to sue their attackers in U.S. courts,” he said.

The Supreme Court agreed in December to hear the case, which it combined with a federal suit against the PLO. A decision is expected by July, per the AJC.