Before we proceed to ambassadors and American Jewish leaders, an addendum.
I heard that a wise person once said, “Don’t say six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Say six million and one.” It’s easier to identify with one person than with six million.
Malki Roth was not the only victim of terror. The Jewish Virtual Library has collated statistics from a number of sources, including the Foreign Ministry, and it states that more than 4,800 Israeli and foreign civilians have been killed in Arab and Palestinian terrorist attacks since 1948 (including all of 1948, before the state was established in May). This does not include the pre-1948 acts of terror, such as those in Hebron and elsewhere in 1929, and many others. There have always been those who did not want us here.
Malki Roth was also not the only American, but her heartbreaking story has brought numerous issues to the forefront.
In a column published in the Israel Nation News on July 31, 2013, as Israel was about to release 104 terrorists, supposedly as a goodwill gesture to restart peace talks, Sherri Mandell – whose 13-year-old son Koby was murdered by Arab terrorists in May 2001, and who demonstrated along with others against the release – was quoted as saying (which she confirmed to the Magazine), “I’m happy that they were never found, because I don’t want to have to be horrified that Koby’s killers had been released by the State of Israel.”
Like his parents, Koby was an American citizen.
In Koby’s memory, Sherri and Seth Mandell created the Koby Mandell Foundation, which helps bereaved mothers, fathers, widows, orphans, and siblings to rebuild their lives and create meaning out of suffering.
Thinking back to the Taylor Force Act I described in Part II, I remembered another act. After Koby’s murder, the Koby Mandell Act was introduced into Congress on June 7, 2001. In short, it directs the US Attorney-General to establish within the Department of Justice (DOJ) an office to monitor acts of Palestinian terrorism, to offer rewards for information about terrorists, and – most important – to implement methods to “apprehend, indict, prosecute, and convict individuals who commit such acts.”
Sounds impressive. But it didn’t pass immediately, in that form.
Sarah Stern, founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth, told the Magazine that the Koby Mandell Act was also introduced into the Senate on March 21, 2003, and was passed in December 2004 when it was “included as a title within the massive year-end federal omnibus spending bill signed by president George W. Bush.” According to the Congress.gov website, it was included in the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Overseas Terrorism (OVT). That office, as stated on its website, is “to support US victims of overseas terrorism by helping them navigate foreign criminal justice systems....”
Stern told the Magazine she worked on the bill for three years. Regarding the new OVT, Stern said, “They publish websites, pamphlets, and flow charts. Unfortunately, they have never prosecuted a single perpetrator who has committed acts of terrorism. What we envisioned for this office, and what it ended up doing, was a profound disappointment.”
The Magazine wrote to the OVT to ask if it has ever prosecuted terrorists. Its response was: “Refer to US District Court of DC.”
MALKI ROTH, 15, was one of three American citizens murdered in Sbarro. After the release of Ahlam Tamimi, who had masterminded the attack, there was no reaching out to the Roths on the part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or any other senior Israeli figure.
Tamimi has lived the life of a celebrity in Jordan since the moment she returned there, after being freed in the Schalit deal.
In an interview filmed with her while she was still a prisoner in Israel, she was proud and joyful about the deaths she had orchestrated. She continues to promote the cause of terrorism and jihad through the media and in speeches throughout the Arab world.
Tamimi should have been extradited to the US, in compliance with a treaty signed by King Hussein, the father of today’s ruler of Jordan, and US president Bill Clinton in 1995. But that hasn’t happened, in spite of charges against Tamimi by the Department of Justice in 2013 and the FBI’s putting her on the Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2017.
US ambassadors to Israel
In pursuing US justice, the Roths sought out meetings with ambassadors to Israel, starting when Tamimi was released.
The first such meeting was with Dan Shapiro, who served in Israel, under president Barack Obama, from August 3, 2011, to January 20, 2017.
Arnold Roth said, “He and I met twice – once when I came to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv as part of a group of three grieving fathers whose children had been murdered by terrorists. Then privately, after his term as ambassador ended. He provided no meaningful support for our efforts to get justice, but was polite and empathetic; in our circumstances, that’s nothing to sneeze at.
