NEW YORK – Two more American citizens were murdered in the most recent Palestinian Arab terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, bringing to 31 the total of Americans murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists since the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993.
Dr. Moshe Gottlieb, a 70 year-old chiropractor from Los Angeles, was one of 19 people murdered in the bus bombing in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo on June 18, 2002.
Gila Sara Kessler, 19, whose family came from New York, was one of 7 people murdered in the bombing at a bus stop in the Jerusalem neighborhood of French Hill on June 19, 2002.
* 31 American citizens have been murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists since the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993, 19 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 98 Americans have been murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists, and 119 wounded, since 1968.
In response to the ongoing murders of American citizens by Palestinian Arab terrorists, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is strongly supporting the Koby Mandell Act, which was recently introduced in Congress.
The Koby Mandell Act would create a special office within the Justice Department to address exactly the points mentioned in AIPAC’s agenda, including: 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 has been publicly endorsed by AIPAC and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
At its annual policy conference, in Washington last month, AIPAC included in its 2002 Action Agenda a clause pledging that during the coming year, AIPAC will be “Supporting Congressional efforts to facilitate the capture of Palestinian Arab terrorists suspected of harming American citizens and their transfer to the United States for prosecution; to ensure that Palestinian Arab killers of Americans are pursued just as vigorously as other terrorists who have murdered Americans overseas, including the publicizing of the names and photographs of the suspects; and to secure financial compensation for victims of Palestinian Arab terrorism.”
The Koby Mandell Act is being sponsored 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), Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Henry Waxman (D-CA).