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US Jewish Groups to Jordan: Extradite Sbarro Terrorist for Trial

Eighteen US Jewish organizations have jointly called on Jordan to extradite Ahlam Tamimi, a Jordanian citizen who in August 2001 led a suicide bomber to Jerusalem’s Sbarro restaurant, where he killed 15 people, including two US citizens, and wounded some 130 others. Tamimi is wanted by the FBI in conjunction with a federal law covering terrorists who kill US citizens abroad. The Jewish groups urged the Trump Administration to make Jordan “accountable to its commitments under its extradition treaty with the United States and bring all pressure to bear, including but not limited to recent government legislation significantly impacting US financial aid to Jordan [1].” Tamimi was quickly arrested, tried and given multiple life sentences by Israel for the attack but was freed a decade later as part of a swap for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit. Since then, she has been residing freely in Jordan, where she has worked in television and makes public appearances during which she often says she smiled as she heard the Sbarro blast, and wishes the death toll could have been higher. In issuing the statement, the Jewish groups – which include AIPAC, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Federations of North America – expressed their “collective outrage over the Kingdom of Jordan’s refusal to extradite the murderer of American citizens.”