The plaintiffs, who were injured or
representing relatives killed in Hizbullah attacks during the 34-day war
with Israel, said Al Jazeera violated Israeli military censorship by
reporting Hizbullah rocket and missile landings.
"Al Jazeera, which has offices in New York,
aided and abetted Hizbullah terrorism and is responsible for the injuries
suffered by the victims of these attacks."
"Al Jazeera made itself a crucial component of the Hizbullah missile
offensive," Ms. Darshan-Leitner, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said.
"The intent was to assist the terrorists in targeting and killing
civilians."
This marked the second suit in 2010 filed by Israeli and North American victims of the
Hizbullah war. In February, 85 Americans, Israelis and Canadians,
some of them the same as in the latest action, filed a $1 billion suit
against the Central Bank of Iran as well as the London and Teheran branches
of Iran's Bank Saderat for financing the Hizbullah war in 2006.
The latest suit, Kaplan et al. v. Al Jazeera, was filed in federal
district court in New York City, and sought $1.2 billion in compensatory
damages plus punitive damages.
During the war, Israeli police repeatedly detained Al Jazeera camera
crews from broadcasting information on Hizbullah rocket landings. The
Israeli government has not joined the suit.
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