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Handling Hamas Money Just Got a Lot Riskier for Middle East Banks
(Al Jazeera) Michael Pizzi - After a landmark ruling against Jordan-based Arab Bank, found liable for knowingly processing transactions of Hamas members and thereby supporting its attacks on civilians, the world's financial institutions have been put on notice: Turn a blind eye to clients designated by the U.S. as "foreign terrorist organizations" and face the consequences. Among other Hamas-related transactions that totaled about $100 million, Arab Bank processed a series of $5,300 payments to the families of suicide bombers from a Saudi-registered charity, the Saudi Committee. The Arab Bank case, tried in a federal court in Brooklyn, marked the first time a bank has been held liable in a civil suit under the 1990 Anti-Terrorism Act. "What's been liberalized here is that you don't have to show the bank knew the material support was going towards terrorism. It's enough to know the funds went to a terror organization," said John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University.