A federal jury in the US has held Arab Bank liable for supporting the Hamas terrorist group in Palestine by enabling their financial transactions in 2004.
In a first-of-its-kind case, the jury has said that the bank should compensate the victims of terror unleashed by the Hamas in Israel.
The amount of compensation will be decided in a separate trial.
The Jordan-based bank was sued by nearly 300 victims and relatives of victims in 2004, for operating the accounts of Hamas militants and transferring millions to fund the organization’s offensive against Israel.
The plaintiffs have also alleged that the funds transferred to Saudi Committee charity were actually meant to fund the terror outfit.
Plaintiffs’ lawyer Gary Osen said: "This is an enormous milestone.
"For the first time a financial institution is liable for supporting terrorism. The question now is to see how other financial institutions, regulators will deal with their banks and this decision."
The Arab Bank argued that Saudi Committee was a legitimate charity and was not listed in the US list of terrorist organizations. It said that it checked the names of organizations and persons blacklisted by the US and closed the accounts accordingly.
The bank will appeal against the jury verdict.
"Arab Bank believes it will ultimately prevail in this case.
"The trial was infected by scores of errors, and the Bank has very strong grounds for appeal. It will seek prompt review by the Second Circuit.
"The Court gagged the Bank by excluding many of its witnesses, severely restricting the ability of other witnesses to testify, and precluding all evidence of its innocent state of mind.
"These errors were compounded by rulings including permitting plaintiffs to introduce hearsay evidence of dubious reliability, and jury instructions that dispensed with the Supreme Court requirement that plaintiffs prove that the Bank’s services were a direct cause of their injuries," the bank said in a statement.