Sbarro Bombing Victim's Mother: Do Not Free My Daughter's Murderer (In Gilad Shalit Deal)

When the deal to release Gilad Shalit was announced, I spoke of the gut wrenching pain that was felt by people who were in favor as well as those not in favor of the deal. No one feels more pain from upcoming release of terrorists then Arnold and Frimet Roth whose 15-year-old daughter Malka Chana Roth, was murdered at the Sbarro bombing in Jerusalem, a little more than ten years ago.

One of the terrorists to be released in the Shalit deal, Ahlam Tamimi, was a key player in the murder of her Malka Chana Roth.

As Malka's dad, Arnold explains, while Tamimi is described in the MSM as simply the person who drove the terrorist to Sbarros she was a very involved key player in the terrorist attack.  On the day of the massacre (9th August 2001), she personally transported the bomb (10 kg) from a West Bank town into Jerusalem, concealed inside a guitar case. Taxi cabs brought her and an accomplice by the name of Al Masri, a young, newly-religious fanatic, to an Israeli security checkpoint and from there into Jerusalem.

To reduce suspicion, they dressed as Israelis and the bomb was not detected. Tamimi, who inspired, planned and engineered the Sbarro attack, personally led her "weapon" - Al Masri - to the target she had carefully selected at Jerusalem's busiest intersection. The target was a pizza restaurant, selected because it was located in the heart of Jerusalem and on a hot summer vacation afternoon it would be teeming with women and children. Tamimi instructed Al Masri to wait fifteen minutes before detonating the explosives to give her sufficient time to flee the scene safely. He followed her orders.

As to this being (as some journalists have implied) an act of momentary madness or lack of sound thinking, take into account that a short time prior to Sbarro attack, Tamimi carried out a 'dry run', placing an explosive inside a downtown Jerusalem supermarket (Hamashbir Lazarchan) which exploded causing damage but resulting in no injuries. According to a journalist I met who had interviewed her some years ago, she is a charismatic and influential woman who played a central role in Neve Tirza, until now the prison for Palestinian Arab female security prisoners. And, he told me, a monster.

Malka's Mom, Frimet Roth wrote this in Haaretz today:

I am writing these words moments after belatedly watching a recorded video that went to air on Israel’s Channel 2 News on Friday night.

It shows the Hamas terrorist, Ahlam Tamimi, being asked: “Do you feel sorry for what you did?”

She answers her interviewer without a trace of hesitation:. “No. Why should I feel sorry?”

The interviewer persists: “Would you do it again if you had the chance?” Her unwavering response: “Yes.”

Tamimi was reaffirming the declaration she made originally in 2006: “I do not regret what I did”, is the way she put it then.

One summer vacation day in August, 2001, Tamimi murdered my fifteen year old, daughter along with 14 other innocent men, women and children who were having lunch at the Jerusalem Sbarro pizza restaurant.

I wonder whether PM Netanyahu has heard Tamimi’s statements. Could he possibly have agreed to free an unrepentant, cold-blooded murderer, sentenced to 16 life terms after she publicly committed to murder again? Perhaps he simply hasn’t seen the interview.

Or perhaps the Prime Minister did see it and wasn’t moved. After all, several months ago my husband and I sent him a letter detailing the crimes of which Tamimi was convicted and pleading with him to refuse to release her.

In that letter, we reminded him that she is generally described mistakenly as the “driver” or “helper”. We noted that she was actually the planner and engineer of the attack. She personally transported the 10 kg bomb concealed in a guitar case in a taxi from Ramallah to Jerusalem, met up with Al Masri, the suicide bomber, and handed him the case.

The two then walked together, disguised as tourists, to the center of the city. They stopped at the target Tamimi had selected. She instructed Al Masri to wait fifteen minutes before detonating the explosives. She wanted him to give her enough time to escape the scene safely, she explained later.

Prime Minister Netanyahu never responded to our written plea. He did not attempt to explain to us why he decided to include Tamimi in this horrific deal despite her uniquely demonic credentials: a mass murderer who has served nine years and has publicly proclaimed her lack of remorse and intention to murder again.

