The case against Arab Bank

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In a bid to both bankrupt those who finance terror and bring some sense of justice to its victims, the legal team that is suing the Saudis for $1 trillion has launched yet another massive lawsuit against prime supporters of radical Islamic jihad.

Filing in the Eastern District of New York last week on behalf of 700 survivors and family members of those killed by terrorism in Israel, legendary trial lawyer Ron Motley is seeking unspecified billions to continue his quest to change the face of counterterrorism.

Mr. Motley, who made a mint taking on the likes of tobacco companies and asbestos manufacturers, is now leading the charge against Arab Bank, which operates in every Arab country that allows private banking. Among its 400 branches and offices in 30 countries -- and the reason the plaintiffs have a real shot at recovery -- is a federally chartered branch in New York City.

While the case against the Saudis is considered a long shot by many legal experts (though plaintiff insiders feel the action is going quite well) the Arab Bank lawsuit seems solid.

Or maybe a better word is damning.

Though there has yet been no "discovery" (the process where the defendant is supposed to provide any number of documents and the juiciest stuff is often revealed), Mr. Motley's team already appears to have a wealth of incriminating evidence against Arab Bank.

According to the initial complaint, Arab Bank has funneled billions of dollars to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and other terrorist organizations.

The bank's chairman and part owner is an outspoken advocate of Islamic jihad.

Arab Bank Chairman Abd al-Majid Shuman, whose family is believed to hold 40 percent of the institution's stock, has been quite public in his support for the Palestinian intifada, the four-year campaign of terror aimed primarily at innocent Israeli citizens. Arab-language newspaper articles excerpted in the complaint indicate that Mr. Shuman is a well-known advocate of the intifada.

Mr. Shuman allegedly told the Jordanian newspaper al-Dustour four years ago that Jews have no right to live in Palestine. In July 2000 -- during the infamous Camp David talks, where Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat walked away from the table -- Mr. Shuman said he was "against a Palestinian compromise [based on] a partial return [which included] the loss of some land, and that the Jews had no right to the land of Palestine," the paper reported.