US Supreme Court: Israelis cannot sue Arab Bank in America

America’s Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Israelis cannot prosecute the Arab Bank in the US as foreign corporations cannot be sued in American courts for human rights abuses carried out overseas, Reuters reported.

Some 6,000 Israeli plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the Arab Bank based in Amman over claims that it has links to attacks carried out in Israel.

Reuters said that the plaintiffs accused the Arab Bank of deliberately financing terrorism, including suicide bombings and other attacks.

The Israeli plaintiffs said, according to Reuters, the Arab Bank used its New York branch to transfer money that helped Hamas and other Islamist militant groups fund attacks and reward families of the perpetrators between 1995 and 2005.

“Arab Bank is pleased with the court’s decision, which ends this litigation and affirms the bank’s belief that there is no basis to hold corporations liable under international law,” the bank said in a statement.

However, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, Michael Elsner, voiced his discontent, saying: “The Supreme Court today dealt a significant blow in the fight to hold foreign corporations conducting business in the United States accountable for violations of international law that cause harm to innocent civilians worldwide.”