“One outstanding issue relating to his term as ambassador has gotten little coverage.
“Years after it happened, he told me that when the 2011 Schalit deal was about to take place and the 1,027 terrorists were to walk free, the US Embassy, he said, had asked Israel not to free Tamimi, on the grounds that her bombing attack on Sbarro took US lives.
“He said the approach was rebuffed by Israel, and I know it was not at all reported at the time. I asked him who specifically was approached in the government of Israel. He said he could not tell me.”
Shapiro impressed him, said Roth, with his concern and empathy.
But Roth said that despite Shapiro being well-wired into the inner workings of Washington and in particular the State Department, and despite giving Roth assurances he would investigate in Washington and get back with what he could, no information ever came back.
“At some point, you wake to the realization that Washington insiders who convey – without saying it explicitly – that they don’t care that much about justice, Jordan, and the Tamimi case, actually have neither more nor less insight than the better guys from Washington. It’s a depressing situation – especially when it goes on and on for years.”
The Magazine asked Ambassador Shapiro to respond. He wrote, “The Roth family’s grief and anger is justified, and nothing can relieve it. The US relationship with Jordan is complex, and includes important strategic aspects. That said, I believe more US pressure should be exerted on Jordan to extradite Ahlam Tamimi, and have advocated for it.”
Following Shapiro’s response, Roth shared with the Magazine more details about the US request not to free Tamimi, citing an exchange he had with a journalist in February 2020.
“The journalist said, ‘Someone told me the US administration asked Israel before the Schalit deal not to release anyone with American blood on their hands. Do you know about this? Do you have a link to it reported somewhere?’
“I told him, ‘The US indeed said what you quoted. But in my opinion, there was no evidence at the time of the Schalit deal that any US official asked Israel to hold back those terrorists with American blood on their hands (like Tamimi). The relevant State Department press briefing at the time makes no mention.’
“The alleged intervention by the US on the eve of Tamimi being freed in the Schalit deal came up again in two ways,” he continued.
“The first is when I testified in the US Congress to its House Oversight Committee on National Security on February 2, 2016. I was seated beside Justice Department official, deputy assistant attorney-general Brad Wiegmann of the DOJ’s National Security Division. He’s caught on the video record of the session saying: ‘We certainly understand the concern about Israel’s recent release of prisoners that harmed Americans, a step the US urged Israel not to take.’”
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was chairman of the US Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In that 2016 hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security, “Seeking Justice for Victims of Palestinian Terrorism in Israel,” whose transcript is 60 pages long, Sherri Mandell submitted testimony, and Arnold Roth testified in person.
Ron DeSantis (R-Florida), the subcommittee chairman, concluded, “We face, as Americans, a global jihad, and Israel is ground zero for that fight. And when we have Americans visiting, studying, living in Israel, and they’re killed, they’re wounded by terrorists, we’re not going to forget that. We can’t forget that. And we will get justice. And we’ll be patient if we need to be, but we are not going to let justice be denied.”
“Secondly,” said Roth, “a letter dated January 30, 2012, came to Frimet and me from then-US attorney-general Eric Holder.” Extract: “The US Embassy in Tel Aviv, together with the Department of Justice and the Department of State, urged the Government of Israel prior to both releases in question not to release prisoners responsible for murdering or injuring US citizens before serving their full sentences.”
David M. Friedman served as US ambassador from May 15, 2017, until January 20, 2021.
Roth said, “I made efforts to engage with Friedman, starting right after he was nominated in the first Trump administration, before he was confirmed, and continuing over and over again until most of the way through his term of office.
“At some point, many months into this effort, I realized I had been defeated again and stopped trying.
“But this had an epilogue. Friedman and I did eventually meet and talk about the Tamimi case. That happened days after his term in Jerusalem ended. A helpful third party intervened. The meeting that resulted was the opportunity for me to clarify face-to-face with the diplomat how astonished I was by how he and his office cold-shouldered us throughout his entire service in Israel.
