JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The families of the three teenagers kidnapped and murdered in the summer of 2014 have submitted a 520 million NIS ($155 million) lawsuit against the Hamas terrorist organization for its involvement in the murders of their children.
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Naftali Frankel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas terrorists while hitchhiking near the town of Alon Shvut in Gush Etzion six years ago. Now their families, represented byThe Shurat HaDin legal organization, has filed the claim against Hamas in the Jerusalem District Court.
The goal of the lawsuit is to prevent the continued transfer of funds from the Palestinian Authority to Hamas, which is estimated at between 50 million and 100 million dollars every month. This money is transferred to Hamas ministries and to various groups including military groups under Hamas control.
The leader of the terrorist cell which carried out the kidnappings, Hussam Qawasmeh, admitted in his interrogation that he was the mastermind behind the abduction and murder, and that he had obtained funding for the attack from Hamas. He purchased the weapons for the attack and handed them over to Marwan Qawasmeh, another terrorist from the same cell, and also purchased the vehicle used in the operation. He also admitted that he assisted the killers after the attack in burying the boys’ bodies, concealing evidence from the scene of the burial, and escaping from security forces. Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, also claimed responsibility for the murders.
The families of the three boys said: “This lawsuit, of course, does not cure our pain, reduce our grief, or minimize our longing for our children. If the lawsuit has the power to deter even a small part of these evil forces, then that will be our reward.”
The president of the Shurat HaDin organization, Adv. Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, stated: “This is a precedent-setting lawsuit. For the first time, funds from the Palestinian Authority will be confiscated for a terrorist attack carried out by Hamas. If the Palestinian Authority refuses to honor the foreclosure, and continues to fund Hamas despite the foreclosure order, we will demand the compensation money from the tax funds that the State of Israel transfers to the Palestinian Authority. Either way, the Palestinian Authority will pay for its support for Hamas, and the victims of terrorism will be able to receive justice. What the state is failing to do in stopping the hundreds of millions of dollars flowing to the Hamas organization from the Palestinian Authority, the victims of terrorism will succeed in doing.”
