Suicide boming victims' families sue Arab bank alleged to finance them

[Ian David]

A Proper Suit for a Son

Parents of slain Americans in Israel seek fiscal retribution

By : Jordana M. Jacobs Staff Writer

1/27/2005

Benjamin Blutstein had one more final to take at Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus in Jerusalem before flying back to stay with his parents in Harrisburg, Pa., for summer break 2002. But his plane ticket was never used; the 25-year-old never made it home.

Blutstein died in a terror attack on July 31 of that year, when a bomb planted by Arabs inside the university’s cafeteria exploded, killing eight others and injuring as many as 85.

The young man’s parents, Richard Blutstein and Katherine Baker, and the families of other American victims killed or injured in terror attacks in Israel over the past four years filed a complaint last week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., against Arab Bank. It alleges that the Jordan-based financial institution, with branches throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, has been setting up accounts to channel funds to families of Palestinian terrorists, or those injured or captured as a result of such activity.

The families are holding the Arab Bank indirectly accountable for some 20 different terrorist acts in Israel.

According to the complaint, an organization run by the Saudi government called the Saudi Committee for Supporting Al Quds Intifada used the bank to channel millions of dollars — donated from such sources as employees of the bank, who were urged to pledge 5 percent of one month’s salary; the bank itself, which chipped in $2 million; and its chairman, Abdul Majeed Shoman, who gave $500,000 — to fund terrorist organizations.

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