Remembering Malki's Birthday

My daughter Malki was a talented

classical flautist. This photo is from 2000.

I imagine that few shared our reaction to the Hamas invasion of October 7.

While most were shocked and blind-sided by the horrors and cruelty inflicted on Israelis that day, we were somewhat prepared, having been introduced to Hamas barbarism a little over 22 years ago. 

During the years of the Second Intifada, between 2000 and 2005, Hamas along with Fatah and Islamic Jihad waged a campaign of heinous murders against innocents. Some 1,083 civilian Israelis, among them 124 children, perished.

True, the attacks were often several days apart and the numbers of Hamas invaders never neared the thousands who attacked us at once on last month's Black Shabbat.

But the planning, cunning and bloodthirst were identical.

Our precious Malki, who would have celebrated her 38th birthday today, perished in the Sbarro bombing of August 9, 2001.

Hamas' first female operative, Ahlam Tamimi, orchestrated that attack meticulously. She later boasted of her several preparatory visits to Jerusalem's city center to scout for a suitable target. 

She found that on summer afternoons, the Sbarro pizzeria at the major intersection of Jaffa and King George Streets met those criteria. She chose it as her target because it was frequented by "religious Jews," she told an interviewer from the Center for Near East Policy Research.

Hamas provided her with a "weapon" - another Hamas operative, ‘Izz Al-Din Al-Masri, carrying a guitar case containing a 10 kg. bomb riddled with nails and screws to intensify the injuries.

She escorted him through Jerusalem's streets to that intersection where she parted from him. Her last instructions to Al-Masri were to wait 15 minutes before detonating to allow her ample time to make a safe getaway.

And so, our precious angel - a generous, artistic, musically gifted girl - left this world along with six other children and nine adults.

 
Tamimi boasts of her "success" to this day from her refuge in Amman, Jordan. She has been protected there by King Abdullah II since her release in the now infamous Shalit Deal - the same one that freed Hamas' current chief Yahya Sinwar. 

She says she has never regretted what she did and that if given another chance she would do the same again ["Tamimi: I have never regretted what I have done", Ammon News (Jordan) October 23, 2011]

Malki was a U.S. citizen, as were two other Sbarro victims. Hence Tamimi was indicted under seal by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2013 (and unsealed in 2017). Her extradition has been demanded under a valid 1995 treaty of extradition between Jordan and the United States signed, ratified and lauded by Abdullah's father King Hussein.

 
Abdullah has thumbed his nose at the U.S. demand for extradition. Despite our tireless efforts, no one with power or influence is at all interested in tackling this travesty of justice. In 2022, President Biden reaffirmed the United States’ unwavering support to Jordan as a key ally and a force for peace in the region. In fact Abdullah is still referred to by the U.S. as its partner in the fight against terrorism.

Today, as is our custom, my husband and I intend to visit Malki's grave. With a son-in-law now fighting in Gaza against the very same Hamas that murdered the sister-in-law he never met, our world looks bleak indeed.