Shurat HaDin

Infobox_Company
company_name = Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center
company_type = non-profit organization

foundation = 2000, Jerusalem, Israel
key_people = Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Esq., Founder & Director
industry = Civil rights
num_employees =
products = Fighting Global Terror Via the Courts
revenue =
net_income =
homepage = [http://www.israellawcenter.org]

Shurat HaDin, Israel Law Center (ILC), founded in 2003, is a Tel-Aviv based human rights institute. The organization focuses on providing legal services and representation to a wide range of individuals from around the world whose civil rights have been violated. These include the representation of victims of terrorist attacks, torture victims, the victims of anti-Semitic violence and those being illegally persecuted by totalitarian regimes. Shurat HaDin is an Israel-based non-profit legal organization, whose stated purpose is to "combat terrorism and promote civil rights through research, educationcite news | url=http://www.khouse.org/articles/2005/593/| title=An Insider's Briefing on Israel| | publisher=Koinonia House |date=August 2005 | first=Chuck | last=Missler | accessdate = 2008-04-2] and litigationcite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E1DF1E3DF931A3575BC0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all| title=Syria Is Sued by Family of Man Killed by '96 Bomb in Jerusalem | publisher=NYTimes |date=August 2, 2000| first=Judith| last= Miller | accessdate = 2008-04-3] ."

Inspired by the Southern Poverty Law Center in the United States, which used civil litigation to cripple and bankrupt the Ku Klux Klan, and other neo-Nazi groups in the US, the lawyers of Shurat HaDin have helped hundreds of Israeli terror victims file civil suits against Palestinian 'terror' groups and their financial patrons cite news | url=http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles-new/?p=574| title=Conservative Using law to fight a war | | publisher=Jewish Chronicle |date=March 21, 2008 | first=Melanie | last=Phillips | accessdate = 2008-03-28] .

Shurat HaDin was thus set up with the stated goal of "economically destroying cite news | url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/19722/edition_id/401/format/html/displaystory.html/| title=Fight terror with lawsuits| | publisher=Jewish Bulletin |date=February 7, 2003| first=Joshua| last=Brandt | accessdate = 2008-04-2] the hate groups in the Middle East."

Shurat HaDin's motto is: "Bankrupting terror - one lawsuit at a time."

Shurat HaDin is staffed with activist Israeli attorneys and works with numerous other law offices which serve as co-counsel on cases being litigated in courtrooms around the world.cite news | url=http://www.khouse.org/articles/2005/593/| title=An Insider's Briefing on Israel| | publisher=Koinonia House |date=August 2005 | first=Chuck | last=Missler | accessdate = 2008-04-2] .
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner is the founder and director of Shurat HaDin.

Shurat Hadin claims to represent hundreds of terror victims in lawsuits cite news | url=http://www.jewishreview.org/node/8584| title=Attorney hits terrorists where it hurts| publisher=Jewish Review |date=May 2, 2003| first=Amy| last= Kaufman | accessdate = 2008-04-2] and legal actions against HAMAS, the Palestinian Authority, Iran, Syriacite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E1DF1E3DF931A3575BC0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all| title=Syria Is Sued by Family of Man Killed by '96 Bomb in Jerusalem | publisher=NYTimes |date=August 2, 2000| first=Judith| last= Miller | accessdate = 2008-04-3] , Islamic Jihad and numerous financial institutions cite news | url=http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200701/FOR20070131e.html| title=Terror Victims' Families Get Approval to Sue Arab Bank| publisher=CNSNews |date=January 31, 2007| first=Julie| last= Stahl | accessdate = 2008-04-3] . Shurat HaDin's cases are litigated in the Israeli, American, Canadian and European courts.

Shurat HaDin is based in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv.

