About a month ago, the New York Times reviewed a movie called Hot House, which called itself a 'documentary' about 'Palestinians' in Israeli jails.
an absorbing look at Palestinians held in Israeli jails... full of remarkable interviews....A former Palestinian newscaster, Ahlam Tamimi [pictured at top. CiJ], recalls the day she dropped a suicide bomber off at his target, then coolly went on television to report on the resulting bombing.
The review featured a picture of a 'Palestinian' woman named Ahlam Tamimi, about whom the Times gave little pertinent background.
Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki (pictured below) was murdered by the suicide bomber transported by Ahlam Tamimi in the restaurant chosen by Ahlam Tamimi six years ago yesterday was furious.
The film is produced by HBO. So it's presumably HBO's publicity department that was responsible for creating and distributing a glamor-style photograph of a smiling, contented-looking young woman in her twenties to promote the movie.
That female is our child's murderer. She was sentenced to sixteen life sentences or 320 years which she is serving in an Israeli jail. Fifteen people were killed and more than a hundred maimed and injured by the actions of this attractive person and her associates. The background is here.
Arnold didn't really deal with the Times, but today Noah Pollak of the Shalem Center slams the Times' editors for the Hot House review (Hat Tip: Stefanie P.):
If the editors of the Times were familiar with the easily-obtainable details of her story but nonetheless chose to present her in the manner they did, they are moral cretins. And if they didn’t bother to investigate the reason for her incarceration, they are more than just poor journalists -- they are willfully obtuse ones, reluctant to dig too deeply into a story whose particularities would be troublesome to the aesthetic presentation demanded by the preferred narrative -- a narrative captured perfectly when Genzlinger avers that “by the end of ‘Hot House’ you may feel more than a little annoyance at the two sides in this endless conflict. These enemies know each other absurdly well. They learn from each other, and talk openly about doing so. Yet they can’t seem to break the cycle: a cat and mouse addicted to their own game.” Beliefs like this are both cowardly and convenient: They allow journalists to remain ensconced in their preferred moral universe, one in which there is equivalence between terrorist and victim and conflict only continues because of an intransigence, even a thirst for combat, that is shared equally by both sides.
Pollak fills in the 'easily obtainable' but missing background about Tamimi:
Tamimi was much more than a simple and perhaps unwitting means of transportation for a suicide bomber. And the suicide bombing in question, which is never mentioned in the review, was one of the most gruesome and deadly of the Intifada: it was the Sbarro pizzeria bombing in downtown Jerusalem that murdered 15 people (17, if one wishes to count the baby being carried by a pregnant woman and another victim who was left in a permanent coma). Eight of the slaughtered were children, a detail that could not have gone unnoticed by Tamimi’s accomplice as he made his way through the crowd of restaurant patrons with an explosives- and shrapnel-packed guitar case slung over his shoulder.
Tamimi, who at the time of the attack was a 20-year-old part-time university student from Ramallah, and the bomber, a 22-year-old son of affluent West Bank parents, were members of Hamas. The planning and reconnaissance for the attack were carried out also by Tamimi, and on the day of the attack Tamimi and her accomplice dressed as westerners and spoke English in order to pass through the checkpoints between Arab East Jerusalem and Jewish West Jerusalem. In 2006 Tamimi was given a rare opportunity to be interviewed in prison, and declared: “I'm not sorry for what I did. I will get out of prison and I refuse to recognize Israel's existence. Discussions will only take place after Israel recognizes that this is Islamic land.”
But the Times would like to pretend that those facts don't exist:
From reading the New York Times’ review of the Israeli documentary Hot House, an account of Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli jails, one would be left with the impression that Ahlam Tamimi, the smiling young woman featured in a large color portrait atop the story, is a kindhearted person, an anomalous presence behind bars. Her smooth, youthful skin perspires slightly beneath the hijab that frames her face; she is looking into the camera, head tilted slightly, straight white teeth shining, a look of contentment and pride in her eyes. What could someone like her be doing in prison?
You wouldn’t know the answer to that question from the photo caption, which reads: “Ahlam Tamimi in a scene from the documentary ‘Hot House.’ Ms. Tamimi is among about 10,000 Palestinians being held in Israeli jails.” The only reference to her in Neil Genzlinger’s review says, “A former Palestinian newscaster, Ahlam Tamimi, recalls the day she dropped a suicide bomber off at his target, then coolly went on television to report on the resulting bombing.”
'Palestinian Authority' daily honors Sbarro terrorist as a hero
Palestinian Media Watch reports that the 'Palestinian Authority' daily newspaper Al-Quds has honored Sbarro terrorist Ahlam Tamimi as a 'hero' of the 'Palestinian people.'
On Aug. 9, 2001, a suicide terrorist entered the Sbarro pizza shop in the center of Jerusalem and detonated his bomb, killing 15 people, including seven children. Five members of the same family were wiped out. The woman who helped plan the attack and drove the terrorist, a university student named Ahlam Tamimi, was sentenced to 16 terms of life imprisonment in Israel. In prison, she married a male terrorist murderer, her cousin Nizar Tamimi.
Continuing the current trend in the ['moderate' CiJ] Palestinian Authority media to honor past and present terrorists, the Palestinian daily Al Quds yesterday published an interview with the Palestinian poet, Mutawakil Taha, who wrote a book honoring the terrorist couple. He described them as "the two great heroic prisoners Nizar Tamimi and Ahlam Tamimi."
In its introduction, the Palestinian daily cited the importance of his work:
"The work of the Palestinian poet, Dr. Mutawakil Taha, has a clear presence and influence on the Palestinian and Arabic culture and literature."
Mutawakil Taha:
"Two years ago I wrote the book "Ahlam ibn al-Nabi" about the two great heroic prisoners Nizar Tamimi and Ahlam Tamimi, whom we are proud of. A month ago I wrote the poem "Marwan" about Marwan Barghouthi, [serving 5 life sentences for murder - Editor] as a symbol of the fight voiced by the prisoners. I feel that the prisoners are Martyrs in potential, and that we should bond with them without question or accounting. We should bond to the prisoners unconditionally as we bond to the Martyrs and the homeland."
