A 9–0 Supreme Court ruling restored a $655.5 million judgment for Shurat HaDin. This shows Israel's economy is defended in courtrooms in Washington and The Hague.
A unanimous 9-0 US Supreme Court ruling in 2025 cleared the way for a federal appeals court to restore a $655.5 million terrorism judgment against the Palestinian Authority and PLO, closing a legal fight that began with a 2015 jury verdict and was reinstated by the Second Circuit in March 2026. The case, brought by Shurat HaDin–Israel Law Center on behalf of American terror victims, is the clearest recent example of a broader pattern: Israel and its advocates increasingly defending core interests in courtrooms in Washington and The Hague rather than only through diplomacy or military means.
What Was the $655.5 Million Judgment For?
The judgment traces to Sokolow v. Palestine Liberation Organization, a case brought in Manhattan federal court by American victims of Second Intifada-era attacks in Jerusalem that killed 33 people and wounded hundreds more between 2002 and 2004. In February 2015, a New York jury found the PA and PLO liable and awarded $218.5 million in damages, a figure automatically tripled to $655.5 million under the US Anti-Terrorism Act.
The victory did not hold immediately. In 2016, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the judgment, ruling that US courts lacked personal jurisdiction over the PA and PLO under the legal standards then in force. The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in 2018, leaving the plaintiffs without a remedy.
How Did Congress and the Supreme Court Restore the Case?
In 2019, Congress passed the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act (PSJVTA), which established new statutory grounds for US jurisdiction over the PA and PLO in terrorism cases tied to specific conduct, including payments to attackers or their families and activity connected to the United States. The PA and PLO challenged the law as unconstitutional.
In 2025, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously (9-0) in Fuld v. PLO that the PSJVTA's jurisdictional provisions were constitutional, rejecting the Palestinian organizations' challenge. Building on that ruling, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the original $655.5 million Sokolow judgment on March 30, 2026. In August 2026, Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined a PA and PLO request to pause enforcement of the judgment while further appeals proceed, allowing the case to move toward collection.
Can the Judgment Actually Be Collected?
US courts cannot directly compel the Palestinian Authority to pay a civil judgment. Shurat HaDin has said it intends to pursue Israeli-collected tax revenues that flow to the PA under the Oslo Accords framework, including customs duties Israel gathers on the PA's behalf, as a practical enforcement route. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Shurat HaDin's founder, has described the case as a "historic turning point," arguing that beyond the specific plaintiffs, the ruling changes what US courts can hear in future terrorism-financing cases against the PA and PLO.
What Is Happening to Israel's Case at The Hague?
While the Sokolow case has moved toward a clear result in US courts, Israel's largest ongoing legal exposure sits at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where South Africa filed a genocide case against Israel in December 2023 over its conduct in Gaza. The ICJ issued provisional measures in January 2024 without ruling on the underlying genocide allegation, finding only that Palestinians' rights under the Genocide Convention were "plausibly" at risk. The case remains in its written-submissions phase: Israel's counter-memorial deadline was extended to January 2026, and the United States has formally intervened to argue the case is "wholly unfounded in fact and law." No final ICJ ruling on the merits has been issued, and the proceedings are expected to continue for years.
Why This Pattern Matters
Taken together, the Sokolow/Fuld outcome and the active ICJ defense illustrate a structural shift: litigation, not just diplomacy, has become a primary venue where Israel's government, allied litigants, and organizations like Shurat HaDin contest both terrorism financing and Israel's legal standing internationally. Wins are uneven and slow. A win restored after a decade of appeals in Washington runs alongside an unresolved, multi-year genocide case in The Hague. Both are examples of what commentators call "lawfare," a courtroom-centered front that increasingly runs parallel to Israel's more visible security and diplomatic contests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the $655.5 million judgment against the Palestinian Authority?
American victims of Second Intifada-era terror attacks, represented in part by Shurat HaDin–Israel Law Center, won the original 2015 jury verdict in Sokolow v. PLO, which was reinstated in March 2026 after a 2025 Supreme Court ruling upheld the jurisdictional law Congress passed to restore the case.
What was the Supreme Court's 9-0 ruling about?
In Fuld v. PLO (2025), the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, the 2019 law that gave US courts jurisdiction to hear certain terrorism claims against the Palestinian Authority and PLO.
Has Israel won its case at the International Court of Justice?
No. The ICJ genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel remains in its written-submissions phase, with no ruling on the merits. The court's 2024 provisional measures did not decide whether genocide occurred.
Can the $655.5 million judgment actually be collected?
US courts cannot directly enforce payment from the PA. Shurat HaDin has said it will pursue collection through PA tax revenues that Israel collects and holds under existing bilateral arrangements.
The Olam Editorial Team