THE CASES

Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center has been involved in a wide-range of legal actions in Israelcite news | url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,338009,00.html | title=Israeli Town Demands Anti-Missile Laser | | publisher=FoxNews|date=March 17, 2008| first=Fox| last=News | accessdate = 2008-04-3] and abroad on behalf of Jewish rights casescite news | url=http://www.jewsweek.com/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Article%5El1645&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Stories&| title=On the trail of terrorists | | publisher=JewsWeek |date=February 22, 2005| first=Todd| last=Pittok | accessdate = 2008-04-3] .

On January 7, 2008, ten families of Sderot (Israel) residents, whose relatives were killed or seriously injured by Palestinian Kassam rockets, filed a lawsuit against the Egyptian government in the Be'er Sheva District Court. The court complaint accuses Egypt of intentionally assisting the Palestinian terror organizations in smuggling explosives and weapons into the Hamas controlled Gaza strip.

The plaintiffs, represented by Shurat HaDin, argue in the lawsuit, that the explosives are being used by the terrorist groups to manufacture the Kassam rockets being launched against the Southern Israeli town of Sderot. Since Israel's withdrawal in 2005 from Gaza, the Sderot residents have lived under continuous Kassam attacks. The plaintiffs contend that the Egyptian government is the party largely responsible for aiding Hamas, Fatah and the Islamic Jihad in terrorizing the entire Negev.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs argue that Cairo assists the terror organizations by authorizing the smuggling of tons of explosives and thousands of weapons into Gaza. The Egyptian government also allows terrorists to cross back and forth from the Egyptian held Sinai into Gaza, permitting them an open route to and from terrorist training bases in stateslike Iran, Lebanon and Syria. Egypt additionally, assists the terror organizationswith their training in these rogue regimes, which is eventually utilized against Israeli civilians. Moreover, plaintiffs argue in the lawsuit,that Egypt assist the Palestinian terror organizations in smuggling tens of millions dollars inside Gaza, which is used for the benefit of terror attacks and to strengthen Hamas' effective control. Much of the funds being smuggled in from Egypt is utilized for terror attacks against Sderot residents.

The plaintiffs are demanding that Egypt compensate their families in theamount of NIS 260,000,000 ($65,000,000 US).

On September 10, 2006, Shurat HaDin director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and New York attorney Robert Tolchin filed a law suit in federal court on behalf of the families of 12 missing Jewish-Iranians against the former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. The complaint alleges that the former president was responsible for the kidnapping and torture of their missing family members in Iran. The families, currently residing in Los Angeles and Israel, claim that Khatami instituted the cruel policy of making Iranian Jewish detainees "disappear" – that is imprisoning Iranian Jews without trials and refusing to provide their families any information concerning their arrests, status or whereabouts. They contend that by doing so, the Islamic regime seeks to terrorize the Jewish community in Iran and deter them from attempting to flee abroad. The Jews were arrested on different occasions during the years 1994 through 1997, as they sought to leave Iran across its border with Pakistan.

The families of the missing Jews, who are not U.S. citizens, brought the suit under special laws – the Alien Torts Act and the Torture Victims Protection Act – which permit foreigners to sue their tormentors for torture and kidnapping in American courts. The plaintiffs are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages against Khatami for his role in the on-going disappearance of their loved ones.

Since the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, millions of Iranian citizens, especially the minority Bahai, Christian, Jewish and Zoroaster communities, have sought to escape from the Islamic regime. In normal circumstances when Muslim citizens are arrested attempting to leave without official permission, the established punishment is a small fine or a short jail term. However, in the instances where Jewish citizens have been similarly arrested, the Islamic government has instituted much harsher penalties. The Plaintiffs allege that Khatami has singled out the Jewish community and authorized the policy of secretly imprisoning the Jews indefinitely -"disappearing" them.

Over the years, the Jewish families have received reports from other former prisoners and guards that the missing Jews are alive and being held in different prisons. In the case of the Tehrani family of Los Angeles, a former Muslim neighbor has sworn out an affidavit testifying that he has seen their missing son, Babak Tehrani, in a Tehran prison two years after his disappearance.

Khatami has refused to answer the complaint and has defaulted the case.