[Al-Quds, April 7, 2008]
I wonder if anyone will bother to show this to Bush and Condi.
/sarc
P.S. The links on Tamimi's name are to past blog posts I have done about her. Those who have not seen them before would be well advised to read them. The Sbarro terror attack was a turning point in our relationship with the 'Palestinians.' It was one of two terror attacks that galvanized the country into action during the Oslo Terror War.
This is an issue I have discussedseveral times before. Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert has a problem. Under the present definition, nearly every 'Palestinian' prisonerterrorist held by Israel 'has blood on his hands.' That does not leave a whole lot of room for Olmert the slick lawyer to make 'gestures' to 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen - let alone to Hamas - by freeing terrorists to let them resume their terror activities. Now Olmert is looking yet again to change the criteria.
The difference is that this time the bait is slightly more palatable to the public than another 'unilateral gesture.' The 'bait' is Gilad Shalit.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will hold a special session on Monday with a team of ministers to examine the option of modifying criteria for the release of prisoners "with blood on their hands."
The meeting will be attended by Vice Premier Haim Ramon, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, Public Affairs Minister Avi Dichter and Minister without-portfolio Ami Ayalon.
The issue was raised in an effort to advance the negotiations for the release of kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit. The forum will decide whether prisoners on the list given to Israel by Hamas who had previously been rejected can be considered for release.
Today's definition of a terrorist "with blood on his hands" is one who may not have physically carried out an attack but was directly involved in one.
Let's put this in cold hard terms: Under today's criteria, Ahlam Tamimi is not eligible for release. Under the new criteria she might be, because she did not physically carry out an attack, but she was involved in one. And for those who have forgotten, who is Ahlam Tamimi?
Tamimi was much more than a simple and perhaps unwitting means of transportation for a suicide bomber. And the suicide bombing in question, which is never mentioned in the review, was one of the most gruesome and deadly of the Intifada: it was the Sbarro pizzeria bombing in downtown Jerusalem that murdered 15 people (17, if one wishes to count the baby being carried by a pregnant woman and another victim who was left in a permanent coma). Eight of the slaughtered were children, a detail that could not have gone unnoticed by Tamimi’s accomplice as he made his way through the crowd of restaurant patrons with an explosives- and shrapnel-packed guitar case slung over his shoulder.
Tamimi, who at the time of the attack was a 20-year-old part-time university student from Ramallah, and the bomber, a 22-year-old son of affluent West Bank parents, were members of Hamas. The planning and reconnaissance for the attack were carried out also by Tamimi, and on the day of the attack Tamimi and her accomplice dressed as westerners and spoke English in order to pass through the checkpoints between Arab East Jerusalem and Jewish West Jerusalem. In 2006 Tamimi was given a rare opportunity to be interviewed in prison, and declared: “I'm not sorry for what I did. I will get out of prison and I refuse to recognize Israel's existence. Discussions will only take place after Israel recognizes that this is Islamic land.”
Will Ehud K. Olmert release Ahlam Tamimi as part of an exchange for Gilad Shalit? For those of you thinking that someone in tomorrow's meeting will block him from doing so, the only one in that group who is likely to vote "no" is Avi Dichter. It's possible that Daniel Friedmann will vote "no" - I don't know enough about his political leanings. But the rest of them will all vote with Olmert, and Tamimi may be released.
This is rich: Tamimi's father wants her to quit terrorism
This is rich. The father of mass murderer Ahlam Tamimi, who is scheduled to be released from an Israeli prison on Tuesday and deported to Jordan as part of the terrorists for Gilad trade, wants his daughter to quit terrorism.
Ahlam’s brother Fakher is delighted that the Schalit deal guarantees the rights of both Palestinian and Israeli people.
“It’s our right to be happy for Ahlam the same degree the Israeli community has the right to be happy for Schalit,” the 53-year-old judge who lives in Amman told the Post.
Ahlam’s nephew, Faraj, 29, thinks Ahlam is already a hero.
Her brother Fakher agrees, saying, “She’s a freedom fighter just like the Israelis have heroes.”
Faraj does not expect Ahlam to go back to militant activities.
“After 11 years in prison, it’s time for Ahlam to have a life of her own,” her nephew told the Post.
Her father Aref told the Post he will not allow Ahlam to continue working in the political scene.
“I won’t encourage her; she’s 31 years old now, and engaged. She should look after her life,” he said.
He thinks she will not be allowed to go back to the West Bank, and it would be difficult to be politically active from Jordan. Other family members disagreed with him, saying this is Ahlam’s decision, and they expect her to become a political leader.
Ahlam is engaged to her second cousin Nizar Tamimi, 39, who is expected to be released in the first stage of the swap in the upcoming days. Nizar spent 19 years of his life sentence in Israeli prisons.
The family does not know how the marriage will happen, since they are unaware if Ahlam can go back to the Palestinian territories or if Nizar will be allowed to go out of it.
Her brother Muhammad, 36, will travel to Jordan tomorrow to welcome his sister. He told the Post that Ahlam will keep struggling to live with Nizar.
Their father, who lives in Jordan now, described Ahlam as a stubborn and courageous child, and said the family heard of her involvement in the Sbarro attack from the news.
“We thought she was going to her university; we never knew what she was up to,” said her father, who is in his mid- 70s.
So what happens if Ahlam doesn't listen to her father? Do Muslims do honor killings for refusing to quit terrorism?
If you have any doubt where Tamimi came from, the apple does not fall far from the tree.
When asked what message they would send to the families of the victims of the Sbarro attack, Ahlam’s family members said they would like to ask the Israeli people what do they say to the Palestinian families who lost their loved ones.
“We will not tell them sorry,” her nephew Faraj said, while her brother Fakher said he wished that the innocent civilians from both people stood together in the face of injustice.
Please....
And by the way, how many of the Sbarro victims never married and never had children because of Ahlam Tamimi? I'd say most of them.
Ahlam Tamimi should meet her end violently in the very near future. Nothing would be more fitting. I don't care who does it.
On the day before the mass murder at Itamar, the 'Palestinian Authority' honored Ahlam Tamimi.
