Arab Bank wins dismissal of New York suit

US District Judge Jack Weinstein in Brooklyn, New York on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought against Arab Bank by U.S.-Israeli citizen Mati Gill, who was serving as an aide to the then Israeli public security minister in 2008. The plaintiff could not prove Arab Bank was responsible for injuries he sustained in 2008 from gunshots fired from Gaza into Israel. The judge said “the evidence does not prove that the bank acted with an improper state of mind or proximately caused plaintiff’s injury”, according to a press release by the Arab Bank. Gill sued the Arab Bank in 2011, claiming it provided financial support to Hamas Movement, seeking monetary damages under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows victims of attacks by U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations to seek compensation. “This is the first Arab Bank case where the court has evaluated the entire record, and it dismissed the case concluding that the bank was not responsible for the plaintiff’s injuries,” the Arab Bank said in a statement. Chairman of the Board Sabih Masri reiterated that the bank is a pioneer regional and international financial institution that always complies with laws and monitoring requirements imposed by domestic and international authorities. The bank, he added, is committed to international regulations on fighting terrorism and money laundering. The case is one of a handful filed against the bank since 2004, Masri said, adding that the bank asked the court to threw them out, however the court did not issue its ruling yet. Masri affirmed that allegations against the bank filed by plaintiffs in the U.S. are all baseless.