The United States is considering withholding aid from one of its closest Arab partners, Jordan, in a bid to secure the extradition of a woman convicted in Israel of a 2001 terror bombing that killed 15 people, including two American citizens.
The family of one of those US citizens, 15-year-old Malki Roth, has been leading a campaign to extradite the terrorist to the US, after Israel imprisoned and then freed her.
The Trump administration says it’s weighing “all options” to press Jordan to extradite Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi, who is wanted by the US on a charge of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against American nationals. The charge was filed under seal in 2013 and announced by the Justice Department four years later.
The extradition issue is likely to be raised this week when Jordan’s King Abdullah II speaks to several congressional committees to voice his opposition to Israel’s plans to annex portions of the West Bank.
Tamimi is on the FBI’s list of “most wanted terrorists” for her role in escorting the suicide bomber from Ramallah to the crowded Jerusalem pizzeria where he struck. It was one of the deadliest terror attacks during the second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising. She has expressed no remorse and has been seen gloating that she managed to kill Israeli children.
She has lived freely in Jordan since Israel released her in a 2011 prisoner swap with terror group Hamas, when she and more than a thousand other terror convicts were released in exchange for captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Jordanian authorities have rebuffed US requests to turn her over, despite an extradition treaty. Jordan has a large Palestinian population and it’s unclear if a threat over aid would cause it to rethink its position.
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