One day before the terror attack in the town of Itamar in which five members of an Israeli family were murdered in their home, PA TV broadcast a program honoring Ahlam Tamimi, the woman accomplice who drove the suicide terrorist to the Sbarro pizza restaurant in August, 2001. 15 people were murdered in the attack, 7 of them children.
...
Visiting Tamimi's home, the PA TV crew interviewed her relatives, who expressed their longing for her and their hope for her release.
The PA TV camera focused on a certificate awarded by Fatah to the terrorist accomplice, calling her "the heroic prisoner."
The award is decorated with photographs of Yasser Arafat and Abu Jihad, the Fatah logo, and a photograph of Tamimi herself. The text reads: "A gift of the Fatah Palestinian National Liberation Movement Ramallah - El-Bireh branch To the heroic prisoner Ahlam Tamimi As a token of esteem for your sacrifices And your acts of heroism."
Tamimi is serving 16 life terms for her role in the Sbarro attack - one of the worst in Israel's history. There's much more about Tamimi here and an interview with her here. She did much more than just drive the terrorist to the attack. She chose the target.
Also last week, the 'Palestinian Authority' honored Fahami Mashahara. Fahami Mashahara drove a suicide bomber to Gilo in Jerusalem in 2001 who killed 19 and injured more than hundred. His daughter was invited to perform a song on PA TV.
With these kinds of heroes, is it any wonder that the 'Palestinians' glorify terrorism?
In a brief post on Monday, I reported that the fiancee of 'Palestinian' terrorist Ahlam Tamimi was allowed to cross into Jordan to consecrate their marriage. Needless to say, he's not coming back. Both Tamimi and her fiancee cousin Nizar were released as part of the terrorists for Gilad deal executed by the Netanyahu-Barak government.
For Arnold and Frimet Roth, whose daughter Malki HY"D (May God Avenge her blood) was murdered as a result of Ahlam Tamimi's actions, Nizar's release to Jordan is just another in a series of actions by Prime Minister Netanyahu that kowtow to terrorism and cause them additional pain.
Why, we demand to know, did this government secretly delete the condition of the murderer Nazir al-Tamimi's release? This had been accepted by Hamas and was the last vestige of punishment that remained for two evil monsters. There is simply no rationalization for rewarding them.
Unlike the Shalit deal, this generosity will not return to Israel any missing soldiers. It does not benefit the nation in any way. But it will embolden terrorists everywhere. Tamimi will make certain of that.
Since the Shalit deal, she has traveled freely from her base in Jordan. On visits to Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia and Qatar, she incites crowds of fans to follow in her footsteps. She hosts a weekly prime-time TV talk show every Friday night on a Hamas satellite channel. Since March, her hateful messages are beamed to households throughout the Arabic-speaking world. She brags about her barbaric deed, declares she has no regrets, encourages others to follow and states her readiness to repeat it.
Many know Tamimi as the “star” of a viral YouTube clip in which she smiles joyfully upon learning that her fifteen victims at Sbarro include eight children. She had thought there were three, she says.
This is the person our leaders – sworn to uphold the basic democratic principles of justice and fairness – have chosen to reward.
Precious Malki has been denied forever the right to life, marriage and a family. But we must now watch Tamimi, the embodiment of evil, living her life to the fullest. Courtesy of our own government.
Ahlam Tamimi's husband allowed to join her in Jordan
I have discussed Ahlam Tamimi, the brains behind the Jerusalem Sbarro massacre, more times than I can count on this blog.
When Tamimi, seen above reading a newscast about the Sbarro bombing on 'Palestinian' television shortly after the bombing, was released from prison as part of the terrorists for Gilad trade in October, she was exiled to Jordan, 'never' to return to Israel or the 'Palestinian Authority.' In Jordan, she has become a television star....
Meanwhile, Tamimi's cousin Nizar al-Tamimi, to whom she was betrothed, was released to Judea and Samaria as part of the same deal, and was not allowed to leave the area. Nizar al-Tamimi is also a murderer.
My friend Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki was murdered in the Sbarro bombing, got wind last week that the Israeli government was preparing to remove the restriction that kept Nizar in the 'Palestinian Authority.' On Wednesday, Arnold and his wife, Frimet, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu, which they republished - on Sunday - here.
On Sunday evening, Arnold and Frimet got word that Nizar was quietly permitted to cross into Jordan on Thursday. Did Arnold and Frimet's letter accelerate Nizar's departure? I leave that to the reader to contemplate.
The same government that fought dozens of court battles to prevent there being more Amir's in the world, has quietly facilitated the existence of future Tamimi's in the world.
On Friday, I reported that rumors were flying that kidnapped IDF corporal Gilad Shalit was to be released in exchange for 1,000 terrorists, many of whom have blood on their hands. Since Friday, the rumors have continued to come fast and furious, but I have ignored most of them and not posted them on this blog. Yesterday, there were stories that claimed that the issue of the 70 prisoners that Israel had refused to release had been 'resolved.'
To give you a flavor for what's been going on, here are two reports from the last few hours. This is the first report (the first link above):
Arab media outlets have reported in recent hours that Israel has agreed to release hundreds of terrorists responsible for the murder of many Israelis, as part of a deal for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
According to the reports, some of the terrorists have already informed their families that they will be released in the coming days.
And here is the second report.
Rami Igra, former head of the Mossad’s Department on Prisoners has warned that a major terrorist release in a deal for Gilad Shalit would be a big mistake.
Speaking on Army Radio, Igra said that a major terrorist release would "change the face of the Middle East". “He who is freed in a deal today may join the next IDF soldier kidnapping group tomorrow," he warned.
It sure sounds like something is up.
As I was typing this letter, I received the following email from my former colleague Arnold Roth. Arnold's email is self-explanatory.
Dear friends,
Earlier today, we sent a letter to the cabinet members of the government of Israel. The following is an English translation of what we wrote to them.
Like the rest of the Jewish nation, we yearn to see Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit back home with his long-suffering parents as soon as possible.
But it is with indescribable pain that we read about the impending mass release of the convicted murderers of Israeli civilians and soldiers. Those of us who still personally feel the agony of the terror attacks of the last few years have failed to motivate our leaders to free Gilad Shilat via alternative means.
