Sderot rocket victims sue Gaza flotilla organizers

$1,000,000 lawsuit claims two Canadian organizations raising money for flotilla are aiding and abetting Hamas terrorists.

By RON FRIEDMAN
flotilla 311 (photo credit: Creative Commons)
flotilla 311
(photo credit: Creative Commons)
Sderot resident and Canadian citizen Cherna Rosenberg has filed a million dollar law suit against two Canadian organizations raising money to sponsor a ship – The Canadian Boat to Gaza – to join the international flotilla to Gaza.
The suit, presented by Toronto barrister and law professor Ed Morgan and New York attorney and former AIPAC executive director Neal Sher to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Monday, argues that the groups, Turtle Island Humanitarian Aid and Alternatives International, both based in Montreal, are part of a chain of conduct that “ultimately leads to the rocket attacks that have traumatized the plaintiff and caused her much suffering and loss.”
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According to the statement of claim issued by Rosenberg’s lawyers, “The Canadian Boat’s raison d’être is to aid and abet the terrorist organization that rules Gaza.”
As such, according to the lawsuit, their actions are in violation of Canadian laws forbidding assistance to terror groups.
Rosenberg’s lawyers are asking the court to order the groups to pay damages in the amount of $1,000,000 for trauma and injury, $20,000 in renovation and relocation costs, as well as an injunction prohibiting the groups to raise money for the flotilla and to send goods to Gaza.
“Ms. Rosenberg has lived in Sderot, Israel and endured the constant and relentless mortar attacks emanating from Gaza. The Hamas terror group brazenly has taken responsibility for these shellings. During these terrifying attacks, Ms. Rosenberg was forced to seek shelter, along with members of her family and, like other victims of these wanton attacks, has been traumatized and shocked, suffering from the serious symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” read the statement of claims.
The complaint goes on to explains how Sderot has been the target of Kassam rocket attacks from Hamas terrorists inside Gaza since 2001, resulting in the deaths of numerous Israeli civilians and causing enormous trauma and property damage in Sderot and the surrounding region.
The complaint argues that since supplies that are delivered to Gaza run the risk of being seized by the Hamas government for use by its military wing, the defendants’ acts “amount to both a conspiracy to injure and a conspiracy to use unlawful means,” and that “the defendants are acting in concert with Hamas to achieve harm on the plaintiff.”
If the lawsuit proves successful, it will provide a further setback to the Free Gaza Flotilla project, which is already suffering from financial and logistic difficulties. Success will also set a precedent for a wave of similar claims by other dual citizens.
Representatives of the Canadian Boat to Gaza could not be reached for comment.