Congress must cut off the terror financing pipeline

Given the violence directed at Jews and supporters of Israel around the U.S., the thousands who will march on the Mall today are showing incredible courage. It’s an extension of the courage that my family and countless others have had to demonstrate in the face of terrorism and an example of the kind of courage we need from Congress now.

For many, the Hamas assault on Oct. 7 was a shock, but for my family, it was a bitterly familiar story. In 2015, my daughter Na’ama and my son-in-law Eitam were murdered in front of their four children while fighting off a kidnapping attempt by Hamas terrorists. Eitam was an American with deep ties to the U.S., but he died protecting his family on the side of a road in Israel. Like so many of the families of Hamas’s latest victims, I was both overwhelmed by grief and deeply inspired by the courage my children showed in their final minutes.

To honor their sacrifice, I have worked with a diverse coalition of Americans — injured U.S. veterans, Gold Star Families, and other Hamas/al Qaeda/ISIS victims — who share a common understanding that one of the best ways to prevent future terrorist attacks is to target the source of their funds.  

Over the past decade, we worked with Congress to develop a legal framework to target state sponsors of terrorism and the bad actors in the international banking system that secretly facilitate the funding terrorists depend on for weapons, training and recruitment. Anchoring that framework is the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which Congress passed almost a year to the day after my daughter’s murder. Congress passed JASTA to ensure that American terror victims could hold accountable the banks, businesses and foreign countries “that have provided material support, directly or indirectly” to terrorists.

But foreign violating banks have repeatedly convinced U.S. courts to develop unreasonably narrow interpretations of the law. These interpretations are counter to congressional intent and instead allow funds to continue to flow to terrorists with banks reaping huge profits by providing “OFAC free transfers” that intentionally circumvent U.S. anti-terrorism sanctions. 

For example, several European banks were accused of laundering over $900 billion for the Central Bank of Iran during the time that Iran was funding the terrorist groups attacking U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. These banks competed to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from transfers disguised to prevent U.S. authorities from identifying and freezing the funds. 

Nevertheless, in a case brought by over 1,000 Gold Star families and Wounded Warriors against such foreign violating banks, the courts have accepted the banks’ misguided interpretation of the law that JASTA requires a defendant to directly conspire with the terrorist committing the act. However, Congress made clear when passing JASTA that the statute intends to “provide liability for actions that indirectly assist in the commission of acts of terrorism.” Another court created a safe harbor for foreign banks by ruling that a bank that conducts any legitimate business in addition to illegally funding terrorism, cannot be held liable for terrorist attacks on Americans. These court rulings prevent Gold Star families and Wounded Warriors from their rightful day in court to prove their case.

For the past two years, the courts have eroded the intent of JASTA. In the ruling against the Gold Star Families, one court even directed Congress to clarify the law: “Unsatisfying as the Court’s decision today may be from a moral or policy perspective, it is up to Congress, and not the judiciary, to authorize terrorism victims to recover damages for their injuries from financial institutions that conspire with state sponsors of terrorism like Iran to evade U.S. sanctions…In its present form, however, the law does not provide for such recovery.”

But Congress has failed to act, and money and material support have continued to flow to terrorists. A bill sponsored by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) would correct some JASTA loopholes to help 9/11 victims in their case against Saudi Arabia but does nothing to help the Gold Star Families and Wounded Warrior terror victims to close the loopholes exploited by Hamas, other Iranian sponsored terrorists, and their financiers.

The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. The horrific pictures, videos, and stories coming out of Israel depict the result of the courts’ failure to enforce JASTA and instead protect the foreign banks that do business with terrorists who murder mothers and their babies, take children and spouses hostage, and target schools with rockets. 

We do not need more political platitudes. What we need is action.  Reps. Nadler, Drew, and their colleagues in Congress need to revise the bill immediately to close all the loopholes in JASTA and end the inertia preventing Congress from acting. 

It is time for Congress to show the same moral courage as my children, who fought the terrorists until the end to save the lives of my grandchildren. Congress cannot wait. It must fully fix JASTA now.

Hanan Armoni’s daughter and American son-in-law were killed by members of Hamas in a failed 2015 kidnapping attempt.