Facebook Sued for $1b for Alleged Use of Medium for Terror
Facebook Sued for $1b for Alleged Use of Medium for
Terror
By Gwen Ackerman
July 11, 2016 — 5:43 AM PDT Updated on July 11, 2016 —
6:18 AM PDT
Lawyers filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Facebook Inc.,
alleging it allowed the Palestinian militant Hamas group to use it as a medium
to carry out attacks that killed four Americans and wounded one in Israel, the
West Bank and Jerusalem.
“Facebook has knowingly provided material support and
resources to Hamas in the form of Facebook’s online social network platform and
communication services,” making it liable for the violence against the five
Americans, according to the lawsuit sent to Bloomberg by the office of the
Israeli lawyer on the case, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner.
“Simply put, Hamas uses Facebook as a tool for engaging
in terrorism,” it said.
Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S.,
European Union and Israel. The suit said the group used Facebook to share
operational and tactical information with members and followers, posting
notices of upcoming demonstrations, road closures, Israeli military actions and
instructions to operatives to carry out the attacks.
In an e-mailed statement, Facebook said it doesn’t
comment on legal proceedings to the press. Mushir al-Masri, a senior Hamas
leader, said by phone that “suing Facebook clearly shows the American policy of
fighting freedom of the press and expression” and is evidence of U.S. prejudice
against the group and “its just cause.”
The suit was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York on July 10. Plaintiffs include the families of
Yaakov Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old abducted and murdered in June 2014 after
hitching a ride in the West Bank, and 3-year-old Chaya Braun, whose stroller
was struck intentionally by a Palestinian driver in October 2014 at a train
station in Jerusalem.
In February 2015, a jury at the same court concluded that
the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization aided in six
attacks on Americans in Israel more than a decade ago, and ordered them to pay
$218.5 million to the victims and their families. The damages were tripled
under a U.S. anti-terrorism law.
The Palestinian bodies claimed they weren’t responsible
for the unapproved acts of low-level employees who participated in the attacks.
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