Arnold Roth holds a photo of his 15-year-old daughter Malki, who was killed in an August 2001 Palestinian suicide bombing at a Jerusalem pizzeria, at his house in Jerusalem, on Sept. 28, 2004. The family of an Israel-American girl killed in a 2001 Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem is seeking a meeting with President Joe Biden in hopes of forcing Jordan to extradite Tamimi, who was convicted in the deadly attack. The parents of Malki Roth sent a letter to the White House on Sunday, July 10, 2022 asking to meet with Biden when he comes to Jerusalem this week. They want the president to put pressure on Jordan, a close American ally, to send Tamimi to the U.S. for trial.
The bereaved parents of a slain American-Israeli girl killed in a 2001 Palestinian suicide bombing are urging President Biden to meet with them in Jerusalem when he arrives in Israel this week, pushing for a resolution on their daughter’s death.
Frimet and Arnold Roth are calling for the president to pressure the Jordanian government to send Ahlam Tamimi to the U.S. for trial. Tamimi was the alleged architect of the 2001 Sbarro pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem that killed 15 people, including their American daughter, Malki, and another American.
At least 122 people were injured in the bombing, including four Americans.
In an interview with The Hill on Tuesday, Arnold Roth the family has engaged with Biden administration officials in Jerusalem in recent months, but they have little expectation that the president will meet with them, or that the U.S. will push Jordan to fulfill Tamimi’s extradition.
Tamimi has lived in Jordan since being released from an Israeli jail in a 2011 prisoner exchange.
Jordan argues that its constitution prevents the extradition of Jordanian nationals.
“They’re really not interested in our case in the smallest way,” Roth said, of the Biden administration, speaking over Zoom from his home in Jerusalem. “The human dimension of this is just humiliating.”
A spokesperson for the National Security Council, responding to a request for comment from The Hill, said “The U.S. government continues to seek her extradition and the Government of Jordan’s assistance in bringing her to justice for her role in the heinous attack that killed 15 people, including two Americans, in 2001.”