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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Most wanted female terrorist lives in freedom in Jordan despite extradition request for bombing that killed Americans |
| 2020-01-29 |
| [FoxNews] Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi is the most wanted woman in the world, yet, she lives freely in Jordan despite U.S. extradition requests. Tamimi is the mastermind behind the Hamas terrorist attack that killed 15 – including eight children and two Americans, one of who was pregnant. Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi is the most wanted woman in the world, with a $5 million bounty for information that leads to her arrest or conviction. Tamimi is accused by U.S. officials of conspiring to use--and using--a weapon of mass destruction, and masterminding a brazen Hamas terrorist attack that killed 15 – including eight children and two Americans, one of whom was pregnant. Despite being on the run from American authorities, Tamimi has been hiding in plain sight for years-- under the eye of one of the United States' longest and closest allies in the Middle East: Jordan. Despite requests from Washington, the Kingdom has been publicly steadfast in its refusal to extradite Tamimi, who at just 20 years old masterminded the suicide bombing on the Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem three weeks before planes struck the U.S on Sept. 11, 2001. The attack claimed the lives of two Americans, 15-year-old Malki Roth, and Shoshana Yehudit Greenbaum, who was five months pregnant with her first child at the time. In addition to the two murdered Americans and the unborn infant, four more U.S. nationals were among the some 122 injured. At least one of the victims remains in a vegetative state. Two years after the Jerusalem attack, Tamimi pled guilty in an Israeli court for her pivotal role and received 16 life sentences and an additional 250 years behind bars. U.S. federal laws also came into play because Malki Roth, who was born in Australia, held American citizenship at the time. In 2011, Tamimi was part of a prisoner swap in which Israel released more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners – many of whom were serving life sentences for assaults on Israelis – for the return of one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas four years earlier. “It was important to Israelis to show the importance put on that one soldier’s life, and how much we were willing to sacrifice to bring him home,” one Israeli intelligence official, who requested anonymity, told Fox News of the exchange. Most of the Hamas operatives and sympathizers released were sent to Gaza and the West Bank. Tamimi and her husband were among a handful relocated to neighboring Jordan, under varying terms of restriction. But seemingly no one anticipated the terrorist’s rise to public fame. Tamimi, who is now 39, refers to herself as a journalist and was purportedly given free rein to host her own program on a local TV station broadcast from the city of Ramallah, focused on “occupation practices.” Moreover, she was left unencumbered to bolster a heroic image, of which she has dedicated fan pages, which claim that she “holds a medal of honor” for her “life imprisonment in Zion prisons.” Tamimi has also given several interviews detailing and illuminating her role, admitting that she selected the restaurant because it was known to be a favorite for families, and expressing her delight that so many children were slain. “I was really shocked at the American behavior,” Tamimi told an Al Jazeera reporter from her home in the Jordanian capital of Amman in 2017, detailing how she was suddenly arrested by a branch of Interpol and spent one night in jail before successfully fighting extradition through the Jordanian courts. “The U.S. government, who is always trying to solve the problems of the world, has decided to go after one woman for no obvious reasons.” Several employees of Al-Quds TV told Fox News that they are no longer operating. The diplomatic spotlight on the case – and the hefty bounty on her head – has prompted Tamimi to slide under the radar in recent months. “She doesn’t appear on TV. The last time she popped up was March 2019,” noted Yotam Feldner, director of Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) TV. “Last time her Facebook was active was in 2011.” The U.S. government first filed under seal a criminal complaint against Tamimi in 2013. The criminal complaint was publicly unsealed in March 2017. But almost three years later, and she still remains free. The Jordanian government has argued that Tamimi cannot be extradited on the grounds that there is no treaty with the U.S. While the late King Hussein, who died in 1999, is reported to have signed the extradition treaty on March 28, 1995, it was not signed into law by the Jordanian parliament. “Legally, Jordan’s parliament has to ratify a treaty, much the same way that the U.S. Congress has to ratify any treaty signed by the president in order for it to have the force of law,” explained Josh Lipowsky, a senior researcher at the Counter Extremism Project (CEP). “Nonetheless, King Abdullah could choose to honor the extradition request as a goodwill gesture to the United States or if he believes it is in Jordan’s best interests.” He stressed that even without a formally ratified treaty, King Abdullah “can override the courts’ decision not to extradite Tamimi” and that it is “a matter of weighing potential damage to the U.S.-Jordan relationship versus the threat of upsetting some on the Jordanian street." “For now, the risk is low for King Abdullah to keep Tamimi in Jordan, but that could change if the United States were to threaten economic sanctions against Jordan,” Lipowsky continued. “The passage of the Omnibus Spending Bill in December threatens to sever financial aid to any country that ignores a U.S. extradition request of somebody indicted for a criminal offense that carries a life sentence. Tamimi’s 2017 U.S. indictment carries the penalty of life imprisonment or death, which means Jordanian aid could be threatened if her extradition is not carried out.” Several sources in both the U.S. and Israel acknowledged that the extradition request does put the Hashemite Kingdom – a strong and necessary ally in the tumultuous region – in a difficult position given that an estimated 70 percent of those in Jordan are of Palestinian origin. Thus, King Abdullah needs to maintain popularity with the overwhelming majority both from a political and security standpoint. Jordan has made extradition exceptions in years past. In 1995, Jordan allowed the U.S. to extract Eyad Ismoil, a Jordanian national, to stand trial over his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The U.S. is Jordan’s single largest provider of assistance, “providing over $1.7 billion in 2017, including $1.3 billion in bilateral foreign assistance and over $200 million in Department of Defense support.” According to the Israeli intelligence source, Tamimi is just one of many in a “well-known” family line accused of waging war in the bitter battle between Palestinians and Israelis. Among the clan of cousins is said to be that of Ahed Tamimi, a 19-year-old Palestinian activist who has gained international notoriety in recent years for her bold confrontations with Israeli soldiers. In late 2017, she was detained for slapping a soldier and subsequently spent seven months in prison, her signature curls and youthful face becoming a symbol for the proclaimed Palestinian “freedom fight.” Last April, her younger brother, Mohammed Tamimi, then 15, was arrested along with their cousin Muayyid in overnight raids in response to “rioting and other disturbances.” |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #3 Abdullah remembers Black September. He's not sure he can put down a Paleo uprising again |
| Posted by: Frank G 2020-01-29 15:28 |
| #2 But are the Jordanians? |
| Posted by: James 2020-01-29 14:21 |
| #1 Buh, buh, but. King Abdullah is our friend... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-01-29 09:42 |