Friday, February 09, 2018

09-Feb-18: Acting slowly in Jordan and the United States?

Jordanian king, US Secretary of State - April 2017
[Image Source: Wikicommons]
A syndicated article, "Despite reward for fugitive Palestinian terrorist, U.S. and Jordan remain slow to act", was posted Thursday to the JNS website.

Authored by the historian Rafael Medoff, it quotes several voices (including ours) expressing concern about the failure of Jordan's Hashemite government to hand over for extradition to the US the confessed mass-murdererer and fugitive FBI Most Wanted Terrorist, Ahlam Tamimi. She's the killer of our daughter, Malki, a US citizen. 

It opens this way:
The Trump administration has offered a $5 million reward for the capture of a Palestinian terrorist in Jordan, but apparently has not asked the Jordanian government to hand her over. Relatives of the terrorist’s victims are expressing disappointment and anger at what they call a half-hearted U.S. effort in this and similar cases. The terrorist at the center of the controversy is Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi, one of the masterminds of the Aug. 9, 2001 bombing of the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem. Fifteen people were killed in the blast, including two U.S. citizens: New Jersey schoolteacher Judith Greenbaum and 15-year-old Malki Roth... [MORE]
We hope it gets attention in some of the right places.

We have been in private dialogue of various kinds with officials from several parts of the US government since the important March 2017 announcement, right up until the past few days. It's hard to read the JNS article and not be deeply disheartened by the brick walls that Dr Medoff has encountered in trying to get clarity on what has been done these past ten months - and what has not.

Confessed murderer reacts on Aljazeera to US extradition
request
Also published yesterday, the US Secretary of State is making an official visit to Jordan in the next few days:
In Jordan, the top US diplomat will meet with King Abdullah II and Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Al-Safadi, the statement said. Tillerson will underscore the enduring strength of the US-Jordan relationship, engage with the Jordanian leadership on the conclusion of a new Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral assistance, and discuss key regional issues such as the ongoing crisis in Syria and Jordan's support for Middle East peace. [Source]
They will also, we assume, discuss the contemptuous way Jordan has brushed aside its 1995 extradition treaty obligations with its most important strategic ally. And make immediate plans for remedying that.

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