Among the prisoners to be released will be the convicted mass murderer Ahlam Tamimi.
And among the victims whose sacrifices will be denigrated is our precious child, Malki.
Tamimi is unique in several ways. As such, she should be treated differently from other convicted murderers.
While she is a woman, and for this reason accorded relatively compassionate coverage by the media, Tamimi is a far more prolific murderer than most of the men she will accompany. She slaughtered seven men and women and eight babies and children in cold blood. Tamimi personally led the suicide-bomber, Al-Masri, right up to entrance of the target she herself selected, Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant, made a hasty getaway to save her own skin, and then, in effect, "fired her weapon". Few of the prisoners on Hamas' demand list were so intimately involved in the terror attacks for which they were convicted and sentenced. Those who were, usually died in the attack.
Tamimi was sentenced to 16 consecutive life sentences, and has been in prison for five years. Few of the murderers Israel has agreed to release have spent so brief a period behind bars.
She has enjoyed the notoriously comfortable conditions that Israel lavishes on female Palestinian prisoners, including: the freedom to dress in clothes of her choice - she swapped her secular garb for Muslim fundamentalist scarf and robe; the opportunity to grant interviews to writers and to a documentary film-maker, thereby gaining widespread international media coverage and air-time for her hateful values; the unfettered opportunity to practice her religion to the fullest extent; the option of higher education - she was a university student and part-time journalist at the time of the murders; the time to socialize and politicize with her fellow terrorist-prisoners. Few male Palestinian murderers enjoy conditions as generous as Tamimi's.
Tamimi has declared unequivocally that she has no regrets about what she did. In one of her media interviews, permitted by the Israel Prison Service, she is quoted saying: “I am not sorry for what I did. I will get out of prison and I refuse to recognize Israel’s existence… Discussions will only take place after Israel recognizes that this is Islamic land”.
Several years ago, Tamimi spoke with Barbara Victor, author of “Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers” (London; Constable & Robinson, 2004). In her book, Victor writes that Tamimi “didn’t regret the deaths of all these children” and said “They should have returned to Poland, Russia or the United States, to the countries their parents came from”.
Of the other convicted terrorists to be freed, none – as far as we know – has made such egregious and documented statements of un-repentance.
Abdullah Barghouti, another mass murderer who prepared the bomb that slaughtered the Sbarro victims and who is also slated to be released in the Gilad Shalit exchange, publicized his lack of regret as well. But he qualified this by saying: "I do not accept responsibility for their deaths. I feel pain, of course. They are little children. But the government of Israel is solely responsible."
When, during the filming of a documentary, Tamimi was informed that the number of children she had murdered was higher than she had herself presumed, she smiled with pleasure into the camera.
The Sbarro bombing remains one of the most horrific acts of terrorism that Israel has ever known. It decimated an entire family, the Schijveschuurders; the father, mother and three of their young children died instantly, leaving behind four orphans. It robbed a couple of their only child, pregnant with her first baby when Tamimi murdered her. It sent a young mother into a coma from which she has never emerged; her ravaged life is never included in the tally of Tamimi's victims.
The evil that Tamimi embodies is special, and deserves treatment distinct from that of the other terrorists.
We recognize, as many observers have pointed out, that Israel has probably bungled the handling of Shalit's return. The damage has been done and there is no turning back the clock. We are resigned to the fact that releasing terrorists for Gilad Shalit's return means that Hamas will commit fresh kidnappings.
We also fear that Israeli soldiers, sent by their commanders to risk their lives in the pursuit of suspected terrorists, will now wonder whether they should die just so that another name is added to the next prisoner-release list.
Removing Tamimi's name from the list will enable Israel to demonstrate some vestige of strength, conviction and morality. This is a message which needs to be heard by its citizens, its enemies and the world. Please support our efforts to bring this about.
This is a small country. Arnold and I briefly worked at the same firm. His daughter Malki HY"D (may God avenge her blood), the girl playing the flute in the photo above, was a year behind my daughter in school.
I have talked about Sbarro (from which my own daughter was half a block away when the attack took place) and its victims many times on this blog, usually on the anniversary of the attack. A cousin of the Schijveschuurder family has been in touch with me and reads this blog from time to time. The pregnant woman who was an only child had purchased the home of one of our closest friends in New Jersey together with her husband. And the lady who is in a coma is a friend of a friend (who has a husband and young daughter who was a toddler at the time of the attack) and continues to be on my prayer list daily.
This is a small country. Releasing Ahlam Tamimi would be a kick in the gut for most of us. And it would be devastating for Arnold and Frimet and the family members of the other victims. It cannot be allowed to happen.
'Palestinian Authority' Television, which is controlled by 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen, has once again honored Ahlam Tamimi, who drove the suicide bomber to Sbarro's in Jerusalem ten years ago, and then calmly went and broadcast the whole story on 'Palestinian' television. Palestinian Authority TV has chosen to honor two more terrorists serving multiple life sentences for murder in its continuous glorification of Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Terrorist Ahlam Tamimi drove a suicide bomber to the Sbarro pizza shop in Jerusalem in August 2001. 15 people were murdered in the attack, 7 of them children. Muhammad Wael Daghlas planned the attack and sent the suicide bomber, and is currently serving 15 life sentences.
PA TV program In a Fighter's Home decided to honor Daghlas by visiting the home of his family. During the visit, the PA TV host decided to send special greetings and praise to Ahlam Tamimi as well.
Let's go to the videotape.
The last time the 'Palestinian Authority honored Tamimi was five days before the Fogel family of Itamar was massacred.
What could go wrong?
Another program on 'Palestinian' television last week praised Tamimi. More here.
Palestinian female prisoners have 'blood on their hands'
As many of you know already, Hamas has demanded the release of all female prisoners and prisoners under the age of 18 who are held in Israeli jails in return for 'information' regarding kidnapped Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit. Who are these prisoners? One such prisoner is Ahlam Tamimi.
