Tel-Chai Nation

The Jerusalem Post reports that the NY branch of the Arab Bank has been fined 24 million bucks for their funding of terrorism under the PLO:

Gavriel Mairone, of law firm Mann & Mairone, who has filed a civil claim against the Arab Bank on behalf of more 2,000 terror victims, told The Jerusalem Post that the decision was a landmark and set a precedent in that it was the first time a bank has been penalized for funding Palestinian terror.

"No one pays such a high sum if it does not understand that it did something wrong," Mairone said. "The bank signed the consent orders which make it liable to pay the second largest penalty ever imposed on a bank in the United States."

The bank, he explained, transferred hundreds of accounts from its New York branch to those in the Gaza and the West Bank of terrorists and their families who have been responsible for 183 different attacks in Israel.

Mairone said that as a result of the civil suits, the US government has initiated three investigations into the Arab Bank, of which the FinCEN/OCC case was the first to reach a conclusion. The other two involve an FBI criminal investigation and an action brought by the Senate Banking Subcommittee.

Trouble is, there's no telling if the US will actually follow through on their investigations, and the case may be swept under the rug. That's why bloggers are needed to make sure to keep the public up to date on all this.

Semi-related: Daniel Pipes reports on Front Page Magazine about a Jordanian-born suicide bomber, Ra’ed Mansour al-Banna, who carried out one of the worst atrocities in Iraq since the dictatorship was brought down:

On Jan. 27, Banna crossed into Syria, presumably on the way to Iraq. He apparently spent February with Sunni jihadis in Iraq, during which time he called home several times, with the last call on about Feb. 28.

Feb. 28 also happens to be the date when Banna suited up as a suicide bomber and blew himself up at a health clinic in Al-Hilla, killing 132 people and injuring 120, the worst such attack of the 136 suicide bombings that have taken place since May 2003. On March 3, the family received a call informing them of Ra’ed’s fate. “Congratulations, your brother has fallen a martyr.”

A friend revealed that Banna became politically radicalized against American policies in the Muslim world while living in the United States. He was especially distraught about developments in Iraq. A neighbor, Nassib Jazzar, recalled Banna upset with the coalition occupation. “He felt that the Arabs didn’t have honor and freedom.’”

The father notes that Ra’ed wore Western-style clothing, rarely went to mosque, and was ignorant of the names of local sheikhs. “I am shocked by all of this because my son was a very quiet man, not very religious and more interested in pursuing his law profession and building a future for himself.”

The thing that's really horrifying about cases like these of course, is how these kind of people can turn out to be wolves in sheep's clothing. Pipes has made this point often, and it's something that would be very strongly advised for people to keep in mind whenever possible.

Labels: New York, terrorism, United States, war on terror