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Family of 16-Year-Old Terror Victim Awarded $330 Million

By Jspace Staff on 5/16/2012 at 4:35 PM

Categories: Israel, United States, Legal

Family of 16-Year-Old Terror Victim Awarded $330 Million

An advocacy group won $330 million in damages for a 16-year-old boy killed by terrorists in Israel.

In 2006, a Palestinian suicide bomber set off an explosion at a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing Floridian Daniel Cantor Wultz, who was on vacation with his family. Ten others were killed and Daniel’s father was seriously wounded.

Shurat HaDin, an Israeli group that sues terror groups on behalf of victims, worked to bring the three-year-old case to a close. In the official ruling, a US judge ordered the money to be paid by the Iranian and Syrian governments, which the court deemed responsible for funding the attack.

“When a state chooses to use terror as a policy tool — as Iran and Syria continue to do — that state forfeits its sovereign immunity and deserves unadorned condemnation,” District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner with Shurat HaDin said his group has won similar cases against Iran in the past, but not against Syria.

“It’s a great feeling. Justice was done for the terror victims,” he said.

Though victims’ families typically have trouble receiving payment awards in similar instances, circumstances may soon change. The US Senate is on the verge of a vote that would put Iranian assets under American jurisdiction, meaning the American government would be able to seize said assets to pay out victims awards.

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