The Link www.ameu.org Page 1 Published by Americans for The Link Middle East Understanding, Inc. Volume 50, Issue 2 Link Archives: www.ameu.org April-May 2017 Case 1:15-cv-02186-RDM Document 9 Al-Tamimi et al v. Adelson et al by Fred Jerome The Link www.ameu.org Page 2 About This Issue AMEU Board of Directors he Link has used charges? And what has various venues to become of the lawsuit Jane Adas, President tell the story of the during the past year? Elizabeth D. Barlow TPalestinian catastrophe. Our feature author, Henry Clifford In “Captive Audiences” Fred Jerome, addresses Edward Dillon by Thomas Suarez it those questions. Fred Rod Driver was a musical recital; in is a veteran journalist John Goelet “The Grief Counselor of Richard Hobson, Treasurer whose articles and op- Gaza” by Dr. Eyad Sarraj Anne R. Joyce, Vice President ed pieces have appeared it was psychiatric care; Brian Mulligan in Newsweek and The in “Mirror, Mirror” by Daniel Norton New York Times. He Maysoon Zayid it was Hon. Edward L. Peck also authored our July- standup comedy. Fred Jerome Donald L. Snook August, 2015 Link Thomas Suarez In our current issue it is a Washington, “Kill Bernadotte.” Fred has taught James M. Wall D.C. courtroom. journalism at Columbia University’s School of Journalism and New York In March of last year, a group President-Emeritus University. His most recent book is of Palestinians sued a group of Robert L. Norberg “Einstein on Israel and Zionism,” may billionaires. Who are these plaintiffs be purchased on our website at www. and these defendants? What are the AMEU ameu.org. National Council William R. Chandler Kathleen Christison In Memoriam Paul Findley Andrew Killgore spent most of his 97 years involved with the Middle East. Ann Kerr He represented our country in Beirut, Jerusalem, Amman, Baghdad, and Nancy Lapp Tehran. And from 1977-1980, he served as U.S. ambassador to Qatar. Mary Norton Following his retirement from the government, Andy co-founded the Donald E. Wagner American Educational Trust, which publishes The Washington Report Executive Director on Middle East Affairs, whose purpose — then and now — is to provide balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with the John F. Mahoney Middle East. While saddened by Ambassador Killgore’s death, we celebrate his extraordinary life. George E. Mendenhall was an American Biblical scholar who taught at AMEU (ISSN 0024-4007) the University of Michigan’s Department of Near Eastern Studies. He held grants permission to reproduce a Ph.D. in Semitic languages from John Hopkins University and had a material from The Link in part or in whole. AMEU must be distinguished career in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical studies. credited and one copy forwarded We are also honored to note that, for the past 20 years, Dr. Mendenhall has to our office at 475 Riverside served as a member of A.M.E.U.’s National Council. Drive, Room 245, New York, NY 10115. Tel: 212-870-2053; email: [email protected] John F. Mahoney Executive Director The Link www.ameu.org Page 3 Al-Tamimi et al v. Adelson et al by Fred Jerome n March 7, 2016, Washington D.C., litigator goals of which were the expulsion of all non-Jews Martin F.McMahon filed a lawsuit in Federal from OPT and the creation of new segregated District Court in Washington, D.C. seeking “Jewish-only” cities and villages. These defendants O$34.5 billion in damages from eight U.S. billionaires. have: The plaintiffs were 37 Palestinians (increased to (a) financed, encouraged, and deliberately 62, as of this writing) who accuse the billionaires of collaborated with settlement officials (including civil conspiracy, war crimes against humanity, and security coordinators) in the commission of genocide; aiding and abetting the commission of war wholesale violence, knowing that would result crimes; and aggravated and ongoing trespass. in massive ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population; and The lead plaintiff, Bassem al-Tamimi, is a human rights activist; the lead defendant, Sheldon Adelson, a (b) after forcibly expelling at least 400,000 Las Vegas casino magnate, a close ally of Israeli Prime Palestinians from the OPT, built for “Jewish-only” Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a major supporter settlers some 56,000 new homes and apartments, of President Donald Trump. 