A U.S. Federal District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y. has an opportunity to lever a severe blow on world terrorism. The jury’s decision will come at some point this week and as people who are interested in the protection of democratic values, this is a key moment for our own security.

The Arab Bank, the country of Jordan’s largest bank, is on trial in New York in a civil lawsuit in which they are accused of knowingly permitting money to be transferred to Hamas terrorists during the Second Intifada. The Second Intifada was a series of terrorist attacks in Israel, many carried out by Hamas operatives, which included numerous bombings of buses, tourist attractions, and other public landmarks. This series of terrorist attacks led to the security fence currently on the border of Israel and Palestinian Authority-controlled territories, as well as the security checkpoints that Palestinians may undergo when traveling out of the West Bank. The plaintiffs who brought about the lawsuit are the victims or family members of victims of these very attacks.

A simple fact you should know, terrorism costs money. The kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in June called for over $50,000 in terrorist funding. The 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers cost Al Qaeda approximately $400,000. How does this money travel from terrorist cells spread across the world? Through money wiring, the same way parents send money to their kids in college or traveling abroad. And the amount of money that the Arab Bank is accused of allowing to sneak past its eyes? $73,000,000.

The questions at hand are whether the Arab Bank knowingly transferred money to terrorist organizations and if it is even their responsibility to identify terrorists. Every bank is required to crosscheck the names of clients involved in the wiring with international terrorist blacklists. The Arab Bank admitted that one blacklisted Hamas official did manage to hold an account with their bank, and that a few others “slipped through the cracks”. One of the names on the list of money transfers? The Saudi Committee for Support of the Intifada al Quds. Are you kidding me? One lawyer described the Arab Bank as holding so many accounts on behalf of terrorists that it was “like being in a Hamas 7-Eleven on the corner.”

The Arab Bank’s lawyer Shand S. Stephens has been making a point of asking why the U.S. courts seem to only be going after them. Their lawyer stated “You wouldn’t want to have Google, or Facebook, or Walmart, or Target, or Bank of America, or TD Bank, or Arab Bank, deciding who’s a terrorist.” Well Mr. Stephens, in fact, I would like to see those companies taking more responsibility for monitoring whom they conduct business with. Have we forgotten about business ethics? In addition, the Arab Bank is only the first of a number of pending cases accusing banks of also knowingly allowing money to be transferred to terrorist organizations all over the world. This court case will decide how other banks, that also conduct business in New York, are tried in future cases.

The U.S. Federal District Court has a conspicuous opportunity to cut terrorism’s source of sustainment before it reaches the belly. This is a chance to build a boulder-sized obstacle in the way of terrorist organizations aiming to harm our society. Let us hope that the jury makes a decision in favor of our international security.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/nyregion/in-closing-arguments-debating-arab-banks-responsibility-to-identify-terrorists.html http://blogs.reuters.com/alison-frankel/2014/09/19/why-the-arab-bank-terror-finance-trial-matters/