Parents sue Palestinian groups complicit in son’s murder by Hamas

The parents of an Israeli yeshiva student murdered by Hamas terrorists in 1996 filed a lawsuit  against two Chicago-area Palestinian groups, demanding payment from a previous judgment.

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

The parents of a 17-year-old Israeli yeshiva student fatally shot by Hamas terrorists in 1996 filed a federal lawsuit Friday against two Chicago-area Palestinian-American groups in order to collect on a previous legal judgment stemming from the murder.

Stanley and Joyce Boim filed the lawsuit in Chicago against American Muslims for Palestine and Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation.

The Chicago Tribune reports the lawsuit alleges the organizations are “alter egos” of three Islamic fundraising groups held liable several years ago for the death of their son, David, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Beit El.

The Boims initially filed a lawsuit in 2000, accusing  the American Muslim Society, the Islamic Association for Palestine-National and the Quranic Literacy Institute of giving to Palestinian charities that ultimately helped fund terrorism.

A federal jury ruled on a $52 million judgment against the charities in 2004, and the trial judge tripled the amount to $156 million. A federal appeals court upheld the judgment in 2008.

The verdict was the first by a jury holding US citizens or organizations liable under a federal law that allows victims of terrorism to sue for civil damages.

Mockery of Federal Anti-Terrorism Laws

The Boims’ attorney, Stephen Landes, said the family received only a fraction of the award because the defendants said they had no money to pay the judgment and shut down. Landes said the successor groups named in Friday’s lawsuit formed later with many of the same suspects in similar leadership roles.

“What we ended up finding is they just tried to rebrand themselves, and they set up down the street,” Landes stated.

If the groups are allowed to move on without paying the judgment, he said, “it makes a mockery” of federal anti-terrorism laws.

Messages left with American Muslims for Palestine by the Tribune were not returned. Friday’s lawsuit also names three individuals identified as leaders of the group, including Abdelbasset Hamayel, identified as its executive director and the secretary general of the defunct Islamic Association for Palestine.

Hamayel told the Tribune he was unaware of the lawsuit and declined to comment. He didn’t immediately return a message left after-hours at his office by The Associated Press.

It’s unclear if Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation is still operating; it doesn’t have a separate website or a publicly listed phone number.

We Mourn Our Son Every Day

David Boim, originally from New York, was 17 when shot in the head while waiting for a bus to Jerusalem with classmates, on their way for a review ahead of exams. He died of his wounds the next day.

“We think about and mourn our son David every day,” Joyce Boim said Friday in a statement. “We brought the original suit to prevent other American families from suffering similar tragedies. We pray that this new effort will give more force to the law that seeks justice for terror victims.”