Arnold Roth, the father of one of the child victims of the 2001 Sbarro massacre in downtown Jerusalem, slammed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for harboring Ahlam Tamimi, the woman behind his daughter’s murder, and likened the kingdom to the Palestinian Authority and its “pay-for-slay” stipends, saying that it continues to materially support terrorism.
“The woman who masterminded the Sbarro massacre is free today in Jordan, living free all these years,” Roth told The Jerusalem Post at a StandWithUS event in Jerusalem last week. “She was charged in the United States in 2013, and she's been saved, protected, and harbored by Jordan.”
Roth’s daughter, Malka Roth, was 15-years-old when she and 15 others, including six other children and a pregnant woman, were murdered in Jerusalem by a Palestinian suicide bomber who operated alongside Tamimi.
In an interview published in the 2006 documentary “Hot House,” while in an Israeli prison and hearing from Israeli director Shimon Dotan that eight children had been killed, Tamimi responded, repeating “eight” with a smile on her face.
Five years later, Tamimi was released to Jordan as part of the 2011 Gilad Schalit deal. Jordan, Arnold Roth said, has an obligation, per its 1995 extradition treaty with the US, to extradite Tamimi, something it has yet to do.
Roth says that Jordan’s rationales for not doing so have been “ridiculous, convoluted excuses” appealing to constitutional technicalities that it argues render them unbound from the treaty in this case.
Father of bombing victim: No one believes Jordan's explanation for not deporting Tamimi
“No one believes this,” Roth said. “I speak with authority as someone who's lived with this for many years. No one believes it. And yet, Jordan keeps getting away with it. Jordan is getting away with it today, tonight, and every day and every night for many years.”
Malka Roth was among three United States nationals killed in the attack. In 2013, a US federal court issued a sealed arrest warrant for Tamimi. The warrant was made public in 2017. Tamimi remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list with a reward of as much as $5 million for information leading to her arrest or conviction.
“I don't blame the Jordanians any more than I blame the Palestinian Authority for getting away with whatever they can get away with. That's the nature of crooks and thieves and confidence tricksters.”
Instead, Roth said he blamed “the civilized world.” This includes, he said, Jewish leadership for its lack of action in pushing for Tamimi to be brought to justice.
The larger share of the blame, though, he added, lay with governments and international bodies that “fail to act.”
“The problem is, where is the civilized world? And in the case of "pay for slay," and in the case of Ahlam Tamimi, who lives free as a bird, as a celebrity, in Jordan, the problem is failure by some of the most serious organizations, including governments,” Roth said.
"Pay-for-slay" refers to the Palestinian Authority's policy of providing monthly stipends to killed, injured, or imprisoned terrorists and their families for acts of violence against Israelis.
Further, despite the warrant for her arrest, Roth argued that the US was failing to sufficiently act. He said he fully agreed with the argument that the US could get Jordan to deport Tamimi, but has simply failed to apply the pressure.
“The United States can bring Jordan to do anything it can conceive of doing. In this case, there's a treaty that goes back to 1995.”
Roth added that through Freedom of Information Act litigation, he had obtained a secret letter from the former Jordanian king vowing that the treaty would be honored.
It was signed by this king's father, and this king's father, in a secret letter, which I obtained through Freedom of Information Act litigation, says this treaty will be honored.”
“Lo and behold, it's his son who stands at the head of a government that says, ‘Well, actually, for this convoluted technical reason, we Jordanians don't have to hand her over.’ No one believes him,” Roth repeated. “Jordan has to hand her over. It's a treaty obligation. They're not a free agent. They're an ally of the United States, and they are bound by a treaty.”
He went on to question why this demand wasn’t being repeated at the highest levels of the American government.
“Jordan has no option,” he asserted. “Jordan has to hand her over, and if that isn't enough, why in heaven's name do they allow a woman like this, with blood, in this case, the blood of American victims, including my daughter, who's an American, to get away with this?” he asked. “She's been free in Jordan longer than my daughter was alive. There's something very, very wrong going on, and there are no secrets. It's very clear who can fix the problem.”