Saudi Arabia Threatens to Sell $750 Billion US Assets if Congress Passes 9/11 Bill
Saudi Arabia has warned that it will sell up to $750 billion worth of U.S. assets held by the oil-rich Kingdom if the U.S. Congress passes a bill that would allow victims of the September 11, 2001, terror attack to sue the Saudi Arabia government.
Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir made a trip to Washington, D.C. last month to personally deliver the message to the American lawmakers, according to The New York Times.
In the message, al-Jubeir warned against passing of the bipartisan Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA, which would amend the federal judicial code to include among the exceptions to U.S. jurisdictional immunity of foreign states any statutory or common law tort claim arising out of an act of extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage taking, terrorism, or the provision of material support or resources for such an act, or any claim for contribution or indemnity relating to a claim arising out of such an act.
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The Obama administration has responded to the warning by applying heavy pressure on Congress to block the bill, according to CNN, which also said top officials from the State Department and Pentagon warned Senate Armed Services Committee staffers last month that the bill could bring economic risks to the U.S.
"It's stunning to think that our government would back the Saudis over its own citizens," the Times quoted Mindy Kleinberg, whose husband died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 and who is part of a group of victims' family members pushing for the legislation, as saying.
Saudi Arabia has denied having any role in the 2001 terror attacks. A commission on the 9/11 attacks also said it found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded those behind the attacks. However, critics argued that the commission failed to look at the role of Saudi officials who may not be "senior."
Last year, an online petition urged U.S. Congress to pass the bill.
"As we approach the 14 year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the time has long passed for our federal government to give the families of the 2,977 innocent victims their justice in court," the petition said, noting that the bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and John Cornyn, R-Texas, was introduced in a previous session of Congress and was passed by the Senate on Dec. 11, 2014 but was never passed by the House.
Last year, the families of victims and survivors of the 9/11 attacks filed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, alleging that its government was involved in the terror plot, but it was dismissed by a federal judge in New York, according to Vice News. The ruling determined that the suit's allegations, including that the Saudi government was involved in the terror plot, do not exempt the kingdom from sovereign immunity under American law, which protects it from such legal actions.
