Weiner Enters Fray Over PA Frozen Assets

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn), a candidate for mayor of New York City, has entered the battle over Palestinian Authority assets frozen as the result of a lawsuit by the family of terror victims. Last week Weiner filed a “friend of the court” brief with US District Court in White Plains on behalf of the family of Yaron Ungar, an American citizen killed along with his wife Efrat by Hamas terrorists in 1996.

Weiner’s brief supports a request by the Unger family for seizure and sale of the PLO’s UN mission in Manhattan, and for the funds from the sale to be used to pay part of a $116 million judgment against the PA and the PLO in the case. The Palestinian groups are refusing to pay; an appellate judge has found them both in default. The New York case is just one front in a broader legal battle over the frozen assets.

According to the Boston Globe, Rhode Island lawyer David Strachman, appointed by an Israeli court to represent the family, filed suit in a Rhode Island court against Hamas, the PA and the PLO in 2000. Last year, the court awarded the family $116 million. In April, Strachman sought and won a court order freezing all PA assets in this country. The lawyer then distributed the court order to financial institutions around the country, seeking hidden PA assets.

But since that time, Palestinian lawyers have been working in several jurisdictions to free up the assets, which they claim are needed to help revitalize Palestinian areas and keep the U.S. diplomatic mission in Washington in operation. In New York, PA lawyers are trying to win the release in $30 million from the Bank of New York. The assets include part of a $1.3 billion investment fund created to boost economic development and funds to pay Palestinian representatives in Washington and the PLO mission in New York, as well as $30 million in assets from the Palestinian Monetary Authority.