Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an Israeli lawyer and human rights activist who fights for the rights of terror victims, will be the keynote speaker at Chabad @ Flamingo’s Women of Valour gala dinner.
Darshan-Leitner, founder of Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, a civil rights organization that seeks to bankrupt terror groups by filing lawsuits against them, said the message she hopes to send at the June 9 event is that the private sector can have a role in the war against terrorism by stopping the flow of money to terror groups.
She said over the past 15 years, she’s represented hundreds of terror victims and filed lawsuits against terror organizations and the states that sponsor them.
“We model ourselves on the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a civil rights organization based in Alabama that goes after neo-Nazi groups, the Ku Klux Klan, and those types of organizations in the United States,” she said.
“We have judgments against Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PLO, the Palestinian Authority, Iran, North Korea, different banks for over $1 billion. We were able to collect more than $120 million that goes into the hands of terror victims and their families.”
She said she began filing lawsuits against terror groups at the start of the second intifadah in 2000, in an effort to bankrupt them.
“We wanted to hit them in their pocket and to basically stop terrorism by stopping the flow of money.”
She said it’s important to note that Israelis aren’t the only victims of terror, which became more apparent to the international community after the World Trade Center attacks in 2001.
She said after 9/11 the Americans made changes to the American justice system to reflect that.
“There are new laws that make it easier to file lawsuits in terror cases as opposed to regular negligence cases,” Darshan-Leitner said.
She said Canada seems to be following suit.
Two years ago, Canada passed the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act (JVTA), allowing Canadians to seek damages against Iran and Syria, designated state sponsors of terror. Last year, the Department of Foreign Affairs released a list of Iranian-owned properties in Ottawa, as well as 14 Iranian bank accounts in Canada holding $2.6 million in total.
Darshan-Leitner said she’s been involved in cases on behalf of Canadian victims of terror who are seeking damages from terror attacks sponsored by Iran.
“These cases take a long time… but even if you get default judgments you still have to go after the assets of the defendants… and this takes tremendous effort.”
Darshan-Leitner said she hopes her lecture will enlighten people about the fact millions of dollars are put into the hands of terrorists through “seemingly innocent charities and that they can have a role in blocking funding.”
She added that Canadians should also know “that no terror victims should be left without compensation and terror organizations have to pay. They have to learn that there is a price for terrorism and they have to pay.”
The Women of Valour event will honour three women: Eliana Di Biase, an educator with the Toronto Catholic District School Board, director of the Vaughanwood Ratepayers Association, and former director of Hospice Vaughan; Faygie Kaplan, co-director and rebbetzin of Chabad @ Flamingo.
For more information about the gala, visit www.chabadflamingo.com or call 905-763-4040.