‘Bring Malki’s killer to justice’

The parents of Malki Roth, an Australian girl murdered in a 2001 Palestinian bombing of a Jerusalem pizzeria, have presented a petition with almost 30,000 signatures to the US, demanding the extradition of terrorist Ahlam Tamimi from Jordan.

Arnold and Frimet Roth presented the petition to US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. It is addressed to President Donald Trump,  Attorney-General Pam Bondi and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging  diplomatic pressure on Jordan to extradite Tamimi, who masterminded the attack which claimed 16 lives and wounded more than 130 people.

Tamimi was captured, tried and sentenced to 16 consecutive life sentences in Israel, but was released in a 2011 prisoner swap to free abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. She has been harboured by Jordan, where was acclaimed for the attack and expressed pride for it, becoming a celebrity TV host.

Pleas by Roth, who was raised in Australia, and his US-born wife Frimet for Tamimi to be extradited to the US, where courts have standing to try her, based on Malki’s American citizenship, have led nowhere.

In 2013, the US government filed criminal charges against Tamimi, who is on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list, for the murders of US nationals, including Malki, and four years later applied unsuccessfully for her extradition.

The US at that time maintained it could not go further because Jordan has not ratified an extradition treaty. However, in 2019, legal proceedings under US Freedom of Information laws unearthed a 1995 letter to the State Department from the late King Hussein, father of Abdullah II, confirming he ratified the treaty.

For Roth, the finding of a Jordanian court that the country’s parliament — which mostly passes the monarch’s decisions – has not ratified the treaty is a legal fiction.

Last year, the Roths, together with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, wrote to then Secretary of State Antony Blinken, noting King Hussein’s ratification of the US-Jordan extradition treaty.

“Jordan’s refusal to extradite Ahlam Tamimi represents a breach of the 1995 bilateral treaty between the United States and Jordan. Despite her confessions and incriminating statements, she has enjoyed immunity from justice, further exacerbating tensions and fostering an environment of hatred and extremism in the region.

“We believe that the United States should prioritise Tamimi’s extradition in our bilateral relations with Jordan. We suggest a comprehensive review of the leverage that could be applied by the United States to signal the importance of compliance with US law and principles.

“We urge the State Department to engage in a robust diplomatic dialogue with Jordan’s leadership, stressing the importance of upholding international agreements and commitments to justice … We also request that you raise the issue and seek tangible progress on Tamimi’s extradition with King Abdullah II.”

However, the approach to the Biden administration had little effect.

And efforts to engage Australia have also fallen short, with a 2022 letter from Malki’s parents to Roger Noble, then Australia’s ambassador for counter-terrorism, receiving a sympathetic response but no action. Noble replied then that, apart from a watching brief, the extradition “is ultimately a matter for the governments of the United States and Jordan”.

Late last year, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) must pay tens of millions of shekels to victims of the Sbarro pizzeria bombing.

The court’s determination was based on the PA and PLO incentivising terrorism through payments to terrorists and their families.

Roth last year described the ruling to The AJN as “a very welcome step towards unwinding the PA’s capacity to encourage and fund Palestinian Arab terror … But the decision itself doesn’t seek to target Hamas or Ahlam Tamimi”.

In their hour-long meeting with Huckabee, the Roths presented the US envoy with a framed photograph of Malki and her shattered mobile phone recovered by police.

Her father said, “This phone is one of the few physical traces we have left of Malki.”