Ahlam Tamimi, a female journalist of Jordanian descent residing in Ramallah, transported the suicide terrorist, a Hamas operative, who carried out the suicide bombing attack at Sbarro restaurant in the heart of Jerusalem on August 9, 2001. Tamimi was also involved in gathering intelligence for the planned suicide bombing attack. Ahlam Tamimi was also responsible for setting an explosive charge camouflaged in a beer can at a supermarket in Jerusalem on July 30, 2001.
According to an article in today's Toronto Globe & Mail, of the 91 women and 313 minors in Israeli jails, 64 of the women and 91 of the minors have blood on their hands.
Amani Mona, a female journalist and Fatah operative from Ramallah, who assisted in the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenager Ofir Rahum, whom she lured to Ramallah through an internet correspondence.
Nablus resident Iman Asha, whom Hamas attempted to use to set an explosive charge in the Tel Aviv Central Bus station on August 3, 2001.
Palestinian children in Israeli jails are boys between the ages of 13 and 18. Most of them were jailed for carrying knives at Israeli military checkpoints or throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli military jeeps in the West Bank.
Recently it was revealed that some 'Palestinian' boys are deliberately trying to get arrested by Israeli forces by carrying knives or simple bombs. The youths are poor and living under great duress, some in cities such as Nablus that have been under siege for extended periods.
According to Hamas, the German mediator who has been acting as a go-between for Israel and Hamas in the 'terrorists for Gilad' negotiations is about to quit.
Hamas Gaza spokesman Ayman Ta estimated on Thursday that the German mediator in negotiations for the release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will resign soon because of what he called "Israeli intransigence".
Hamas politburo member Izat Ar-Rishek said that Hamas agreed with the mediator at one time that the first phase of an exchange would include 270 prisoners serving life terms and that 80 prisoners who were residents of Judea and Samaria would be deported to Gaza. However, he said, Israel demanded to deport 209 prisoners. He said Israel refused to release senior terrorists, including Marwan Barghouti, Ahmed Saadat and Ahlam Tamimi.
That's the first time I've seen Ahlam Tamimi on that list. And it's high time. Ahlam Tamimi led the suicide bomber to Sbarro's in 2001.
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Monday, March 18.
Cheerleading the Intifada
The New York Times has done it again. Less then two weeks after
publishing an intellectual attack against Israel, it publishes an
article glorifying physical attacks on Israel. The front page story of
yesterday's New York Times Magazine, Is This Where the Third Intifada Will Start?
by Ben Ehrenriech. (The cover has the more provocative phrase, "If
there is a third intifada, we want to be the ones who started it."
Chemi Shalev of the left wing paper Ha'aretz lets us in on a little secret about Ehrenreich:
In 2009, Ehrenreich published a direct attack on Zionism in the Los
Angeles Times entitled “Zionism is the Problem”. In the article,
Ehrenreich castigates not only the “deplorable conditions in which
Palestinians live and die in Gaza and the West Bank” but “the Zionist
tenets on which the state was founded “as well.
“The problem is functional”, Ehrenreich writes. “Founding a modern state
on a single ethnic or religious identity in a territory that is
ethnically and religiously diverse leads inexorably either to politics
of exclusion or to wholesale ethnic cleansing. Put simply, the problem
is Zionism.”
In other words, Ehrenreich is every bit the anti-Israel ideologue as
Joseph Levine who recently explained why Israel could not legitimately
be both a Jewish and a democratic state. The article is written in a
measured, professorial tone. So the outrageous aspects of the article
will be omissions that indicate that Ehrenreich is not telling the whole
story.
For example, Ehrenrecih writes:
But little was resolved in Oslo. A second intifada erupted in 2000, at
first mostly following the model set by the earlier uprising.
Palestinians blocked roads and threw stones.
But the second intifada didn't just erupt. It was orchestrated by Yasser Arafat. The available evidence is overwhelming. But Ehrenreich isn't interested.
At the blog, This Ongoing War, the Roths note another omission:
That's all he writes about Ahlam Tamimi but we can tell you more. She is
a Jordanian who was 21 years old and the news-reader on official
Palestinian Authority television when she signed on with Hamas to become
a terrorist. She engineered, planned and helped execute a massacre in
the center of Jerusalem on a hot summer afternoon in 2001. She chose the
target, a restaurant filled with Jewish children. And she brought the
bomb. The outcome (15 killed, a sixteenth still in a vegetative state
today, 130 injured) was so uplifting to her that she has gone on camera
again and again to say, smiling into the camera lens, how proud she is
of what she did. She is entirely free of regret. A convicted felon and a
mass-murderer convicted on multiple homicide charges, she has never
denied the role she embraced and justifies it fully.
Yet all the NY Times says about Nabi Saleh’s favourite one-time resident
is that she was an escort “who now lives in exile in Jordan”. Period.
This is no mere oversight. The editors at the New York Times showcased
this same psychopath once before, six years ago. Then, as now, we felt
someone needed to push back and we posted two blog articles: “7-Aug-07:
Hot House: Cold Truths” and “28-Jun-07: About sweet-faced young women”,
and got a little attention for a while. But it was clear to us that
those who thought they perceived greatness of spirit in the woman
continued to do so.
One of the children killed at Sbarro's by Ahlam Tamimi, was the Roth's 15 year old daughter Malki.
Israelly Cool notes the Roth's story and adds another detail that was somehow omitted:
I will add the following: As I posted recently with regards to a
Ha’aretz puff piece on Bassem Tamimi, his Tamimi Press Facebook page
clearly indicates he is fighting for a one-state solution – a
palestinian state – and supports terrorism and the terrorists who
perpetrate heinous killings in support of this very goal.
Ehrenreich's goal is to portray another intifada as a justified non-violent response to Israeli "occupation." But as Elder of Ziyon notes, rock throwing isn't exactly non-violent:
Too bad Mr. Ehrenreich didn't think of pushing back on Bassem Tamimi's
irritation at justifying his idea that stone throwing is supposedly
"non-violent."
Because today a three year old Israeli girl is in critical condition as a result of a stone-throwing attack.
Then again, that story cannot be found in the New York Times, so it must not be very important.
It's like the reporters wants it to happen. He wants another violent intifada in which hundreds will be killed, God forbid.
