Largest Federation Newspaper Endorses Koby Mandell Act, To Help Capture Palestinian Arab Killers Of Americans
News
August 26, 2002


36 Americans Murdered
by Palestinian Arabs Since ‘93


NEW YORK – The New York Jewish Week, the largest Federation-sponsored newspaper in the United States, has endorsed the Koby Mandell Act, legislation that would help facilitate the capture and prosecution of Palestinian Arab killers of Americans.


In an editorial (Aug.9, 2002), the Jewish Week stated:


“While the president has vowed to pursue the terrorists and the nations that give them safe haven, the fact is that the State Department has not demanded that the [Palestinian Arab] killers [of Americans], many of whom are known and operate openly in the Palestinian Authority, to the U.S. to face trial here. The Zionist Organization of America has pressed this point for years, to no avail.


“As a result of governmental inaction, Congress is considering passage of the Koby Mandell Act that would establish an office in the Justice Department to act against Palestinian killers of American citizens and provide compensation for the families of victims. Such legislation is needed to give credence to the president’s rhetoric about pursuing and punishing those who perpetrate the terror.”


The Koby Mandell Act, known as S.1377 in the Senate and H.R.2098 in the House of Representatives, has been publicly endorsed by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the ZOA, and AIPAC.


In the Senate, the lead sponsor is Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) and the co-sponsors are Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Rick Santorum (R-PA), and Bob Smith (R-NH). In the House of Representatives, the lead sponsors are Representatives Rob Andrews (D-NJ) and Jim Saxton (R-NJ), and the co-sponsors are Ken Bentsen (D-TX), Howard Berman (D-CA), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Barney Frank (D-MA), Joseph Hoeffel (D-PA), Steven Israel (D-NY), Steven LaTourette (R-OH), Frank LoBiando (R-NJ), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Connie Morella (R-MD), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Mike Pence (R-IN), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), Edward Schrock (R-VA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Mark Souder (R-IN), Patrick Toomey (R-PA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), and Anthony Weiner (D-NY).


* 36 American citizens have been murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists since the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993, 24 of them since the Palestinian Authority launched the current wave of violence in September 2000.


In addition, 68 Americans have been wounded since 1993, 43 of them since September 2000.


* A total of at least 103 Americans have been murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists, and 119 wounded, since 1968.




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