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KNOX V. PALESTINIAN LIBERATION ORGANIZATION

In 2002, a Palestinian gunman burst into a bat mitzvah celebration in Hadera, a northern Israeli city, killing 6 people and wounding more than 30.

 

The Al Aqsa Brigades, a militant group affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), claimed responsibility for the attack, which was allegedly carried out by a Palestinian Authority (PA)security officer.

The family of the sole American, Aharon Ellis, a professional singer killed in the attack, charged the PLO and the PA with orchestrating the shooting that killed him. The 2003 lawsuit was filed in a New York federal court under the Antiterrorism Act, a law that allows American victims of international terrorism to sue for triple damages in federal court.

In 2006, a federal judge awarded the family a default judgment of $192.7 million in damages after the PLO and the PA refused to defend the suit on the merits, but the amount was conditionally vacated in 2008. In 2009, the lawsuit was dropped after the PA quietly paid an undisclosed amount to settle the case.