Jordan bank goes on trial for \\\'financing terrorists\\\'

Jordan's Arab Bank went on trial Thursday in New York accused of aiding terror by transferring support funds to the families of Palestinians who died in the conflict with Israel. The families of several Americans killed in early 2000s attacks by the Islamic movement Hamas said the bank, which has a New York branch, was in violation of the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act when it served as a conduit for the money from a Saudi Arabian fund to the Palestinian families. But the bank argued on the first day of the trial that it could not be connected to the attacks cited by the accusers. If the court finds it guilty, the bank said such a ruling would place too much burden on the global banking system and its routine automatic transfers of trillions of dollars every day of money on behalf of clients not officially blacklisted. ‘The facts show that Arab Bank provided routine banking services in compliance with applicable counterterrorism laws and regulations, and had no intention of providing support to Hamas or any other known terrorist organization,’ it said, according to AFP.