“It’s instructive to know that for someone as unabashedly supportive of Israel and of Jewish peoplehood issues, he allowed this to go on throughout his term. America’s most senior diplomatic representative to Israel just looked away the whole time.
“Was that galling? Of course. But it’s sadly consistent with the way the State Department in Washington, through several layers of its senior management, has dealt with us, leaving aside minor and mostly inconsequential exceptions, from the time of my meeting in Washington with the DOJ in 2012, which eventually led to charges being issued against Tamimi, right up until today.”
The Magazine reached out to Amb. Friedman for a response, and he replied, “The Roths have undergone unimaginable suffering and deserve that Ahlam Tamimi be brought to justice. I wish there was more I could have done for them.”
Thomas R. Nides served from December 5, 2021, to July 21, 2023, under president Joe Biden. The Roths met personally with Nides, but they said that nothing helpful came from the meeting, and what the ambassador did say was, at his request, off the record.
The Magazine reached out to Nides for a response, but he had not replied at press time.
Jack Lew was the ambassador, still under Biden, from November 5, 2023, to January 20, 2025.
Arnold Roth said, “I understood he’s an observant Jew like my wife and me. Given that reality and the utter lack of any progress with every relevant part of the Biden administration, asking for a meeting with Lew was an unbearable thought, one step too far. We didn’t ask for a meeting.
“And there’s this. Notwithstanding the seriousness of the Jordan/Tamimi case and the years of neglect and thwarting of US justice it represents, it’s worth noting that Lew had no contact with us either. No email, no phone call. I can understand that. The State Department’s position on Jordan/Tamimi clearly makes at least some of its people uncomfortable.”
The Magazine reached out to Amb. Lew, but he had not responded at press time.
US AMBASSADOR Mike Huckabee began on April 21, 2025, under the second Trump administration, and is still serving. (Some of this was reported in Part II.)
Roth said, “He responded positively to our request for a private meeting, which took place in the Jerusalem embassy in May 2025. His approach was frank, supportive, informed, and encouraging – as different as things get by comparison with all the previous interactions with ambassadors.
“He said something I haven’t heard till now from any other American official: ‘I don’t understand how this can happen. I need to find out.’ The connection goes on, and he assures us that he has not forgotten the issues. There have been some follow-on calls. We trust him.”
The Magazine reached out to Ambassador Huckabee about his interaction with the Roths, and this is what he replied:
“My visit with the Roth family touched me in a profound way and personal way. They gave me a photo of Malki and I have kept it framed in my office since that day, so there is not a day that goes by [that] I fail to think of the injustice to her and her precious family. One of my goals as ambassador is seeing justice done. Malki would be 40 years old this year.”
Since then, Huckabee has even more assertively called for the extradition of Tamimi. On August 9 this year, Huckabee posted on X: “Twenty-five years ago today, a Hamas suicide bomber murdered 16 people and injured more than 120 at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem. Among the victims were Americans Judith Greenbaum, Chana Nachenberg, and 15-year-old Malka Roth. May their memories be a blessing. We stand with @Israel against terrorism in all its forms and remain committed to bringing every last fugitive of this heinous act to justice.”
He also cited the State Department’s Rewards for Justice page, which states: “Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information on Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi... as part of its 1993 Violence in Opposition to the Middle East Peace Negotiations reward offer.”
Also on August 9 this year, Ambassador Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism at the State Department, posted on X:
“Today, we mark 25 years since the Hamas terrorist attack at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem. We remember the 16 victims murdered – including Americans Judith Greenbaum, Chana Nachenberg, and Malki Roth – and the more than 120 others injured. The United States will never forget and remains committed to bringing the perpetrators, including Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamini, to justice.”
He also quoted the Rewards for Justice page.
American Jewish leadership
Throughout this saga, where were our brethren?
Roth said, “Many of the executives who manage major American Jewish organizations exposed themselves to me in 2020. I wrote letters to most of the constituent groups that make up the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and one or two others [not under the conference’s umbrella], asking them to sign on to a declaration calling on ‘our government’ (the US) to press for the extradition of Tamimi.”
