Palestinian Authority Ordered to Pay $655 Million in Case Involving Attacks on Americans – Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court has authorized the collection of $655.5 million from the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization in a case involving attacks on U.S. citizens in Israel. Justice Sonia Sotomayor denied a request to temporarily stay the ruling while the Palestinian side appeals it in lower courts.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of U.S. citizens who were killed or injured during shootings and bombings in the Jerusalem area between 2002 and 2004. The plaintiffs argued that Palestinian authorities were responsible for these attacks.
In 2015, a federal court in New York agreed with their claims and awarded damages. However, the following year, an appeals court overturned the verdict, ruling that the U.S. judge lacked the necessary jurisdiction to hear the case. In 2018, the Supreme Court declined to review the decision.
Following this, the U.S. Congress passed a law that made it easier to file such lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority. The law stipulates that the Palestinian Authority and the PLO effectively recognize the jurisdiction of U.S. courts if they conduct certain activities in the United States or make payments to individuals involved in attacks against Americans.
Initially, the Court of Appeals ruled that this mechanism violated the constitutional rights of Palestinian organizations. However, in June 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law, after which the order to pay compensation was reinstated in March 2026.
The Palestinian side insisted that the seizure of funds would cause it severe financial losses and could disrupt the functioning of government services in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian side, the plaintiffs may attempt to obtain the money from Palestinian tax revenues collected by Israel. These funds are one of the main sources of financing for the local administration.
“Security services, health services, and schools in the West Bank are hanging by a thread,” representatives of Palestinian organizations noted in their submission to the court.
They also argued that the previous monetary ruling had definitively lost its legal force after the appeals were concluded in 2018.
Sotomayor did not explain the reasons for her denial and did not refer the urgent petition to the full Supreme Court for consideration. Meanwhile, the review of the Palestinians’ main appeal is not yet complete, Reuters reports.
As a reminder, in Scotland, a transgender migrant lawmaker called for reparations for Palestine.
Earlier, despite tense relations between Kyiv and Tbilisi, Georgia unexpectedly joined an international agreement to establish a mechanism for distributing reparations. The document provides for the allocation of funds obtained from Russian assets to compensate Ukrainian citizens and businesses that have suffered as a result of Russian aggression.
Hungary, although it publicly opposes punishing Russia for its aggression, was unable to block the creation of a commission to discuss reparations at the EU level.