Believe it or not this isn't the first time the New York Times has glamorized an intifada. The Sunday Magazine of October 29, 1989 featured Inside the Intifada by then Israel correspondent, Joel Brinkley.
In the light from the nearly full moon, the shebab, crouching behind the
low boulders, watch the bus approach. Sitting in a front seat is a
soldier in olive green, pointing his M-16 out the window. In the jeeps
leading and following the bus, troops also sit with their weapons aimed
into the dark and their plexiglass face shields lowered. As they reach
the town the soldiers hear several shrill whistles - the shebab
signaling to one another. From the convoy, as if in reply, comes the
sound of rifle bolts snapping into place, loading bullets into chambers.
As the bus lumbers into range, the young Palestinians adjust their face
masks and rise quietly in the dark. Each takes careful aim and with all
his might hurls his baseball-sized stone. Even as the rocks fly, they
turn and run, not waiting to see the results.
...
Before the crunching sound of shattering glass has stopped reverberating
across the field, the soldiers are on the ground, firing volleys of
rubber and steel bullets at forms they think they see moving in the
dark. The driver, Itzik Meuchas, also leaps down, waving a pistol,
agitated and angry.
Joel Brinkley currently teaches journalism at Stanford University. I
wonder if he discusses the ethics of running with a group of vandals
intent on attacking civilians.
But the bigger problem is with the New York Times. The paper runs
frequent editorials castigating the Israeli government for not doing
enough for peace. However the paper uses its influence not to encourage
compromise, but to promote and prolong Palestinian grievances against
Israel. The hypocrisy of the New York is astounding.
Any of you who has read this blog for some period of time has seen me use the term NotInMyBackYard, which basically means that if it doesn't affect me personally, I don't care about it. For example, if bombs are going off in Sderot, none of the elites need to care because Tel Aviv is quiet. I have a friend who has a neat name for this kind of behavior - Bishvili Nivra HaOlam syndrome. The name is a takeoff on the Talmudic saying that every person must think that Bishvili Nivra HaOlam, the world was worthy of being created for me. Of course, the Talmud did not intend to say that the world is for me to the exclusion of everyone else.
As a people, we Israeli Jews are afflicted with Bishvili Nivra HaOlam syndrome. We don't timely pay our employees or contractors, we cheat on taxes, we cut in lines at banks and supermarkets, we drive like there are no other cars on the road even in the heaviest of traffic (and especially at night when there seems to be less chance of being caught), we remain indifferent to others' pain.... You all know that at least some of those things describe you... and me to a greater or lesser extent.
Eight months ago, the entire country was endangered to resolve a personal issue belonging to one family that was capable of resolution in other ways. Over 1,000 'Palestinian' terrorists were released in exchange for one kidnapped IDF soldier, Gilad Shalit. What was most striking about the release was the manner in which the families of terror victims were completely ignored. Victim impact statements were nowhere to be found. In fact, families of terror victims were unable to even obtain the most basic information from the government. It was as if they did not exist.
I've known Arnold Roth for about eight years - we were briefly colleagues at the same law firm. My eldest daughter was a couple of years ahead of his daughter, Malki HY"D (May God Avenge her blood) in school. Malki was one of 15 (really 16 - one woman remains in a coma to this day) people murdered at Sbarro's here in Jerusalem ten years ago. The planner of that attack, the woman who brought the bomber into Jerusalem, dropped him off outside the restaurant and then went back to Ramallah to gleefully broadcast the story on the evening news, was Ahlam Tamimi. Tamimi, who was released as part of the Shalit deal despite vehement protests from the Roth's and from many other people, is such a sadistic personality that she smiled with satisfaction at the television cameras when she was told in an interview that eight of the dead were children, and not three as she thought. She is a despicable excuse for a member of the human race.
Eleven days ago, in a move that is simply inexplicable, because it was not part of the Shalit deal, Tamimi's cousin Nizar Tamimi, who is also a murderer who was released as part of the Shalit deal, was allowed to move to Jordan to marry Ahlam, so long as he doesn't return to Israel or Judea and Samaria for five years. Once again, the government moved without consulting with either Nizar's or Ahlam's victims, thereby ensuring the perpetuation of a prominent terrorist family for at least another generation. When one compares this to the pitched battle the government fought to prevent Yigal Amir, the alleged assassin of Yitzchak Rabin z"l (of blessed memory), from consummating his marriage, the contrast could not be more striking. That's because Rabin was 'one of us' and Arnold and Frimet Roth, as immigrants from Australia and the United States, respectively, are not. But what's most striking about the Roths' battle to at least keep Tamimi in jail, or to keep her from procreating, is not that the government has not acceded to any of the Roth's requests, but that they have not even been willing to listen to them.
The article linked below, authored by Ben Cohen of Joint Media News Service, currently appears on the web editions of the Canadian Jewish News and of Algemeiner Journal. It describes the Roths' ongoing battle to force Tamimi to pay a price for her crimes. You can also read it here. I urge you all to read it.
Ahlam Tamimi hosting talk show on Hamas television
'Palestinian' terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, who is responsible for the murder of 15 people at a Sbarro's restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001, is now hosting a talk show on Hamas television. Tamimi was released from prison in October as part of the terrorists for Gilad deal.
Entitled Nasim Al-Ahrar [Breeze of the Free], Tamimi's show deals with the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The first program focused on the implications of the Schalit deal and the case of Palestinian female prisoners.
Tamimi hosted Saleh Arouri, who is in charge of the prisoners portfolio in Hamas and participated in the negotiations that led to the signing of the prisoner exchange accord.
Arouri said that the only way to secure the release of more Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails was by continuing the "resistance" and kidnapping IDF soldiers.
Sickening. The unmitigated gall of this woman is just beyond belief.
Change: Trump demands Sbarro murderer's extradition, tells 'Palestinians' to end incitement
One of Haaretz's editorials today speculated that ultimately, the 'Palestinians' will have to save Israel from enacting a 'two-state solution.' Israel Radio's midnight news gave two signals that the 'Palestinians' are being put in a position where they will have to behave properly, or there will be no support from the United States for a 'Palestinian state.'
