The Palestinian Authority must compensate the victims of the 2001 Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem District Court ruled Tuesday.
The ruling was based on a Supreme Court decision in 2022 that said the PA is a party to terrorists’ crimes because it financially supports both security prisoners and their families, the N12 news site reported.
The compensation to the victims could total millions of shekels, the report said. The victims and their families had filed two lawsuits since the terrorist attack.
Paving way for other compensations
The ruling might pave the way for other victims of terrorist attacks, including the October 7 massacre, to request compensation of up to NIS 10 million for each person who was murdered, N12 reported.
A suicide bomber killed 15 civilians, including four children, and wounded 130 others at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem on August 9, 2001.
Palestinian terrorist Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi led the suicide bomber to the Sbarro restaurant during lunchtime, when the restaurant was at peak capacity. She was arrested and imprisoned for her role in the bombing and was sentenced to 16 life sentences.
Tamimi was released in 2011 during the prisoner exchange to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit.