Arnold Roth, whose 15-year-old daughter, Malki, was among 15 people killed and more than 130 wounded by terrorist Ahlam Tamimi in a 2001 bombing attack at a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, condemned the BBC for giving a platform to his daughter’s unrepentant murderer.
Writing in a report published by Palestinian Media Watch on Tuesday, Roth wrote: “On Oct. 8, 2020, a program called ‘Trending’ on BBC’s Arabic TV service beamed throughout the world an item about Tamimi for the purpose of creating sympathy for the child murderer.”
“They told the oh-so-sad tale of how her husband Nizar Tamimi, who is also a released terrorist, had been forced by Jordanian authorities to leave Jordan for Qatar on Oct 1.”
Roth contacted PMW about the broadcast with Tamimi, who was sentenced to 16 life sentences but released after 10 years as part of a prisoner-exchange deal for captured Israeli Defense Forces’ soldier Gilad Shalit between Israel and Hamas.
“The BBC host told viewers that Tamimi is ‘back’ in the headlines, skipped or twisted the important background details about Tamimi’s murderous terror, and then described how she phoned into a popular Amman-based radio station and tried to appeal directly to King Abdullah II to intervene and return her husband to Jordan,” wrote Roth.
Jordan has argued that it cannot extradite Ahlam Tamimi to the United States, where she is on its “Most Wanted Terrorist” list, since she has Jordanian citizenship, and a 1995 extradition agreement with the United States was not ratified by Jordan’s government.
The United States has offered a $5 million reward for her capture and conviction.