The letters went out in mid-June 2020 and several weeks after that.
The letter summarized what happened in the Sbarro terror attack, referred to the US citizens murdered, and added:
“WHEREAS, the unrepentant plotter of the bombing, Ahlam Tamimi, now lives in Jordan; and… the Government of Jordan, an American ally and the world’s fourth-largest recipient of US financial aid, refuses to extradite Tamimi to the United States, in direct contravention of its treaty... we, the undersigned EXPRESS our collective outrage over the Kingdom of Jordan’s refusal to extradite the murderer of American citizens. STAND in solidarity with the families of the victims and their quest for justice. CALL upon our government to hold the Kingdom of Jordan accountable to its commitments... including... recent government legislation significantly impacting US financial aid to Jordan [and] PLEDGE to join forces with the families of the victims until their demand to see justice meted out to the murderer of American citizens is realized.”
Roth prepared a meticulous chart indicating who signed (23), who declined (10), and those who ignored the letter (15), according to him.
Since there is no way to determine whether those who did not respond at all did so intentionally or whether the letter went into spam or a bureaucratic black hole, I’ll cite only a few examples of those who signed and those who wrote back that they declined.
Regarding rabbinical or religious organizations, signers included the Rabbinical Assembly, which describes itself as the “international association of Conservative/Masorti rabbis”; Agudath Israel of America, identified with the haredi population; and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU) and National Council of Young Israel – which indicates the response at least partly crossed the denominational lines. Those who actively declined included Reconstructing Judaism and Women of Reform Judaism.
Non-rabbinical/religious organizations that signed included AIPAC; B’nai B’rith International; Coalition for Jewish Values; Conference of Presidents (signed on behalf of the conference, though some of those under its umbrella did not); Religious Zionists of America-Mizrachi; Hadassah; Jewish Federations of North America; World Jewish Congress North America; the Coalition for Jewish Values; and the Zionist Organization of America.
Roth said, “Under William Daroff, the Conference of Presidents continues to actively stand with us in our battle.”
This August 9, Daroff publicly posted a short summary of a letter the conference sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on August 4. (The full letter can be found on the conference’s website and Facebook page.)
The summary reads: “Today marks the 25th anniversary of the August 9, 2001, Sbarro restaurant bombing in Jerusalem. The Conference of Presidents urges the United States to demand that Jordan immediately extradite Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi. The US Department of Justice charged Al-Tamimi for her role in the attack, which murdered 16 people, including three Americans. She remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list. Twenty-five years later, the victims and their families still await justice. Jordan must fulfill its extradition treaty obligations and send Al-Tamimi to the United States to face trial.”
Roth shared with the Magazine some of the correspondence he had with those who explicitly declined to sign.
They included the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which wrote, “[It is] beyond our organization’s mandate”; and the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, which told Roth, he said, after four unsuccessful tries: “What an awful, awful tragedy. No parent should have to experience what you have. However, JINSA doesn’t sign statements put out by others and rarely issues even its own statements. We’re more a think tank, not an advocacy organization. I still commend you for rallying support for this statement from Jewish organizations.”
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, wrote, “We are so sorry for your loss. We at T’ruah unconditionally condemn this and all other acts of terrorism. We are not going to participate in this particular policy initiative, which may have negative implications for Israel and for US foreign policy.”
The decliners of the above examples all expressed some form of sympathy even though they didn’t sign.
The exception was Americans for Peace Now, whose responder wrote only, “I consulted with my colleagues regarding the statement. We thank you for reaching out to us. As an organization, APN will pass on this statement.”
The American Jewish Committee also declined to sign. However, Roth said, he received the following letter on June 9, 2020. The letter said:
“Dear Mr. Roth, Thank you for reaching out to AJC in pursuit of justice for Malki, HY”D . Please know that we share your conviction that morality and the rule of law demand nothing less than the harshest punishment for those who planned and carried out your daughter’s savage murder, including Ahlam Tamimi. AJC has engaged and will continue aggressively to engage senior officials of our government, as well as Jordanian and Israeli authorities, to facilitate any and all means to assure the administration of justice too long denied.”
