First of all, this was a very interesting case and in my mind, the victims of the 2006 rocket attacks inside of Israel definitely had a case against the Arab news media Al Jezeera. In a nutshell, the scum at Al Jezeera were charged with aiding Hezbollah in their rocket attacks deep inside of Israel - what Al Jezeera was doing was broadcasting up to the minute accounts of the location of the rocket strikes inside of Israel - this enabled Hezbollah to make adjustments to their rocket accuracy.
This case was brought to trial in Manhattan due to the fact that some of the victims in the lawsuit are Americans. Well, unfortunately, the judge in the case in Manahattan sided with Al Jezeera on this one, according to the report at Reuters.
The judge said:
In her opinion dismissing the suit, Manhattan federal court Judge Kimba Wood said the victims had failed to show Al Jazeera had the specific intention of aiding Hezbollah.
"Plaintiffs have offered no facts suggesting that defendant even knew that it was providing anything to Hezbollah," Wood said, adding the victims "have offered no facts suggesting that Hezbollah viewed defendant's broadcasts."
The plaintiffs in the case -- American, Israeli and Canadian citizens who were injured or saw family members killed in the attacks -- argued in court papers that Al Jazeera intentionally helped Hezbollah by broadcasting in real-time the precise locations and results of their rocket campaign.
One of the plaintiffs said in the original complaint that she had a miscarriage as a result of a rocket explosion near her home. Another said he "saw his wife torn to pieces."
Okay, I'm no lawyer or jurist but let's get real here. When Al Jezeera is on the scene of rocket attacks, putting their reporters' lives in jeopardy and they are racing to every rocket explosion and then immediately broadcasting the location of the strike...well, it doesn't take a genius to uncover the plan there. And then this judge decides there's no proof that Hezbollah was even watching - again, give me a break. You have Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel and Al Jezeera showing the effects and results of those rocket launches....do you THINK Hezbollah might have some of their folks watching that???!
Perhaps this judge would have preferred if the victims here had kidnapped a Hezbollah assassin and brought him to court to testify he was watching Al Jezeera on his Sony Trinitron that night.
What the victims who brought this suit to trial failed to understand was that having a trial with a liberal female judge in the city of Manhattan and in the state of New York isn't much better than trying the case in downtown Beirut.
Israel rocket victims fail in bid to sue Al Jazeera
(Reuters) - Victims of 2006 rocket strikes on Israel cannot sue Al Jazeera on grounds the broadcaster intentionally helped Hezbollah attack civilians by reporting the sites of explosions, a U.S. judge ruled this week.
The Israeli plaintiffs, who were asking for $1.2 billion in damages from Al Jazeera, said the Qatar-based news network helped Hezbollah militants target their rockets more accurately during the 34-day war with Israel.
Their lawsuit, filed a year ago, argued that a Manhattan court had jurisdiction over the case because U.S. citizens had been harmed.
In her opinion dismissing the suit, Manhattan federal court Judge Kimba Wood said the victims had failed to show Al Jazeera had the specific intention of aiding Hezbollah.
"Plaintiffs have offered no facts suggesting that defendant even knew that it was providing anything to Hezbollah," Wood said, adding the victims "have offered no facts suggesting that Hezbollah viewed defendant's broadcasts."
The plaintiffs in the case -- American, Israeli and Canadian citizens who were injured or saw family members killed in the attacks -- argued in court papers that Al Jazeera intentionally helped Hezbollah by broadcasting in real-time the precise locations and results of their rocket campaign.
One of the plaintiffs said in the original complaint that she had a miscarriage as a result of a rocket explosion near her home. Another said he "saw his wife torn to pieces."
Their lawyer, Robert Joseph Tolchin, could not be immediately reached for comment. A lawyer for Al Jazeera declined to comment.
The plaintiffs also sought in court papers to establish that Al Jazeera was liable for "aiding and abetting terrorism" under the Alien Torts Claims Act. The judge, however, citing an appeals court decision, found "corporations cannot be held liable for violations of customary international law."
The plaintiffs had sought $1.2 billion from Al Jazeera as well as punitive damages to be determined in court.
The war between Israel and Hezbollah lasted from July 6 to August 14, 2006. The fighting was halted by a United Nations Security Council resolution after hundreds of people had died.
The case is Kaplan et al v Al Jazeera, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No 10-05298.
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