Another American Murdered —27th Since Oslo Signing New State Dept Policy—Refuses To Acknowledge That Palestinian Arabs Have Killed Americans
NEW YORK – The State Department has finally posted rewards to help capture some of the Palestinian Arab terrorists who have murdered American citizens—but in a bizarre twist, it is refusing to admit that the killers were Palestinian Arabs, and instead is officially describing them merely as “individuals and groups opposed to Middle East peace negotiations.”
Meanwhile, yet another U.S. citizen has been murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists. Esther Kleinman, a 23 year-old special education teacher whose family comes from Chicago, IL, was shot to death by Palestinian Arab terrorists near the Israeli town of Ofra on March 24, 2002.
The rewards, which are listed on the State Department web site www.rewardsforjustice.net have so far been offered in the cases of four Americans who were murdered, and two were wounded, by Palestinian Arab terrorists in Israel in recent years. But the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) points out that there are numerous troubling aspects of the State Department’s handling of these cases:
* Bending over backwards to avoid harming the Palestinian Arabs’ public image, the State Department web site refuses to acknowledge that the killers were Palestinian Arabs, and instead is officially describing them merely as “individuals and groups opposed to Middle East peace negotiations,” and omits the names of the groups that claimed responsibility for those attacks. By contrast, in other cases of foreign terrorism listed on the web site, the killers are clearly identified by their national origins or the names of their organizations, not merely by their general political aims.
One of the Palestinian Arab murders of Americans now listed on the web site was actually carried out by groups supporting negotiations: the site lists the case of Judith Greenbaum, who was murdered in the August 9, 2001 bombing of the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem. Mahmoud Daglas, a member of Yasir Arafat’s Force 17 guard unit, confessed to having assisted in the attack, and Jamil Jadallah, a member of Arafat’s Palestinian Authority security forces, was also involved in the Sbarro bombing (and lived under PA protection in Hebron until he was killed in October 2001), according to the Office of the Prime Minister (Oct.31, 2001). Arafat and his groups claim to support negotiations; the State Department’s web site, covering up the involvement of Arafat’s role in the Greenbaum murder, pretends that the Sbarro bombers were part of the nameless group of “opponents of negotiations.”
* No names or photographs of the Palestinian Arab suspects appear on the web site. By contrast, in other cases of foreign terrorism listed on the web site, names and photos of the suspects are included. (A State Department official recently claimed that this was because names and photos are included only in cases in which there have been U.S. indictments—and there have been no indictments of the Palestinian Arabs. In fact, three of the cases on the web site are Yugoslavian war criminal suspects who have never been indicted by the U.S.)
* The majority of American victims of Palestinian Arab terrorism have been excluded from the rewards web site, because the section pertaining to these victims states that it is listing those who were harmed “since the signing of the Oslo accords in September 1993.” At least 67 Americans were murdered, and 44 wounded, by Palestinian Arab terrorists between 1969 and 1993.
* Victims incorrectly identified: One of the victims, Matthew D. Eisenfeld, is listed on the rewards web site as “Stuart Eisenfeld.” Another, Sara Ducker, is listed as “Sarah Ducker.” This carelessness further illustrates the State Department’s continuing lack of serious concern about these victims.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “The State Department’s double standard make a mockery of justice and undermines America’s international fight against terrorism. American victims of Palestinian Arab terrorism should be treated the same as all other American victims of terrorism, and Palestinian Arabs who murder Americans should be treated the same as all other terrorists who murder Americans.”
* 15 Americans have been murdered, and 37 wounded, since the current Palestinian Arab violence against Israel began in
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September 2000.
* 27 Americans have been murdered, and 62 wounded, by Palestinian Arab terrorists since the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993.
* At least 94 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 to bring the terrorists to the U.S. for trial; initiate negotiations with the Palestinian Authority for financial compensation for victims’ families; and maintain a 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. The bill has also been publicly endorsed by AIPAC and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
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).