On May 1, 2008, Shurat HaDin along with former Soviet Prisoner of Zion, Ida Nudel launched a public campaign to save the life of a Palestinian police officer accused of having assisted the Israeli intelligence services in hunting down fugitive terrorists. The policeman, Imad Sa'ad cite news | url=http://www.nysun.com/foreign/appeal-is-made-to-bush-to-save-arab-accused/75781/| title=Appeal Is Made to Bush To Save Arab Accused of Helping Israel| | publisher=NY Daily Sun |date=May 5, 2008| first=Eli| last=Lake | accessdate = 2008-06-1] has been sentenced to death by a Palestinian military tribunal in Hebron. Sa'ad, it is alleged, provided the Israel Defense Forces with the whereabouts of four suspected bomb makers whom the Palestinian Authority was unwilling to hand over to the Israelis.

Shurat HaDin accuses the Palestinians of having engaged in a sham trial that did not permit the defendant, a father of four to be represented by counsel nor call witnesses in his defense. There are no appeals from Palestinian military tribunal even in capital cases. Darshan-Leitner and Nudel have written to President Bush, the European Union and the Vatican.

In the past Ms. Nudel and Shurat HaDin have succeeded in saving the lives of other, similarly accused Palestinian prisoners on death row cite news | url=http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/05/07/who_will_save_imad_saad | title=Who will save Imad Saad| | publisher=Boston Globe|date=May 7, 2008| first=Jeff| last=Jacoby | accessdate = 2008-06-1] .

On May 13, 2008, Shurat HaDin director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner was co-counsel in filing in Manhattan Federal Court against Swiss mega bank UBS GAcite news | url=http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008May13/0,4670,TerrorLawsuit,00.html | title=Swiss mega bank UBS GA Accused of Financing Terror | | publisher=FoxNews|date=May 13, 2008| first=Fox| last=News | accessdate = 2008-05-21] which is accused by the plaintiffs of financing terror.

The plaintiffs in the case, all of whom had family members injured or killed in Israel, allege that UBS' unlawful eight year-long provision of financial services to the Islamic Republic of Iran at the time that Tehran was providing material support to terrorist organizations renders the Swiss bank liable for the harm that has been inflicted upon them and their families.

Included amongst the plaintiffs were three families who were physically and emotionally harmed by the Katyusha rockets launched by Hizbollah into Israeli cities during the 2006 war with Lebanon. This is the first civil action brought by American victims of Hizbollah's katyusha rocket attacks.

The allegations against UBS center around the Swiss bank's involvement in transferring dollars to outlaw regimes such as Iran. The UBS operation was uncovered by American soldiers in Iraq in 2003 who discovered brand new dollars, still wrapped in Federal Reserve casings behind a wall in Saddam Huessein's palace. A Federal Reserve investigation of the currency determined that UBS was responsible for illegally transferring between $4 to $5 billion to states designated by the U.S. as sponsors of terrorism between 1996 and 2004.

At first UBS sought to deny the extent of the money transfers it had provided to Iran and others, but confronted with overwhelming evidence, eventually was compelled to admit the scope of its criminal activities. UBS, one of world's wealthiest banks, was fined a $100 millions by the Federal Reserve for its conduct.

Darshan-leitner's clients allege that without the provision of American dollars to Tehran, the Islamic regime would not have been able to support terrorist groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbollah. The terrorist groups need the easily convertible and readily accepted American dollars to purchase weapons (such as Katyushas) and explosives as well as to facilitate their terrorist training programs and to fund suicide bombings. The lawsuit charges UBS, which has a branch in New York, with aiding and abetting Iran's support of terror by illegally providing Tehran the dollars it needed to pass along to the terrorist groups for their purchases and attacks.

The plaintiffs in the case, all of whom had family members injured or killed in Israel, allege that UBS' unlawful eight year-long provision of financial services to the Islamic Republic of Iran at the time that Tehran was providing material support to terrorist organizations renders the Swiss bank liable for the harm that has been inflicted upon them and their families.