187 shopping centers, and an extensive highway complex linking up all settlements in the OPT. The suit also targets former U.S. diplomat Elliott Abrams, plus 13 non-profit, charitable organizations In the process, they and their Israel-based co- with headquarters in the U.S. --- some consisting of a conspirators have deprived the plaintiffs and their small office or just a P.O. Box. relatives of fundamental human rights guaranteed under U.N. charter principles, U.S. and Israeli Also listed among the defendants are two banks (Bank law, Israel’s declaration of state establishment Leumi and Bank Hapoalim), and several companies/ (“declaration”), and customary international law. corporations, such as the world’s largest security protection firm G4S, as well as RE/MAX, Hewett- The Attorneys Packard, Motorola, Veolia, and Volvo. Lead attorney for the Palestinian plaintiffs is Martin The Lawsuit McMahon who, in 1987, founded the Martin F. McMahon & Associates law firm in Washington, DC. A pdf version of the 200-page complaint can be Prior to that, McMahon, a graduate of Fordham Law found on AMEU’s website: www.ameu.org. Here are School, had been a senior litigator with the Securities excerpts from pages 12-13: Investor Protection Corp, a litigation associate with ...due to massive funding provided by U.S. tax- Proskauer Rose, and a clerk at Cravath Swaine & exempt entities and their donors to a number Moore on Wall Street. His significant experience in of settlements in the OPT (Occupied Palestinian both civil and criminal litigation is the foundation Territory), defendants herein have been able to upon which he developed the Transnational carry out a very successful civil conspiracy, the Business Attorneys Group, the international practice The Link www.ameu.org Page 4 component of his firm. is a complete reversal going on in America against tolerating these actions from the Israeli government, When, on March 3, 2015, Israel’s Prime Minister and our lawsuit apparently is a vehicle for those who Benjamin Netanyahu walked into the U.S. Congress are completely frustrated by that process.” and insulted the office of the American president, McMahon decided to represent Palestinians in order Also listed as counsel for the plaintiffs is Sameer to secure justice under the Alien Tort Statute. In an Jarrah, esq., founder of the Arab World Center for email to me Democracy, Development, and Human Rights, and dated Feb. the Todd G. Patkin Fellow in Arab Democracy and 9, 2017, he Development at the Saban Center for Middle East underscored Policy at the Brookings Institute. the fact that “400,000 The Lead Plaintiff: Palestinians have been Bassem al-Tamimi forced out of I will let Bassem speak for himself. In an email to me the West Bank he wrote: and 57,000 Palestinian My name is Bassem Tamimi. I was born in homes 1967 in a small village named Nabi Saleh, 20 km have been northwest of Ramallah. demolished or In the village, there are 600 people who are part confiscated.” of one family -- Tamimi. We came to Nabi Saleh Martin F. McMahon In that same from Hebron 400 years ago, and settled in two email, Martin villages Deir Nedam and Nabi Saleh. Most of my noted his latest lawsuit, filed on Feb. 1, 2017 in U.S. family left for Jordan and other countries after the District Court for the District of Columbia. This is 1967 war. We have had 22 people from the village based on the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorist Act killed since the 1967 war. The last one was my that Congress passed last year to help the victims of brother-in-law Rushdi. Some were killed in the 9/11 sue the government of Saudi Arabia. According West Bank, some in Jordan and some in Lebanon, to McMahon, “Netanyahu has been instrumental but all were killed by Israeli Occupation forces. in frustrating U.S. foreign policy objectives and has Every year, as I grew up, we had a funeral for a participated in an annual $2 billion money laundering family member. scheme along with Trump’s in-laws (the Kushner In 1976, the settlers came and started building family) and the new U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mr. settlements in our land, and my family started Friedman.” A copy of this lawsuit can be found in resistance and struggle to protect their land Courthouse News “To Fight Netanyahu Taxpayers against this colonization. This was my first time Invoke New Law for 9/11 Families,” Feb. 1, 2017. being tear-gassed. As for the al-Tamimi lawsuit, McMahon told I finished my school in 1985, and tried to Al Jazeera on March 7, 2016: “Forty percent of study in the university. But I needed to have a Jewish Americans condemn settlements so there job because my father was sick and couldn’t The Link www.ameu.org Page 5 I was tied with my hands tied behind the small chair’s back, and every few minutes a policeman would come to make sure that I was not sleeping. On the second morning the intelligence officer came and started the interrogation. A detective began torturing me, shaking me. He grabbed me by my chest and shook my body violently making my head move forward and backward and, tightly grabbing my chin, he would pull and shake my head in all directions.