18 Jewish groups call on Jordan to extradite terrorist behind 2001 bombing
Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki, 15, was murdered in the attack, said: 'It’s time Jordan’s disregard for its legal, diplomatic and moral obligations was brought to an end'
Eighteen major Jewish organizations in the United States have publicly called on the US government to pressure Jordan’s King Abdullah II to extradite Ahlam Tamimi, the Jordanian terrorist behind the 2001 Sbarro pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem which killed 15 people, including two Americans.
In a written statement, the organisations – including the Jewish Federations of North America
and Yeshiva University – expressed their “collective outrage over the Kingdom of Jordan’s refusal to extradite the murderer of American citizens” and called on the US government to hold Jordan accountable to its extradition treaty by threatening the withdrawal of financial aid.
Tamimi, a Palestinian newsreader at the time, claimed credit for the terrorist attack. Admitting to scouting the location of Sbarro – a popular eatery in downtown Jerusalem – and bringing the bomb to the location, she previously said that she only felt disappointed as she had “hoped for a larger toll”.
Tamimi was arrested after the attack and tried in Israel, where she confessed to all charges. Sentenced to 16 sentences of life imprisonment, she was conditionally freed in a 2011 deal in which Israel secured the release of soldier Gilad Shalit, held hostage by Hamas for five years.
US citizen Arnold Roth, whose 15-year-old daughter Malki was murdered in the attack, said, “It’s time that Jordan’s disregard for its legal, diplomatic and moral obligations to hand Tamimi over to U.S. justice was brought to an end”.
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