In 2013, federal immigration officials became aware of Odeh’s background and took a second look at the forms she filled out when applying for citizenship. The form asked if she had ever been convicted of a crime; she wrote, “No.” and because of that she was indicted her on charges of immigration fraud.
Odeh was convicted and ordered deported to Jordan. But an appeals court ruled last year that her lawyers were wrongly denied permission to argue that Odeh lied on the forms because she suffered “post-traumatic stress disorder” while imprisoned in Israel. A new trial is set to begin May 16.
When Rasmea applied for naturalization (after changing the spelling of her name) to become a U.S. Citizen, she again falsely answered key questions (yellow highlighting added):
Since she has so little chance of prevailing in court on the merits, Odeh has been desperately trying to create political pressure that she hopes will influence the legal process.
Odeh found allies in the Arab-American community in Chicago, where she lives. That’s disheartening, because one would like to think that the Arab-American community is as horrified by Odeh’s terrorism as everyone else.
As it turned out, though, Odeh’s Arab-American allies have proven rather ineffective. The Arab-American Action Network (AAAN), for which Odeh works, has formed its defense of her around two arguments. One is that Odeh “misunderstood” the question on the form; that’s obviously absurd.
Convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh speaks in March 2016. Credit: YouTube screenshot.
The AAAN’s second line of defense is that Odeh confessed to the bombings only after several weeks of “torture” and “sexual abuse” by Israeli interrogators. That, of course, conflicts with the fact that Odeh confessed after just one day in jail. And the AAAN has no way to explain the bombs found in Odeh’s apartment, the statements of her co-conspirators or her undisputed involvement with a terrorist group.
So Odeh has been looking for other allies. And she’s found one—on the edges of the Jewish community. The far-left JVP has announced that Odeh will be one of the featured speakers at its national conference, in Chicago, at the end of March at the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) 2017 National Member Meeting. Odeh is slated to speak alongside Linda Sarsour, a vocal anti-Israel activist who supports Shariah law.
JVP was founded by three undergraduates at the University of California, Berkeley. It’s ironic that an organization founded by college students should be embracing someone who murdered two college students. I suppose as long as she didn’t murder any members of JVP, they don’t consider her to be the enemy.
JVP is pretty much as far to the left as you can get in the American Jewish world. The Anti-Defamation League has called it “the most influential anti-Zionist group in the United States.” JVP is well-known for supporting BDS, the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign and wholeheartedly endorsing the Black Lives Matter platform, which charges Israel with “genocide” and “apartheid.” In other words, the “Jewish” in JVP’s title is essentially a cover for anti-Israel activitiesThe problem is when left-wing Jewish groups that are not as radical as JVP start to treat JVP as legitimate, instead of as a pariah. Note, for example, that JVP’s director spoke at J Street’s 2011 national conference. After Odeh speaks at the JVP gathering in March, she will surely look for other audiences in the Jewish community. She needs them to soften her image and create pressure against her deportation.
Odeh in an anti-Police protest for Black Lives Matter
Mainstream Jewish liberal groups need to understand that Odeh represents a red line. Anyone who gives a platform to this convicted murderer will be crossing that line. If groups like Americans for Peace Now, Ameinu (Labor Zionists) and others in their camp want to maintain their credibility and be taken seriously in the Jewish community, they need to make it unequivocally clear, right now, that they reject JVP’s hosting of Odeh and will never have anything to do with her.
Stephen M. Flatow, a vice president of the Religious Zionists of America, is an attorney in New Jersey and the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.
Send the old bag back to Jordan where she belongs.
ReplyDeleteSurprised that The Satmar Jew hating gangsters have not yet taken up her cause,wouldn't be surprised if one day we hear that a fund raising event was scheduled in Williamsburg to raise funds for her legal defence
ReplyDeleteAt least Satmar is helping people not like the Nazi-zionist scum-dogs who robbed the Yemenite Jews of all their possessions which included antiques of thousands of years and if that wasn't enough the Nazi-zionist murderers took away way over a thousand children and sold them for whoever gave a bigger price YEMACH SHEMOM, YES THE ARABS ARE MORE HUMAN THAN THE ATHEISTIC NAZI-ZIONISTS
ReplyDelete3:20, nice try - but I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteSatmar Yebbe now has a new follower
ReplyDeleteHe might even marry her
7:14, just stop that mamash shtus already. All of us here know that that is not true regarding Zionists or Anti-Zionists. Enough!
ReplyDeleteYour "not true" is the real mamash shtus
DeleteMa Rabbi
ReplyDeleteNo,send her to Kiryas Joel that hotbed of Jew haters and Israel haters there she will feel right at home
That's aron teitelschmucks wife
ReplyDeleteWhat a whore
6:27 and 7:14, Did we not just learn in Parshas Mishpatim מִדְּבַר־שֶׁ֖קֶר תִּרְחָ֑ק?........
ReplyDeletePlease be aware
ReplyDeleteAish Kodesh is a born again Christian
Doesn't the pattern of her hijab make the statement of being in support of terrorism?
ReplyDelete