A thunderous explosion stunned Israel’s capital Aug. 9, 2001, destroying a crowded Sbarro pizzeria.
Seven of the 16 murdered in the Jerusalem blast were children. One was my daughter Malki, 15, killed as she waited in line to order lunch.
The United States has failed for more than a decade to enforce the extradition of the bragging jihadist who faces trial in Washington for what she calls “my operation.”
Ahlam Tamimi, a native Jordanian, walked free from an Israeli prison as part of a 2011 deal the Jewish state was extorted to do with Hamas. She has since lived a life of celebrity in Jordan.
But President Trump can bring justice to a murdered American.
Consider whom Jordan harbors.
Tamimi, then a journalism student, part-time TV newsreader and at 21 the first woman ever admitted to Hamas’ terrorist ranks, carefully selected the fast-food outlet.
She boasted in a viral interview she targeted the pizzeria because of the crowds of Jewish children inside and the proximity of a Jewish religious school.
Tamimi’s Hamas handlers furnished her with a human bomb — a young, radicalized Islamist lugging a guitar case packed with explosives and flesh-ripping nails.
She brought him to the entrance of the crowded Sbarro, then fled to safety as he detonated, ending his own life and many others.
Confessing to all charges in an Israeli court, she was convicted and sentenced to 16 life terms with a judicial recommendation that she never be released in any future deal.
The judges were ignored. Israel freed 1,027 convicted terrorists including Tamimi in 2011 to get the release of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, held hostage by Hamas for five years.
Tamimi’s arrival at Amman’s airport was a riotous celebration.
Settling back in Jordan, Tamimi’s celebrity soared along with her influence.
She hosted a weekly made-in-Jordan talk show on Al-Quds TV for five years, promoting terrorism. Her standing as an advocate for ideological murder earned her wide support across the Arab world.
Few Americans knew since mainstream US news channels didn’t report it.
Noting the deaths of three Americans (Malki was one) in the Sbarro attack, in 2017 the US Justice Department unsealed long-secret terrorism charges against Tamimi and requested that Amman extradite her under the bilateral 1995 US-Jordan treaty.
That same week, a Jordanian superior court declared the long-standing treaty invalid. The grounds were dubious, citing a failure Jordan alone caused and could have fixed.
The State Department pushed gently back against the Jordanian ruling, asserting in a 2024 terrorism report the extradition treaty “is in force” under international law.
Jordan, stonewalling, persists in shielding Tamimi — but keeps pocketing $1.7 billion in annual US aid.
The State Department’s response? Toothless mantras about “impressing upon” Jordan that Tamimi must face justice.
This bureaucratic inertia betrays Tamimi’s American victims.
Jordan plays a cynical game, appeasing its Islamist base as it keeps Tamimi safe while posing as a moderate though very needy US ally, reaping White House visits and congressional praise.
My wife, Frimet, and I are in a years-long battle to get justice. We’ve sought media interviews, met US ambassadors, sent letters, delivered a petition with 30,000 signatures — but face silence and bureaucratic walls that shield the decision-makers.
The State Department treats us as a nuisance, evidently swayed by Jordan’s “loyal friend” image.
Tamimi mocks us and the other victims’ families. She bragged to Al Jazeera in 2019 that Jordan’s protection gives her “strength.”
On that, she’s right. For too long, US taxpayer dollars have protected our daughter’s murderer, abetting her status as a kind of divinely sanctioned icon.
President Trump can break this cycle by demanding Jordan extradite Tamimi as the treaty requires.
Taking this long-thwarted measure will send a vital message: Breaching bilateral pacts has a price.
Jordan, dependent on the United States in multiple ways, cannot defy a determined administration.
Extraditing Tamimi would underscore that Trump prioritizes American life and honor over political deal-making.
Justice — for Malki and other Americans murdered by jihadist terrorists — demands that Middle Eastern leaders rediscover some respect for the United States.
A retired lawyer and manager in Israel’s advanced-technology industry, Arnold Roth devotes his time to advocacy for special-needs children. He and his wife, Frimet, established the Malki Foundation to honor the memory of their murdered daughter.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
