JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israeli government is trying to prevent a former Israeli intelligence official from testifying in an anti-terrorism case brought to a U.S. federal court.

The case being heard in U.S. district court in Washington was brought by families of victims of Palestinian suicide bombers who accuse the Bank of China of funding terrorist organizations through U.S. accounts. They are seeking millions of dollars in damages; a guilty verdict under anti-terrorism laws also could affect the bank’s ability to continue conducting business in the United States, according to the Associated Press.

The Israeli government on Friday filed a petition with the court seeking to block the testimony of Uzi Shaya in order to stop him from revealing what it said are state secrets, according to reports.

Shaya, according to reports, in 2005 alerted Chinese security officials to suspicious transactions, including transfers of money to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

“The disclosure of such information would harm Israel’s national security, compromise Israel’s ability to protect those within its borders, and interfere with international cooperative efforts to prevent terrorism,” the Prime Ministers Office said in a statement on Saturday.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu, by turning his back on the victims of terror, is not only denying justice to those who have paid the ultimate price, but he is sending a message to the terrorists and the whole world, that Jewish blood is cheap,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center and lawyer for 22 families of terror victims, said Saturday in a statement. “We understand the need for financial engagement with China, but not at the cost of abandoning these families who have had loved ones murdered by the Palestinian terror groups who we allege moved funds through the Bank of China.”

Darshan-Leitner said the Israeli government is breaching a direct promise to provide witnesses and evidence “necessary to establish the Bank of China’s liability.”

She said that Shaya’s testimony has already been laid out in a previous affidavit.

A similar case against the bank has been brought by the family of American student Daniel Wultz, who was killed in a 2006 terror attack in Tel Aviv. The case is being heard in federal court in the Southern District of New York.