The chief policy and political affairs officer said he looked forward to being in touch.
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life also did not sign. Roth told the Magazine, “Their CEO, in his letter to me of July 2, 2020, wrote: ‘As you know, our mission at Hillel is an educational one, to help students build connections with Jewish life, learning, and Israel. In that vein, while Hillel does not itself advocate on political or policy issues, we work with numerous Jewish organizations that do so....’”
Some of those who didn’t sign raised an ironic eyebrow, on my part. For example, T’ruah. What is more relevant to human rights than extraditing a terrorist who joyously said she would do it again? And what were the human rights of Malki and the other victims?
And regarding Hillel, its non-signing in 2020, which preceded the havoc and Jew-hatred on college campuses since Oct. 7, 2023, is even more troubling in retrospect.
And what about those who signed and then did nothing further?
Roth said, “A journalist, Benjamin Weinthal, was intrigued by that very question and asked some questions a year ago for a follow-up analysis published by i24News. He based himself on publicly available data. My understanding is that most of the groups he approached did not respond to his follow-up questions.
“Some, however, did, and made terrifically positive claims to him about being with us all the way in this battle for justice. I told Weinthal that it actually felt, and still feels, very different to [wife] Frimet and me. So different, in fact, that in most cases we had never received any indication – not even a clue – of the urging and the pushing and the advocating they have been supposedly doing all along so that the Sbarro savage is... delivered to Washington to face trial.
“To his great credit, one of the organization leaders I phoned told me, almost as soon as he heard who was on the phone, that he’s deeply sorry. He had been less than frank with Weinthal and regretted it. So much so that he said he was going to take some corrective steps the next day. And indeed, he did. It didn’t amount to much, but knowing that there are still some American Jewish leaders with the backbone to say ‘We should have done more’ is encouraging.”
‘Eminent personages’
Roth also sent invitations to what he terms “eminent personages,” and 69 signed. It reads like a who’s who of scholars, leaders, and writers from diverse religions and countries.
A partial list includes Irwin Cotler, former justice minister and attorney-general of Canada, and chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights; Bari Weiss, esteemed journalist and CBS News editor-in-chief; Bassem Eid, Palestinian Arab social worker and human rights advocate; Stephen M. Flatow, father of terror victim Alisa Flatow; American scholar Prof. Susannah Heschel; Marvin Kalb, award-winning journalist-author; Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, who led the international terrorism team at Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee; Beate and Serge Klarsfeld, anti-Nazi and pro-Israel advocates; Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, first Jewish candidate on a major presidential ticket in the 2000 race; American novelist Cynthia Ozick; and Dr. Judea Pearl, distinguished academic and father of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl.
Signed on also are Daniel Pipes, president of Middle East Forum; Dr. Asaf Romirowsky, executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East; Rabbi David Rosen, president of Religions for Peace; noted historian and author Prof. Ruth Wisse; Zuhdi Jasser, founder-president of American Islamic Forum for Democracy and co-founder of Muslim Reform Movement; and Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president, Institute for NGO Research; among many other distinguished personages.
Roth said, “Tamimi’s high-profile freedom all these years amounts to an act of betrayal by people and groups who should be standing beside us, amplifying our voices. Instead, they decline to help or say they are helping while, in my view, doing nothing.
“Some represent America’s Jews in Congress. Some are major American Jewish organizations. Some are Jewish religious leaders. Some have served as special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.
“And a special mention goes to the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Jewish Democratic Council of America. They are among a long list of our brethren in positions of power who could have done more.
“Living through this battle has sensitized me to the painful gulf between our aspirations as a Jewish community and our achievements. I prefer not to be more explicit than that. There is huge scope for improving ourselves.”
Roth family struck again by Hamas
Before we concluded our long interview, Frimet spoke about their son-in-law, Naftali Yonah Gordon, married to the Roths’ daughter, Pesi; they have two little children.
