Members of a New York family have testified that the September 11 attacks and its lesson that terror can happen anywhere persuaded them to cancel a trip to Disney World and instead visit Jerusalem, where four of them were injured in a suicide bombing.

Mark Sokolow, a lawyer, and his wife, Rena, testified in Manhattan federal court as lead plaintiffs in a $US1 billion ($A1.28 billion) lawsuit against Palestinian authorities for six attacks in Israel from 2002 to 2004 that killed or wounded Americans. Their three daughters, two of them hurt in the blast, testified as well.

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The defence, representing the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, denies officials were privy to knowledge of the attacks. It says victims’ experiences are not relevant to the question of responsibility.

Sokolow said he was sitting at his desk on the 38th floor of the World Trade Centre’s south tower when the north tower was struck on September 11, 2001.

He fled the building and discussed the attacks later with his then-18-year-old daughter, Elana.

“She said, ‘Dad, you were so worried about sending me to Israel this year and look at what happened in New York,”‘ he recalled.

“I realised she was right. Terrorism can happen anywhere.”

Rena Sokolow agreed.

“9/11 basically changed everything,” she said.

“We thought it would be much more meaningful to take them to Israel. We decided not to go to Disney World.”

On the family’s last day of an eight-day visit, a bomb went off outside a Jerusalem shoe store.