First, the United States has demanded that Jordan extradite Ahlam Tamimi, who planned the Sbarro suicide bombing 16 years ago and drove the bomber to the downtown Jerusalem restaurant.
Tamimi scouted for a target before leading the bomber, Izz al-Din
Shuheil al-Masri, to the Sbarro restaurant. They arrived just before
2:00 pm, when the restaurant was filled with customers, dozens of women,
children and babies, and pedestrian traffic outside was at its peak.
Tamimi
departed before Al-Masri, thought to be carrying a rigged guitar case
or wearing an an explosive vest weighing 5 to 10 kilograms of
explosives, nails, nuts and bolts, detonated his bomb.
She is
currently a television host in Jordan, has hosted Hamas arch-terrorist
Saleh Arouri (who ordered the kidnapping of three Jewish teenagers in
June 2014), bragged of her involvement in others murders of Israelis and
is considered as a symbol of the Palestinians fight.
Israel Radio reported that Tamimi was sentenced to 16 life sentences (15 Israelis were murdered in the bombing and a 16th - Chana Nachenberg - is in a vegetative state to this day), but was released as part of the 'terrorists for Gilad' trade in 2011. Israel Radio said that two of the terrorists' victims were US citizens (I think it was actually more than two - Malki Roth and Shoshana Heyman HY"D were also American citizens).
Jordan may have a tough call to make, honoring its strong alliance to
the US, with trying to avoid offending its majority Palestinian
population and an anti-extradition trend in its court system, according
to Shurat Hadin which is representing the family of the victim Chana
Nachenberg (Finers and Nachenbergs) who was grievously injured in the
bombing and remains in Israel in a coma even until now.
According
to Shurat HaDin President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner: "We are glad that
the US Department of Justice has decided to move forward against this
notorious mass murderer. We have been requesting for a long time that
this unrepentant Palestinian terrorist be rearrested, extradited and
prosecuted by American law enforcement officials."
"It was
outrageous that Israel released this criminal with so much innocent
blood on her hands and who has publicly rejoiced that she killed 8
Jewish children. For too long Jordan has become a safe haven for
Palestinian terrorists and, hopefully, this is a change of policy for
the new Trump administration, to start to pursue the numerous
Palestinians who have killed US citizens in Israel," she said.
Chana
Nachenberg's father, Yitzhak Bennett Finer, has responded: "We applaud
the efforts of the Department of Justice in trying to bring Tamimi to
justice and we hope they'll be successful. Our daughter Chana Nachenberg
had the prime of her life taken from her because she has spent the past
15 and half years in a vegetative state on a respirator as a result of
this inhuman act of the heinous bombing of Sbarros. Her daughter Sarah
has grown up without a mother and her husband David without the love of
his wife."
Jordan is highly unlike to extradite Tamimi. If the royal family is about anything, it's about self-preservation. Extraditing Tamimi (whose clan includes prominent Jordanian lawyers) would bring about fighting that has been unseen since the Black September uprising in 1970. There is almost no chance that King Abdullah will take that risk to keep the United States happy.
In a second report this evening, Israel Radio reported that the United States' Jerusalem Consulate's readout of Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt's meeting with 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen today included a demand that the 'Palestinians' stop incitement to terrorism.
During a meeting at the Palestinian
Authority’s headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas committed to combat
Palestinian incitement, the statement said. The Palestinian leader and
Greenblatt also discussed building up the PA’s security forces,
advancing the peace process, and improving the Palestinian economy.
According to the readout, Abbas told
Greenblatt that “he believes that under President Trump’s leadership a
historic peace deal is possible, and that it will enhance security
throughout the region.”
“President Abbas committed to preventing inflammatory rhetoric and incitement,” the statement added.
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has been adamant that PA-sanctioned media and school
curriculum are responsible for inciting terrorism.
...
The Palestinian daily al-Quds cited sources in
the US Congress who said Greenblatt warned Abbas that US lawmakers are
working to condition US aid to the Palestinians — with the exception of
security assistance — on ending incitement, including payments to the
families of Palestinian terrorists.
The PA pays monthly stipends to families who
have a member who is considered to have been “martyred,” which usually
means being killed by an Israeli while carrying out a terror attack or
suspected attack, or who is spending time in Israeli prison for
perpetrating a terrorist act.
The US government has already taken measures
to ensure its aid isn’t funneled to the families of terrorists. That
includes paying the debts of the PA directly, rather than transferring
funds into the PA’s coffers.
In the 12th year of his four-year term, Abu Dodobird may have finally found an American President who is willing to stand up to him. The 'Palestinians' must be really disappointed that Hillary Clinton lost the election. Heh.
Ahlam Tamimi, who arranged the murder of 15 Israelis and the wounding of tens of others (one of whom is in a coma to this day), and who was released as part of the 'terrorists for Gilad' trade in October, is complaining that Israel has hired the Russian mafia to liquidate her and 40 other terrorists released to Arab countries. Tamimi was sent home to Jordan.
Tamimi, who was released in October 2011 together with over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Schalit, told Al-Jazeera that the Mossad was planning to assassinate her and 40 other prisoners who were deported to Arab and Islamic countries.
She did not provide further details of what she described as a “filthy plot.”
Israel has asked the Russian mafia to assassinate the former prisoners living abroad, Tamimi, who is currently in Jordan, charged.
“Israel has prepared a plan for the execution of this filthy plot,” she said.
She added that Israel has already begun targeting Palestinian prisoners who were released into the West Bank by re-arresting a number of them.
Tamimi boasted that Israel was forced through the prisoner deal to abandon its pledge not to succumb to the demands of Schalit’s captors.
Tamimi is a mass murderer who deserves to die a slow and painful death. It should happen soon.
It happened to most of the terrorists who attacked the Munich Olympics in 1972.
It's not just the 'Palestinians' - it's the entire Arab world
This picture and its caption speak for themselves (Hat Tip: This Ongoing War).
The caption reads "Ahlam Tamimi, a Jordanian prisoner during a reception at the Family Court of Amman in the Jordanian capital. Jordan. 19th October 2011."
And if you thought that the only mass rallies welcoming freed 'Palestinian' terrorists took place in Gaza and Ramallah, think again.
