Holtzman Vogel Files Federal Lawsuit Against Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization Over 'Pay for Slay' Terror Funding Program
Holtzman Vogel has filed a federal lawsuit that seeks justice for American victims of international terrorism. Taylor Force was a U.S. Army veteran and graduate student who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists while on a school trip to Tel Aviv in 2016. Hananel Gez, a dual American-Israeli citizen, was injured in a 2025 shooting attack in Israel while driving his pregnant wife, Tzeela, to the hospital to give birth to their son. The attack killed both Tzeela and her baby, Ravid Haim Gez.
The Plaintiffs allege that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) violated the Anti-Terrorism Act by promoting these vicious acts of terrorism through their “Pay for Slay” program, a government-operated system for distributing financial rewards to Palestinian terrorists and their families. In seeking recompense for the Plaintiffs, this case aims to defund and dismantle the monstrous Pay for Slay program, which has paid out over a billion dollars to terrorists and fueled violence in the Middle East. The case underscores the need to hold foreign entities accountable when their actions harm or kill Americans, and it reaffirms the basic principle that terrorism must never be incentivized or rewarded.
Jason Torchinsky, Susan Greene, and Mark Pinkert from Holtzman Vogel are co-counsel alongside David Schoen and the National Jewish Advocacy Center.
