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| My Malki |
It is amazing how the yearning to hug her, stroke her silky hair, kiss her, bask in the warmth of her perpetual smile, tell her how much I love her, just never wanes.
Fifteen when she was snatched from us, Malki would have been 33 today.
She probably would be married and I would be busy helping her out with her children while she worked in one of the para-medical fields as she told me she'd like to. She may, on the other hand, have pursued a career as a musician - she was a magnificent flautist who brought tears to my eyes with her playing.
Instead we have only the pain that our memories of her conjure and the agony of knowing that her murderer is alive, free and thriving.
Fifteen when she was snatched from us, Malki would have been 33 today.
She probably would be married and I would be busy helping her out with her children while she worked in one of the para-medical fields as she told me she'd like to. She may, on the other hand, have pursued a career as a musician - she was a magnificent flautist who brought tears to my eyes with her playing.
Instead we have only the pain that our memories of her conjure and the agony of knowing that her murderer is alive, free and thriving.
Thanks to the despicable Shalit Deal inflicted on us in October 2011, Ahlam Tamimi, self-confessed mass-murderer is married to her cousin, murderer Nizar Tamimi, a fellow Shalit Deal releasee. She resides in Amman, ardently protected by King Abdullah II.
What a blow it was to witness her release from prison by our own leaders. Then to endure the release of her fiance, now husband who was, according to Israel's conditions under the Shalit Deal, prohibited from exiting the West Bank. But the pair wanted to unite and marry. So our government obliged them - after assuring my husband and me to halt our appeal to the High Court to bar his release. We were assured that it was unnecessary.
Hours later, we learned we had been betrayed again. Nizar had crossed the Allenby Bridge into Jordan a couple of days earlier, probably hours after we filed our High Court papers.
Now we must also suffer the embrace of Jordan's king by the US administration. Since our Malki was a U.S. citizen, the U.S. has indicted Ahlam Tamimi, demanding her extradition. But the king has refused to comply, brazenly flouting an extradition treaty between the two countries, extant since 1995.
How has the US reacted to the Jordan's defiance? Hmmm - not exactly as you would expect.
Now we must also suffer the embrace of Jordan's king by the US administration. Since our Malki was a U.S. citizen, the U.S. has indicted Ahlam Tamimi, demanding her extradition. But the king has refused to comply, brazenly flouting an extradition treaty between the two countries, extant since 1995.
How has the US reacted to the Jordan's defiance? Hmmm - not exactly as you would expect.
In the past two years, it has embraced the king as an honored guest and partner seven times! It has praised him for his steadfast fight against terrorism! It has showered him with military and financial aid!
Not once has any member of the administration rebuked him for shielding a murderous terrorist. Not once has the FBI's demand for extradition been restated by the State Department or by the White House.
And so this embodiment of evil continues to incite her fans throughout the Arab world.
Last month, the Tamimi couple were guests on a popular Jordanian TV talk show. Ahlam spread her venom. Addressing the students in the audience, she said:
Not once has any member of the administration rebuked him for shielding a murderous terrorist. Not once has the FBI's demand for extradition been restated by the State Department or by the White House.
And so this embodiment of evil continues to incite her fans throughout the Arab world.
Last month, the Tamimi couple were guests on a popular Jordanian TV talk show. Ahlam spread her venom. Addressing the students in the audience, she said:
"You - it is vitally important that you undertake a variety of actions so that you can "live" the Palestinian problem... direct our words toward the Zionist Entity saying 'No! to the matter of the Palestinian prisoners; there are consequences not only within Palestine but also extending out to Jordan, to Tunisia, to the entire Arab world."On Malki's birthday, please do whatever you can to raise awareness of this travesty of justice. Help us return this murderer of fifteen men, women and children - once sentenced to sixteen life sentences - to prison, the one place she belongs.