Now the day nears when we fear Tamimi will board the bus to a free life in Jordan, when her own prediction of 2006 - “I will be free again” - is realized.

We feel desperate.
We beg Mr Netanyahu to grant us a few minutes of his time and hear us out. In any sane country with a fair judicial system, even paroled murderers are not released without granting the victims’ loved ones a chance to address the parole board.

I thought Israel is such a state. I pray that I was not wrong.

Frimet Roth

 Whether he is willing to change his mind regarding the release of this terrorist or not, it seems to me that Bibi Netanyau should meet with the Roths. Either to convince them of the correctness of his decisions, or to change his mind based on their logic. Whichever way, the incomprehensible pain of the pain of these parents has been increased by this murderers release as part of the Shalit deal, the Prime Minister should be doing what he can to try and comfort the Roth family.

May the memory of Malka Chana Roth always be for a blessing.

The Roth's have set up a petition asking that Tamimi be removed from the list of terrorists to be release. I am number 4564. If you want to join me in signing the petition please click here.

Progressive Media Does a Hit Job On Pamela Geller -Atlas Shrugs

As many of you know, Pamela Geller editor of Atlas Shrugs is a friend of mine. I call her the "BlogMother" kind of like the Godfather but she only "Whacks" Dhimmis and Terrorists.  When I was getting into the blog world, Pamela was one of the people who helped me, gave me advice and even protected me when I was attacked.

There are people in the world who see a wrong in the world, give a quick "oh that's Sad" and get on with their lives. Then their are people who see a wrong and go all out to right it. Pamela that second kind of person. Her heart is the size of a skyscraper. She will grab a wrong by the neck and and do whatever she can to eradicate the evil.

When honor killing victim, Aqsa Parvez, was buried without a tombstone Pamela raised money for Aqsa to have a memorial.That is what Pamela is all about protecting those who have no protection. That is what is behind her work against Jihad in America.

Today another friend Donald Douglass of American Power Blog was alerted to the fact the Progressive media is trying to place blame for last week's disgusting Oslo terrorist act on Pamela and other conservative bloggers. Along with the New York Times and Slate a Donald lists a host of progressive bloggers who are all tied up in their briefs running to place blame on Geller for the terrorist attack.

The assumption is ridiculous, as Pamela told the Daily Caller

“It’s like equating Charles Manson, who heard in the lyrics of Helter Skelter a calling for the Manson murders,” Geller said in an exclusive phone interview. “It’s like blaming the Beatles. It’s patently ridiculous.”

In the manifesto, Breivik cites Geller and other anti-Jihadists as sources for his inspiration. The appearance earned Geller and company a lashing at the hands of The New York Times and many other mainstream media outlets. Reporters have scoured Breivik’s writings, in his manifesto and elsewhere, looking for a connection to anti-jihad activists like Geller.

 I will add this.  Last night I had the displeasure of watching the sick video made by the animal who made the attacks in Oslo last week, he quoted Barack Obama and CNN amongst others (including Dracula's Father).  Blaming the Pamela for what happened is just as stupid as blaming  Obama, CNN or Dracula's Dad.

REVERSAL! DHS Now Says Putting Israel on Terrorist Watch List Was A Mistake

Last week we reported that the Department of Homeland Security Israel on a list of 36 nations which “have shown a tendency to promote, produce, or protect terrorist organizations or their members.” That's right Israel, who had been on the front lines of the war against Islamist terror almost since its creation 63 years ago was named a supporter of terror by the Obama administration.

The reaction to the report was immediate and wide-spread. After a week of feeling the pressure, the DHS announced today that it was all a bad mistake.

Israel was included erroneously on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security terrorist watch list, a U.S. official said.

John Morton, the director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the department, said Israel's recent appearance on a list compiled by the department's office of the inspector general was a mistake.

"The addition of Israel in the OIG’s list of ICE's 'Third-Agency Checks' (TAC) was based on inaccurate information provided to the OIG during the course of its audit," Morton said in a statement sent by e-mail to JTA. "The U.S. does not and never has considered Israel to have links to terrorism, but rather they are a partner in our efforts to combat global terrorism. The United States maintains close intelligence-sharing relationships with Israel in order to address security issues within its own borders and in our mutual pursuit of safety and security around the globe."

