(RightWing.org) – Founded in 1913 by a Chicago-based Jewish attorney, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has a long history of combating anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry. For the most part, the group has fallen on the right side of history, taking on causes like opposing the recent spread of discrimination against Jews on college campuses. The group recently filed a lawsuit against several nations supporting Hamas.
On July 1, the ADL issued a press release announcing that it filed a “groundbreaking case… to pursue justice” on behalf of more than 125 victims of the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas. The notice advised that the organization also filed the lawsuit to “create a record of Hamas’ heinous brutality” and the “material support” the Sunni-Islamist group received from three “state sponsors of terrorism.”
The civil complaint named three defendants: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria), and the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran). The 117-page document began by detailing the land, sea, and air assault on Israeli communities by “thousands of Hamas-led terrorists.”
The lawsuit seeks several forms of remedy from the court. For instance, it asks for “no less than one billion dollars” in compensatory damages against the defendants and “no less than three billion” in punitive damages. They also asked for reasonable costs and expenses, attorney fees, and any other relief the court deemed “just and equitable.”
The Hill reported that the ADL readily admitted that lawsuits like theirs “are often ignored by the countries” named in the complaint. However, they noted that filing the action provides a pathway for the plaintiffs to seek compensation through the US Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (34 US Code § 20144).
The ADL explained in its press release that Congress established the fund in 2015 to provide American victims of terrorism a means to “obtain some meaningful relief for their suffering” at the hands of terrorist groups.
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