Palestinian media outlets have reported the death of Naa'el Abid, who was convicted for his role in the 2002 Cafe Hillel bombing in Jerusalem. Abid, who resided in the Issawiya neighborhood of east Jerusalem, was released in the previous phase of the hostage deal agreement with Hamas. According to the reports, he sustained fatal injuries after falling from a significant height near his residence.

Abid had been serving seven life sentences plus 30 years for his involvement in one of the Second Intifada's deadliest attacks when he was freed as part of the recent prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas. His release came after serving approximately 20 years of his sentence.

Palestinian sources indicate that Abid fell from an elevated position near his home in Issawiya. He was rushed to receive medical treatment in critical condition, but medical personnel later confirmed his death.

The attack for which Abid was convicted – the Cafe Hillel bombing – stands as one of the most devastating incidents of the Second Intifada. Court records showed that Abid provided critical assistance to the suicide bomber and played an instrumental role in the attack's infrastructure. The bombing resulted in seven fatalities and left 57 people wounded.

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"We found Malki… It's all over." That is how Arnold Roth learned that his 15-year-old daughter was gone forever. Twelve hours earlier, a Hamas terrorist entered a crowded pizza shop in the heart of Jerusalem with an explosive device concealed in a guitar case, murdering sixteen people, including seven children, in 2001.

Earlier this week, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization must pay tens of millions of shekels to the victims of the Sbarro massacre. While nothing can ever bring back the victims, for some families, this ruling represents a small step toward justice.

The horrors of the Second Intifada, for many, feel like a distant lifetime, as the events of the October 7 massacre and everything that has followed have created a new and harrowing form of suffering.  Yet, for many victims and families who lost loved ones during the five-year period of violence, the barbarity of October 7 and the unrelenting trauma of the Second Intifada feel deeply connected. Approximately 1,053 Israelis, mostly civilians, were murdered in the wave of violence, which included suicide bombings, shootings, and military operations.

The Sbarro Pizzeria massacre stands as one of the most haunting symbols of the cruelty and barbarity of terrorism during that deadly period. Planned by Hamas' military wing, the attack was facilitated by Ahlam Tamimi, who scouted the location and carried out by Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri, the suicide bomber. The explosive device was packed with nails, screws, and bolts to maximize casualties. The perpetrators deliberately chose a busy downtown Jerusalem location and timed the attack during lunchtime, knowing the restaurant was a popular spot for families, including children.

Twenty-three years later, the courts have ruled that the Palestinian Authority (PA) must compensate the victims and their families, citing the PA's longstanding policy of providing financial payments to terrorists and their families. "The Jerusalem District Court decision is a very welcome step towards unwinding the PA's capacity to encourage and fund Palestinian Arab terror. And to provide meaningful compensation to some of its victims," says Arnold Roth, who has spent thirteen years fighting to bring justice to his daughter Malki. He adds, "But the decision itself doesn't seek to target Hamas or Ahlam Tamimi."

After orchestrating the massacre, Ahlam Tamimi was arrested by Israeli authorities, convicted, and sentenced to 16 life terms. However, she was released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal. For the Roth family, no amount of compensation can equate to justice; true justice, for them, would be seeing Malki's murderer back behind bars. "The efforts my wife Frimet and I have made for years since our child was murdered in the Sbarro atrocity have been focused on undoing the catastrophically mistaken Israeli government's decision to free the mastermind of the massacre."

Tamimi's release was a devastating blow to the families of the Sbarro victims, who had to endure the pain of seeing her flown on a VIP flight to Jordan, where she was celebrated and welcomed as a hero. Today, she hosts a Jordanian talk show, Nasim Al-Ahrar (Breeze of the Free), on Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV.

For the Roth family, justice remains elusive until Jordan extradites Tamimi to the United States to face FBI charges – charges issued in 2013 under a bilateral extradition treaty that Jordan continues to defy. Arnold Roth has called on the international community to increase pressure on Jordan. While compensation for the victims is a step forward, it cannot be the end of the story. We cannot accept a world where the justice system fails so profoundly, allowing perpetrators like Tamimi to live freely and glorify acts of terror.

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This is the first time a bank has been sued for alleged involvement in financing terrorism, although victims of terrorism have filed suits against both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

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The Arab Bank is one of the largest banking institutions in the Arab world and operates some 600 branches internationally, as well as subsidiaries. The lawsuit claims that the bank, its employees, and its managers played an integral role in the system that supported terrorist activity and even knowingly – if indirectly – provided assistance by funding actions carried out by Palestinian terrorists and terrorist organizations.

According to the plaintiffs – Israeli citizens who were personally wounded in terrorist attacks or who lost family members to terrorist actions committed inside the Green Line as well as in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip from 1995-2005 – the bank was involved in funding terrorist attacks carried out in Israel by Hamas, Fatah, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terrorist groups from 1995-2005. The shootings, bombings, and suicide bombings took place within the Green Line as well as in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip and claimed the lives of hundreds of Israelis, not to mention the many thousands wounded.

Specific attacks cited include but are not limited to the suicide bombing at Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv in 1996, in which 13 people were murdered; the suicide bombing at the Dolphinarium nightclub in Tel Aviv in 2001, which killed 21 and wounded over 120; numerous shootings that targeted passing Israeli cars; the suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem in 2001, which claimed the lives of 15 and left over 100 wounded; and the suicide bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya on the eve of Passover 2002, in which 30 people were killed and 160 were wounded.

The bank is accused of playing a significant role in collecting donations to support families of suicide bombers, wounded terrorists, and Palestinians in prison for terrorist activity. The bank even disbursed the money in violation of accepted banking practices. The lawsuit claims that the bank was also more directly involved in supporting terrorism and says that at the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, bank chairman Abd al-Majid Shuman established the Fund to Support the Palestinian People's Resistance, which was designed to support the intifada. Shuman promised to donate $500,000 of his own money to the fund, and the bank committed to an additional donation of $2 million.

The Israeli lawsuit follows a similar suit filed in the US in 2004, which was resolved last year through a settlement that paid out some $1 billion to victims of terrorism. The Israeli lawsuit was filed in the names of the Israelis who were left out of the US suit and is seeking compensation for special damages, punitive damages, and future damages.

The lawsuit is being filed by attorneys Gilad Markman and Benjamin Perlman, as well as attorneys Gil Maman and Gavriel Mairone, whose firm specializes in pursuing legal action against terrorist funding, genocide, and crimes against humanity.

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"I take responsibility for everything that happened during my term as prime minister, including the events of [that] October. Demonstrators should not be killed by the security forces of their own country. I am expressing regret and apologizing to the families and to society," Barak said in an interview to Israel Radio.

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"I can be the one to come up with a solution [to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict]," Barak said.

Some think that Barak's statements aimed to lay the groundwork for his Israel Democratic Party to run in the September election on a joint ticket with the far-Left Meretz.

Last week, Meretz MK Esawi Frej attacked Barak, telling him, "Do us a favor – stop splitting the center-left. Go back to your luxury high-rise and let us do the work."

Frej said, "As an Arab, I will never forget the riots of October [2000]."

The Likud called Barak's apology "pathetic."

"His pathetic apology, which fooled no one, had only one purpose … to allow him to join up with Meretz. We are still waiting for Ehud Barak to apologize for having been the worst prime minister in the history of Israel, who ran away from Lebanon, left an IDF soldier to die, did nothing about the lynch [on IDF reservists] in Ramallah, [and] led us into the Intifada."

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