Forgive me for being a bit on the suspicious side but mistake my arse.  The Obama administration which already has a reputation of being anti-Israel got its fingers caught in the cookie jar and is now trying to cover it up with a "oops I made a mistake."  Why do you think they made the "oops" announcement to JTA, a liberal Jewish website.

This entire incident is another example of the naivete of this administration,  they act first and if they can't cover things up, they make excuses later.

Related articles

• UNBELIEVABLE! Obama Administration Puts Israel On List Of Countries That Support Terrorism (yidwithlid.blogspot.com)

New Poll Numbers Show Obama's Post-Bin Laden Bump is Over

Sorry Mr. President, the party is over. Less than two weeks after Osama Bin Laden was killed by a squad of hero Navy Seals, the bump in Obama's ratings has disappeared, in fact the latest Rasmussen poll shows that some of his numbers are worse than before.

For example the chart below reflects the President's approval index from the day the Bin Laden news was released though today.  Approval index represents the people who strongly approve of the President's performance minus the people who strongly disapprove. So it is an indication of the people most passionate about President's performance, these are the people who are most likely to work toward/against Re-election of the present POTUS.

Keep in mind, the Bin Laden news was released well after the May 2nd sample was taken and released. Rasmussen numbers reflect three days sampling ending with the day prior to the numbers being released so, for example for the May 4th numbers only one third of the sample was questioned after the Bin Laden death was reported.  It was not until May 6th that the entire sample had the possibility of being aware of the death of Bin Laden.

On May 2nd, the day Bin Laden was killed the President's approval index was at a -12. From there it generally rose through May 7th, and started falling through today's report which shows him back at a -12.


Overall approval and disapproval numbers show the same pattern.

Prior to Bin Laden's trip to hell, Rasmussen reported that President's overall approval/disapproval numbers were both at 49%, today his disapproval stands at 52% and approval stands at 48%

What should be even more troubling to the President should be the fact that his numbers among independents are not promising (the Oth column in the chart below)

Among independents, the president's approval index is at a minus 22, and almost 70% of independents believe that the country is on the wrong track.

Over-all President Obama received (and frankly deserved) an approval bounce based on the Navy Seals heroic action eliminating Osama Bin Laden as a threat to this country.  As the saying all good things must pass, but nobody expected things to pass so quickly.

But this is a nation which is on the precipice of a financial abyss. As soon as the joy that Bin Laden is no longer a threat passed, the weekly new unemployment claims figure shot up and the monthly unemployment percentage rose back to 9%.  These number shocked America out of its post Bin Laden euphoria and back into the reality that Barack Obama has mis-handled the economy.  Look for his numbers to continue to fall as long as the economy continues to falter.

Bin Laden's Many Posthumous Fans

By Barry Rubin

As so often happens, a peripheral issue has taken over the Western debate regarding the killing of Usama bin Laden. Whether or not the U.S. government releases a photo of the body isn't so important. If bin-Laden isn’t dead let him prove it by sending a video to al-Jazira. The issue is whether or not killing him was a good thing.

As for photos, those who believe that bin Laden isn't dead won't be convinced by photos. Ironically, many of them will simultaneously say that the United States didn't kill bin Laden but the fact that the United States killed bin Laden is a crime for which revenge should be taken.

We should have learned this from September 11, since many say that al-Qaeda wasn't responsible and it was done by the U.S. government and Israel while, at the same time, saying that it was an operation that made Muslims and Arabs feel proud and America deserved it.

Welcome to the Middle East!

Today--and for some years now--people in the Middle East haven't hated America because of its policies so much as defining whatever it does as hateful because America is already an enemy.  If you don't want revolutionary Islamists to take over countries, repress all freedom, suppress women, wipe Israel off the map, and expel all Western influence from the region then you are their enemy. You can be a weak, contemptible enemy or a strong bullying enemy but that's about the extent of your choice.