Hundreds of Jordanians flocked to Diwan Tamimi in Dahiyat Al Rashid neighbourhood on Wednesday to celebrate the release of Ahlam Tamimi the only Jordanian prisoner among the first group of 477 prisoners released in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Indeed they did.
And no, not just Jordan. Here's a picture from Syria:
Several Syrian ministers and officials, in addition to leaders of Palestinian factions in Damascus, welcomed the detainees while thousands of Palestinians and Syrians gathered at the Airport hall waving Palestinian and Syrian flags, and chanting for the liberation of all detainees.
When members of Hitler's SS escaped to Latin America at the end of World War II, they went quietly out of fear that the World would not tolerate seeing mass murderers escape. Today, mass murderers arrive in Arab countries to the cheering throngs. How do you like that change?
Much more about Tamimi (including two video interviews) here.
The 'Palestinian Authority's spiritual leader, Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, has said that Arabs who work in construction for Jews in 'east' Jerusalem are 'traitors' who deserve imprisonment.
The highest spiritual authority in the PA, Imam Tayseer Tamimi, has said that Arabs who serve as construction workers in East Jerusalem for Jewish projects are from nothing but traitors who deserve imprisonment.
Arabs in Judea and Samaria have complained that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's freeze on Jewish construction is harming their livelihood.
In other words, Tamimi is trying to convince Arabs who have been thrown out of their jobs in Judea and Samaria due to the 'settlement freeze' not to work in construction in 'east' Jerusalem. Instead, he wants them to starve because he loves them so much.
If the name sounds familiar to you it should. No, he did not lead the suicide bomber to Sbarro - that was Ahlam Tamimi (anyone know how they're related? I assume that they are). But Sheikh Tamimi gave a vile ten-minute diatribe in front of Pope Benedict XVI during an inter-religious dialogue that took place during the Pope's visit to Israel last year. The Pope feigned innocence, but JPost pointed out that Tamimi did the same thing during Pope John Paul II's visit in 2000, and should not have been allowed on stage again.
Yes, this hatred fomenting cleric is the perfect spiritual leader for the 'Palestinian' suicide bombers.
Our Prime Minister is like a little kid who is showing off how much candy he's been given. Yes, 'Bibi' is so proud of himself because the IDF has 'rearrested' 50 Hamas terrorists who were released in the spineless 'terrorists for Gilad' deal because... wait for it... they violated the conditions of their release.
"I wish to extend my congratulations to the troops and commanders of
the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) for the complex
operations that they carried out overnight," Netanyahu tweeted on his
Twitter account.
"The operation overnight in which Hamas
terrorists were arrested, including those released in the prisoner swap
for Gilad Schalit, is an element that carries with it an important
message," the prime minister wrote on his Twitter account. "This is all
part of a series of many operations that will continue, and their goal
is to retrieve the kidnapped youngsters and strike a blow to Hamas in
Judea and Samaria."
The prisoners had signed a document on their
release vowing to live up to a set of conditions, which they have since
violated, a senior security source stated.
The former prisoners, all members of Hamas, were selected by the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] for arrest.
Since when is someone who is extorted required to abide by the deal he signed while being blackmailed?
Is it just this week that they violated the conditions of their release, or have they been violating them since 2011, but our gutless government ignored the violations until now?
Has Ahlam Tamimi (who led the Sbarro terrorist to the site of his murderous attack and then broadcast the story on television that night) violated the terms of her release? Why isn't Netanyahu going after her?
Holder claims US urged Israel not to release terrorists who murdered Americans
US Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday that the United States urged Israel not to release terrorists who had murdered American citizens as part of the terrorists for Gilad trade. Holder told a group of US citizens who had family members who were killed or wounded by terrorists in Israel, or who were wounded by terrorists themselves in Israel, that the US will pursue those terrorists.
US Attorney-General Eric Holder has told American victims of Palestinian terror that Washington is committed to bringing those responsible for killing and wounding Americans to justice, The Jerusalem Post learned on Wednesday.
Holder made his remarks in a letter sent to members of the Parents Forum for Justice, a group of US citizens and parents whose children were murdered or maimed by Palestinian terrorists in Israel over the past decade. The letter came after the forum called on Holder in January to commence legal proceedings against terrorists freed in Israel’s deal with Hamas to release kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.
According to Parents Forum leader and Jerusalem resident Dr. Alan Bauer, 54 American citizens have been murdered and 83 wounded by Palestinian terrorists between 1993 and 2006.
In Holder’s letter, a copy of which has been given to the Post, he said the US Justice Department, State Department and embassy in Tel Aviv had “urged the government of Israel prior to both of the releases in question not to release prisoners responsible for murdering or injuring US citizens before serving their full sentences.”
Among the terrorists released in the Schalit deal were Sana’a Shehadeh and Qahara al-Saadi, two women who helped perpetrate the March 21, 2002, King George Street suicide bombing in Jerusalem, which claimed the lives of three people and wounded 86 others. Bauer and his son Yehonathon, both American citizens, were among those severely injured.
Also released were Ahlam Tamimi, sentenced to 16 life terms for her role in the Sbarro terror bombing that claimed the lives of eight adults and seven children and wounded 130 in Jerusalem on August 2001; Walid al-Hadi Anjas, who received 36 life terms for the July 2002 cafeteria bombing at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which claimed the lives of nine people; and Fadi Muhammad al-Jaaba, Maedh Abu Sharakh and Majdi Muhammad Amr, sentenced to multiple life terms for planning the March 2003 Haifa bus 37 bombing that killed 17 people and wounded 53.
I'll believe it when I see it. The US has had a law on its books for 20 years that was tailor made for this purpose. That law enables the US government to arrest and prosecute terrorists involved in the murder of US citizens anywhere. Not one terrorist from Israel has been arrested, let alone tried and convicted.
Jordan is a US ally, and Ahlam Tamimi lives in Jordan. How about extraditing her first Mr. Holder? How about asking King Abdullah to send her to the US to stand trial?
Holder is a big talker, but I don't believe he'll do anything about this.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
About a month ago, the New York Times reviewed a movie called Hot House, which called itself a 'documentary' about 'Palestinians' in Israeli jails.
