By denying certiorari last week in Linde v. Arab Bank, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for a terrorism finance case to begin trial on Aug. 11. About 300 U.S. citizens who were injured or lost a relative in the second Palestinian intifada allege that Arab Bank funneled “martyr payments” to families of suicide bombers, and they’re seeking to hold Jordan’s leading bank liable under the U.S. Antiterrorism Act. Is it possible the trial will really happen?
Common sense would suggest that Arab Bank will settle before submitting to a tabloid media circus in Brooklyn federal court at a time when the high tensions of Middle Eastern politics are heightened by a new round of killings in the West Bank. However, the U.S. solicitor general’s intriguing brief in the Arab Bank cert proceedings raises hopes that the next global trial of the century will indeed take place.