The reaction to the killing of UBL takes place in this context, Those Islamists and radical nationalists who saw bin Laden as a rival in life are finding him a useful martyr in death. Again, the issue is not whether bin Laden is dead but whether the United States was bad in killing him.

So far Hamas, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the highest Muslim cleric in Egypt, and Western favorite phony moderate Tariq Ramadan have all basically endorsed UBL as a great guy, a real martyr, and the victim of an evil United States.

The al-Aqsa Brigades of Fatah also apparently said so though it quickly withdrew the statement when it made the public relations’- conscious Palestinian Authority leadership uncomfortable. Yet the idea that this is just another American atrocity--one more reason to hate the United States--is a powerful force among Palestinians and also in public opinion in Egypt and Jordan.

And so the killing of UBL will enter the long list of U.S. policies for which America is disliked by many Muslims and Arabs in particular. There is a lesson here: whatever the United States does will be criticized because America as a great power, a civilization, a set of policies, and a presence internationally is hated by many, especially by revolutionary Islamists.

Consider the very “moderate” and sophisticated Mr. Ramadan, or perhaps I should say Professor Ramadan since he’s currently at Oxford University and Notre Dame wants to hire him. That’s pretty good for the grandson of a Nazi collaborator and the son of an agent working for a Nazi collaborator (Amin al-Husaini, the mufti of Jerusalem).

Not only did Ramadan criticize the killing of UBL but also called the burial at sea “against all the Islamic rituals.” Well, was bin Laden behind the September 11 attacks, Ramadan replies: "We don't know. Nobody knows—even the Americans." So much for moderation.

The killing poses a complex issue for Iran, Syria, and Hizballah. Iran is harboring scores of al-Qaeda leaders but the Tehran government—and also Hizballah—are Shia Muslims, a group that bin Laden despised. So no tears will be shed though perhaps some anti-Americanism can be stirred up in the Sunni Arab world by Iran.

Syria worked closely with al-Qaida in Iraqi terrorism but Damascus has also blamed al-Qaeda for internal attacks (ranging from possible regime hoaxes to democratic demonstrations) and so it isn’t well placed to cheer UBL now.

Regarding Pakistan, it has been an open secret—even published in the mass media—that the Pakistani government has sponsored terrorism and collaborated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Yet the U.S. government continued to pour money into the country.

Consider the murderous attack on Mumbai, India that took hundreds of hostages and killed so many people in cold blood. The group that conducted it operates from Pakistan with the knowledge of the authorities there. That government refused to cooperate with investigation or to extradite terrorists. We’re now supposed to be surprised that bin Laden was sheltering there?

In an official press release, the Pakistani army simultaneously claims credit for killing UBL and criticizes the United States for doing so. An official statement from the chief of staff of Pakistan’s army states:

“[We have] made it very clear that any similar action, violating the sovereignty of Pakistan, will warrant a review on the level of military / intelligence cooperation with the United States.

“The Corps Commanders were informed about the decision to reduce the strength of US military personnel in Pakistan to the minimum essential.

“As regards the possibility of similar hostile action against our strategic assets, the Forum reaffirmed that, unlike an undefended civilian compound, our strategic assets are well protected and an elaborate defensive mechanism is in place.”

So the U.S. killing of bin Laden is a cowardly attack on “an undefended civilian compound;” if the United States tries something like that again the Pakistani army will fight America; and the Americans are to be punished by expelling some of their personnel.

That’s quite a highly subsidized ally you have there!

Speaking of allies, a lot of the European media coverage revolved around whether the U.S. government broke international law by killing UBL. See previous paragraph.

And, once again, let me point out that al-Qaeda is a terrorist threat but not a strategic threat. The real problem is with revolutionary Islamists: Hamas, Hizballah, Iran, Syria, and the Muslim Brotherhood. If U.S. policy goes soft on these groups—even helping them at times—terrorism, anti-Americanism, and instability are going to get worse.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal, and a featured columnist for PajamasMedia at http://pajamasmedia.com/barryrubin/. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). The website of the GLORIA Center is http://www.gloria-center.org/. His PajamaMedia columns are mirrored and other articles available at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com/.