On Oct. 7, 2023, while they were all observing Simchat Torah, Gordon immediately went into action to join his reserve unit. He died after his tank took a direct hit in northern Gaza on December 7.
“Naftali was a highly regarded physiotherapist, a beloved individual,” Arnold Roth told i24 TV at the time, and added now, “We adored him.”
Frimet said, “In recent times, since we lost Naftali, I haven’t really been as involved in this [bringing Tamimi to justice] as Arnold has. I’m not at all involved in drumming up interest in it. If there is some kind of meeting with an official that’s been arranged, then I try to go, not always. And that is because of Naftali.
“The grief over Naftali is just so raw. It kind of consumes me, and helping our daughter to deal with our grandchildren.
“I don’t write anything anymore, almost nothing. Maybe for every yahrzeit of Malki I’ll write something, but that’s about it.
“And they were both murdered by the very same group, the very same haters of us, Hamas. How about that? Twenty-three years later, they were just as vicious, and hateful, and powerful as they were then.
“Nothing changed, nothing.”
In conclusion
Arnold Roth does not live in a bubble. He had positive personal experiences with Jordan before Malki’s murder.
“I used to do business in Jordan. In the late 1990s I led a technology venture for one of Israel’s best-known hi-tech conglomerates and traveled twice to Jordan to discuss with Jordanian entrepreneurs the development of a joint venture there. I visited several times in the late 1990s to develop business ties – they have nice people, lots of unrealized potential in technology business, also lots of need.”
Since Israel released Tamimi and the Jordanian government is not cooperative, the Roths continue to bring pressure on US officials to extradite this terrorist, who continues to thrive and be emulated in the Arab world, while still hoping American Jewish leaders and organizations will help in this mission.
Arnold said, “When Frimet and I write or meet with people, it’s never about us seeking sympathy or balm for our wounds. We believe in American justice as a precious value, and we see it being trampled in front of our eyes. It’s a disgrace that it falls to us – bereaved parents of an American child – to be the ones left to press the politicians and the officials to assert US rights, to stand up for US justice, to make law enforcement happen.
“We have real lives, a solid marriage, lovely children and grandchildren to warm our lives. We live productively, and have created and now manage an effective charity in Malki’s name – the Malki Foundation – that does good every day. And we have made our home in Jerusalem with family living close by. We’re content.
“And yes, we are passionate about justice – just justice. And to be painfully clear about this, on our own, we can’t make it happen. It’s disappointing to acknowledge how hard getting help has been and still is.”
Frimet added, “Tamimi remains free. She has never seen the inside of a US courtroom.
“Our life’s mission is to make that happen.”
Arnold: “This is not about vengeance, but entirely about seeing justice done.”
Some final questions
Will the US government be “deaf to the voice of justice,” as it accused its “British brethren” in the Declaration of Independence? Or will it prove once and for all that it really does consider all its citizens equal?
Halevai – may it be so – that Malki Roth’s case will be the landmark case that changes the way the US Department of Justice operates in this realm.
Will organizational Jewish leaders worldwide – who view themselves as part of the “Am Yisrael hai” community – pick up the gauntlet?
The Sbarro terror attack happened on the watch of prime minister Ariel Sharon (Likud). The extreme increase in terrorism started after the signing of the Oslo Accords, under prime minister Yitzhak Rabin (Labor). Ahlam Tamimi was released to Jordan in the Schalit deal conducted by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud). Terrorists with blood on their hands are heroes elsewhere throughout the Arab world.
There is enough responsibility for the major political parties to share.
Will Israel’s leaders rethink what they did or did not do in the past, and find a better way?
We are in the Hebrew month of Elul, a time of introspection and teshuva – repentance.
If not now, when?■
The writer is an award-winning journalist and theater director and the co-founder and editor of WholeFamily.com. Her current theater project is Heroines! Songs & Soliloquies for the Soul with Raise Your Spirits Theatre, about heroic women of Oct. 7.