The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Crowell & Moring LLP have filed a federal lawsuit claiming that Iran, Syria, and North Korea provided material support to Hamas, enabling it to commit atrocities in Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack resulted in the deaths, injuries, and terrorization of numerous U.S. citizens and their families. ADL is seeking financial compensation under applicable federal and local laws.
According to the press release, the lawsuit names more than 125 plaintiffs, including U.S. citizens who were injured or killed as a result of the October 7 attack and immediate family members of those injured or killed.
"Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of antisemitism and terror—along with Syria and North Korea, they must be held responsible for their roles in the largest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust," Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO, stated in the press release. "In a world in which Jewish pain and suffering is far too often erased, we hope this ground-breaking case will bring justice to some victims and create a record of Hamas’ heinous brutality perpetrated with the support of these state sponsors of terrorism."
According to the press release, the case seeks to hold the state sponsors of the attack liable under the Terrorism Exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. ADL said that foreign countries that sponsor terrorist activities usually do not honor judgments against them. Victims can then turn to the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, which Congress created in 2015 to allow American victims of terrorism to obtain compensation for suffering. More than 18,000 American victims of state-sponsored terrorism have been deemed eligible by the Fund, ADL noted.