Included amongst the plaintiffs were three families who were physically and emotionally harmed by the Katyusha rockets launched by Hizbollah into Israeli cities during the 2006 war with Lebanon. This is the first civil action brought by American victims of Hizbollah's katyusha rocket attacks.

The allegations against UBS center around the Swiss bank's involvement in transferring dollars to outlaw regimes such as Iran. The UBS operation was uncovered by American soldiers in Iraq in 2003 who discovered brand new dollars, still wrapped in Federal Reserve casings behind a wall in Saddam Huessein's palace. A Federal Reserve investigation of the currency determined that UBS was responsible for illegally transferring between $4 to $5 billion to states designated by the U.S. as sponsors of terrorism between 1996 and 2004.

At first UBS sought to deny the extent of the money transfers it had provided to Iran and others, but confronted with overwhelming evidence, eventually was compelled to admit the scope of its criminal activities. UBS, one of world's wealthiest banks, was fined a $100 millions by the Federal Reserve for its conduct.

Darshan-Leitner's clients allege that without the provision of American dollars to Tehran, the Islamic regime would not have been able to support terrorist groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbollah. The terrorist groups need the easily convertible and readily accepted American dollars to purchase weapons (such as Katyushas) and explosives as well as to facilitate their terrorist training programs and to fund suicide bombings. The lawsuit charges UBS, which has a branch in New York, with aiding and abetting Iran's support of terror by illegally providing Tehran the dollars it needed to pass along to the terrorist groups for their purchases and attacks.

The plaintiffs in the case, all of whom had family members injured or killed in Israel, allege that UBS' unlawful eight year-long provision of financial services to the Islamic Republic of Iran at the time that Tehran was providing material support to terrorist organizations renders the Swiss bank liable for the harm that has been inflicted upon them and their families.

Included amongst the plaintiffs were three families who were alledgedly physically and emotionally harmed by the Katyusha rockets launched by Hizbollah into Israeli cities during the 2006 war with Lebanon. This was the first civil action brought by American victims of Hizbollah's katyusha rocket attacks.

The allegations against UBS center around the Swiss bank's involvement in transferring dollars to outlaw regimes such as Iran. The UBS operation was uncovered by American soldiers in Iraq in 2003 who discovered brand new dollars, still wrapped in Federal Reserve casings behind a wall in Saddam Huessein's palace. A Federal Reserve investigation of the currency determined that UBS was responsible for illegally transferring between $4 to $5 billion to states designated by the U.S. as sponsors of terrorism between 1996 and 2004.

At first UBS sought to deny the extent of the money transfers it had provided to Iran and others, but confronted with overwhelming evidence, eventually was compelled to admit the scope of its criminal activities. UBS, one of world's wealthiest banks, was fined a $100 millions by the Federal Reserve for its conduct.

Darshan-Leitner's clients allege that without the provision of American dollars to Tehran, the Islamic regime would not have been able to support terrorist groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbollah. The terrorist groups need the easily convertible and readily accepted American dollars to purchase weapons (such as Katyushas) and explosives as well as to facilitate their terrorist training programs and to fund suicide bombings. The lawsuit charges UBS, which has a branch in New York, with aiding and abetting Iran's support of terror by illegally providing Tehran the dollars it needed to pass along to the terrorist groups for their purchases and attacks.

Attorneys for UBS have denied the allegations and said they would vigorously defend the law suit.

