ZOA to Bush: Tell Arafat to
Hand Over Killers to U.S.
NEW YORK – A 16 year-old girl from Baltimore has become the latest fatality as a result of Palestinian Arab terrorism in Israel, and the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is urging the Bush administration to pressure Yasir Arafat to hand over all Palestinian Arab terrorists who have harmed Americans for prosecution in the United States.
Rachel Thaler, 16, formerly of Baltimore, MD, has died of wounds she suffered in the February 15, 2002 suicide bombing at a pizzeria in the town of Karnei Shomron. (Her brother Lior was also wounded in the attack) The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a member-organization of Arafat’s PLO, claimed responsibility for the attack. Despite repeated requests by Israel, Arafat has never outlawed the PFLP nor even expelled it from the PLO.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “We urge the Bush administration to demand that Arafat surrender all those involved in harming Americans for prosecution in the United States, just as the U.S. demanded that the Taliban surrender Osama Bin Laden for prosecution in the United States, and just as the U.S. is demanding that Pakistan surrender suspects in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.”
* 14 Americans have been murdered, and 37 wounded, since the current Palestinian Arab violence against Israel began in September 2000.
* 26 Americans have been murdered, and 62 wounded, by Palestinian Arab terrorists since the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993.
* At least 93 Americans have been murdered, and 105 wounded, by Palestinian Arab terrorists since 1968.
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In response to the ongoing Palestinian Arab murders of Americans, and the Palestinian Authority’s policy of sheltering the killers, the ZOA is strongly supporting the Koby Mandell Act, which would create a special office within the Justice Department to gather evidence against Palestinian Arab killers of Americans; arrange for the terrorists to brought to the U.S. for trial; initiate negotiations with the Palestinian Authority for financial compensation for families of victims; and maintain a regular liaison with the families to update them on efforts to capture the killers.
The Koby Mandell Act, known as S.1377 in the Senate and H.R.2098 in the House of Representatives, is named after Jacob “Koby” Mandell, the 13 year-old boy from Maryland who was brutally murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists in Israel last year.
It has been introduced in the U.S.Senate by Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR), Rick Santorum (R-PA), and Sam Brownback (R-KS). In the House of Representatives, has been introduced by Reps. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) and Jim Saxton (R-NJ), and co-sponsored by Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Steve LaTourette (R-OH), Connie Morella (R-MD), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Steve Rothman (D-NJ), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Ken Bentsen (D-TX), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Joseph Hoeffel (D-PA), and Chris Smith (R-NJ).