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| AWhat would people say if the child-seeking Manchester savages were freed, honored and given refuge by a Western ally? As my daughter's murderer was and is.. |
I originally published this article on the Times of Israel where I frequently write. It appeared under the title "Manchester, Jerusalem and a double standard".
The entire sane world is united in its condemnation of the
Manchester terror bombing. It has been particularly shocked by the targeting of
children and teens, describing it as barbaric, cruel and horrific [here and here for instance]. Undoubtedly
the only appropriate reaction.
But it is also puzzling.
Because it contrasts so starkly with the world's recent response
to another terrorist who targeted children and teens and murdered. I refer to
the Hamas mastermind of the Sbarro massacre on August 9, 2001, Ahlam Tamimi.
My daughter, Malki, among the fifteen murdered then, was, like
so many of the Manchester victims, fifteen years old when she died.
What do you think these outraged news commentators and world
leaders would say were the perpetrator of the Manchester attack freed,
celebrated as a hero and given refuge by an ally of key Western powers?
Can you imagine them just blowing that off? Would they shrug
their shoulders and yawn if that ally refused to extradite the terrorist to a
state whose nationals were among the victims? Would they ho hum and stick
to business-as-usual if that harboring ally had actually signed an extradition
treaty with that state two decades ago?
Would they dare to welcome that terrorist protector as an
honored guest and praise it as an enemy of terrorism?
Well, that is what has happened to the child murderer, Tamimi
and to the state giving her refuge, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
On March 14, 2017, the US Department of Justice unsealed a 2013
criminal complaint charging Tamimi with conspiring to use a weapon of mass
destruction against U. S. nationals outside the United States resulting in
death. Two of Tamimi's victims were Americans. Malki was one of them.
The DOJ reported that it had requested Tamimi's extradition from
Jordan at that time but that King Abdullah II and his regime had refused to comply despite the existence
of an extradition treaty signed by the two countries in 1995.
Jordan's romance with Tamimi dates back to 2011 when it welcomed
her back home after her release from Israeli prison in the now-infamous Shalit
Deal.
Here is an Arabic media description of that event in October 2011:
Freed Jordanian captive Ahlam al-Tamimi arrived Tuesday night to a hero's welcome as hundreds of Palestinians and Jordanians waited for her arrival at Queen Alia Airport in Amman.As well as her family members, hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood activists and trade unionists as well as ordinary citizens gathered at Queen Alia Airport to welcome Tamimi. They raised Palestinian flags as well as Hamas banners and chanted in support of the resistance who achieved the exchange deal.Tamimi gave a short speech which was interrupted many times by applause and chants of support. [Al-Jazeerah, October 19, 2011]
Subsequently, she landed her own weekly TV talk show on the
Hamas station, Al Quds. The program is beamed by satellite to viewers
throughout the Arab world and is replete with brazen incitement to terror
acts.
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| Malki z"l |
But Western media and leaders couldn't be less moved by this
injustice if they tried. For them, Tamimi is somehow a different species of
child killer than Manchester's Salman Abedi was. The travesty of justice she
embodies doesn't warrant any airtime.
And Jordan's intimate relationship with its western allies has
continued to thrive. Its monarch, King Abdullah II, was an honored guest
of the U.S. just a few weeks after the DOJ announced its indictment and demand
for extradition.
Abdullah's embrace of Tamimi didn't impact President Trump in
the slightest. He heralded the king as "a great
warrior" who has been key in the fight against ISIS.
And Abdullah chimed in
that the fight against terror "has no borders, no nationality, no
religion". Adding: "We are very encouraged with the president's
determination to support Arab and Muslim states in their fight against
terrorism."
By now you may be asking, as I am, why the murder of Jewish
children in Jerusalem is not deemed as horrific and intolerable as that of the
children in Manchester.
I have one explanation for the double standard and it starts
with an "A".
What's yours?