On June 30, 2008, Shurat HaDin filed a petition in the Israeli High Court of Justice on behalf of the families of 12 missing Iranian Jews seeking to block the Israeli government from releasing information on the fate of four disappeared Iranian diplomats as part of the prisoner release deal with Hizbollah. The petition will be heard on Wednesday, July 2, 2008. The Jews were arrested in the 1990s as they sought to escape from Iran across the border with Pakistan and they are believed to still be in Iranian prisons. The Iranian diplomats were captured by Christian militia forces, the Samir Jaja faction, in South Lebanon in 1982. The families are represented in the court proceeding before the High Court by Darshan-Leitner. The petition demands that the Prime Minister not authorize the transfer of information regarding the diplomats until such time as reliable and detailed information is received about the missing Jews' fate. The families of the missing Jews have never received any acknowledgment of their loved ones' arrests, status or whereabouts from the Islamic regime.

Shurat Hadin claims it has reliable information that at least one of the Jews is still alive and being held as a prisoner in Tehran. The families contends that the government must honor the obligations imposed upon it by the Israeli High Court approximately two years ago, in a prior High Court proceeding, that [the Israeli government] "Push forward diligently without sparing any effort in order to gain information about the [12 missing] Jews of Iran." The families are insisting that there be a "quid pro quo" on information about their family members in exchange for the release of the details on the fate of the missing Iranians. Shurat HaDin director, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner emphasized that, the families' are not appealing against the deal to bring back the Hizbollah captives itself but rather are demanding that the fate of the 12 missing Jews be included as a "quid pro quo" before any information about the diplomats is released. "Saving the lives of these missing Jews, still being held in Iranian prisons after years of torture must be a central component of any deal with Hizbollah and Iran," she stated.

On July 14, 2008, Shurat HaDin Director, Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leiter and Attorney Robert Tolchin of New York filed the first ever civil action by victims of the Hizbollah terrorist organization against an American Bank. The action was filed in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan

Representing some 85 victims and their family members, the Shurat HaDin law suitcite news | url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-hezbollah-lawsuit,1,5474466.story| title=Survivors of 2006 Hezbollah attacks sue 2 banks for $650M in federal court in US| | publisher=LA Times |date=July 14, 2008 | accessdate = 2008-07-15] alleges that the American Express Bank, Ltd. and the Lebanese-Canadian Bank (LCB) unlawfully executed millions of dollars in wire transfers for Hizbollah between 2004 and 2006. The plaintiffs assert that Hizbollah used the funds transferred by AMEX Bank and LCB to prepare and carry out the rocket attacks which the terrorist organization rained on Israeli cities between July 12 and August 14, 2006.

The plaintiffs rested their claims in part on written findings issued by the New York State Banking Department in 2007, which determined that AMEX Bank had failed to establish adequate procedures to prevent terrorism financing as demanded by state and federal law. This is the first lawsuit brought by terror victims against an U.S. financial institution that serves as a correspondent for a bank in Lebanon.

Darshan-Leitner told the Associated Press that "the idea of the lawsuit in part is to warn American correspondent banks that they will be held responsible for attacks by Hezbollah if they transfer money to them," Darshan-Leitner said. "We expect them to follow the law."

References

External links

* [http://www.israellawcenter.org Official Website ]

External links

* [http://www.israellawcenter.org Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center]
* [http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/me_israel0286_06_30.asp Israeli government under fire for transferring millions to Hamas]
* [http://politicom.moldova.org/stiri/eng/130545/ Israel allows funding to Hamas says report]
* [http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11577210/ Israeli Group Saves Palestinian From Execution]
* [http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11576961/ Israeli Human Rights Group May Sue Company that Supplies Fuel to Gaza]
* [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3561880,00.html Families of missing Iranian Jews want answers]
* [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3562153,00.html Famillies of missing Iranian Jews petition High Court]
* [http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/writers_directory/nitsana_%20darshan-leitner/2006-02-13-hamas_civil_verdict.htm Jerusalem Court awards terror victims NIS 90 million judgment against Hamas]
* [http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2007/10/01/the-hits-keep-coming-shurat-hadin-and-the-israeli-gpo-go-after-enderlin-and-france2/ The Hits Keep Coming: Shurat HaDin and the Israeli GPO Go after Enderlin and France2] – Official website
* [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123816 GPO Director Says A-Dura Film is a 'Blood Libel']