A Reward for Justice Went Unmentioned at U.S.-Jordanian Press Conference

The reward is for up to $5 million and it's offered by the U.S. State Department for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a Jordanian citizen, Ahlam Ahmad Al-Tamimi, for her leading role in the 2001 Sbarro restaurant bombing in Jerusalem, in which two of the victims were U.S. citizens. The U.S. charges against Al-Tamimi were unsealed on March 14, 2017.

See the details here:

A Jordanian citizen, Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi, also known as “Khalti” and “Halati,” is a convicted terrorist operative for HAMAS.

On August 9, 2001, al-Tamimi transported a bomb and a HAMAS suicide bomber to a crowded Jerusalem Sbarro pizzeria, where the bomber detonated the explosives, killing 15 people, including seven children. Two American citizens were killed in the attack – Judith Shoshana Greenbaum, a pregnant 31-year-old school teacher from New Jersey, and Malka Chana Roth, a 15-year-old. Over 120 others were injured, including four Americans. HAMAS claimed responsibility for the bombing.

In 2003, al-Tamimi pleaded guilty in an Israeli court to participating in the attack and was sentenced to 16 life terms in Israel for assisting the bomber. She was released in October 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel. On March 14, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed a criminal complaint and an arrest warrant for al-Tamimi, charging her under U.S. law with “conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against U.S. nationals outside the U.S., resulting in death.” The FBI also added al-Tamimi to its list of most wanted terrorists and considers her to be “armed and dangerous.”

A former student working part time as a television journalist, al-Tamimi drove the bomber to the target after pledging to carry out attacks on behalf of the military wing of HAMAS, according to the FBI. Al-Tamimi, who planned and engineered the Sbarro attack, chose the location because it was a busy restaurant. To reduce suspicion, she and the suicide bomber dressed as Israelis, and she personally transported the bomb, concealed inside a guitar case, from a West Bank town into Jerusalem. Al-Tamimi also admitted to detonating a small IED in a Jerusalem grocery store a few weeks prior to the attack as part of a test run.

So, we want Jordan to turn over Al-Tamimi, but Jordan refuses. You might think that would make for an awkward U.S.-Jordan press conference this week (see: Remarks at Memorandum of Understanding Signing and Press Conference) but no, the subject of murdered U.S. citizens did not come up.

Instead, Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi talked about our seven decades of mutual cooperation on countering terrorism and such, and he also said thanks for the latest MOU under which the U.S. will offer $1.7 billion to his Kingdom over the next five years.

Your Excellency [SecState Rex Tillerson], we highly value your continuous support for Jordan. We value the strong partnership and friendship ties between the two countries, and we look forward to continuing to cooperate together to serve our mutual interests and to accomplish peace, security, and stability in the region.

Before signing the MOU, I discussed with His Excellency the Secretary of State developments in the region, particularly with respect to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Syria, and our common fight against terrorism and the strength of our relations ... We’ll continue to work together in pursuit of peace and stability. We will remain partners in the fight against terrorism until we destroy this evil.

SecState Tillerson's remarks included this:

I also want to highlight Jordan’s partnership and commitment to combating terrorism and violent extremism. His Majesty King Abdullah has long been a regional and global leader and a voice against terrorism, and is critical to our counterterrorism efforts.

Although he's critical to our counterterrorism effort, His Majesty apparently draws the line at turning over one of the Al-Tamimi family, even if it means he could add another $5 million to the pile of U.S. assistance.