ZOA September 11, 2003

Palestinian Arab Killers of American Doctor & Daughter
Will Go Free, and State Dept Will Look the Other Way

NEW YORK- Millions of Americans are now aware –thanks to front-page
stories in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and elsewhere– that two
American citizens, Dr. David Applebaum and his daughter Nava, were among the people
massacred in Palestinian Arab terrorist bombings in Israel this week.

But what the American public does not know is that the terrorists who
organized and financed the attacks can fully expect to remain free, sheltered by
the Palestinian Authority and ignored by the State Department–because that is
what has happened in all the cases of the 48 Americans murdered by
Palestinian Arab terrorists in Israel since 1993.

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) points out that, based on past
experience concerning the behavior of the State Department with regard to such
cases, here is what is likely to happen to the Applebaums’ killers:

* No FBI Man-Hunt for the Terror Organizers

Although the FBI routinely sends agents abroad to apprehend foreign
killers of Americans, they do not sent agents to Palestinian Arab areas. The ZOA
has learned from reliable sources that the State Department has in the past
blocked plans by the FBI to send agents to pursue such killers.

* The State Dept Won’t Name the Group That Did It

The State Department maintains a web site that offers rewards for
information leading to the capture of terrorists who murder Americans abroad. In
other cases, the name of the group that carried out the bombing is identified on
the web site. But in cases involving Palestinian Arab terrorist groups, the
State Department refuses to identify Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or Fatah by name–even
when they claimed responsibility for the attack. The web site calls them only
“groups opposed to Middle East negotiations.” Thus if the Applebaum bombing
is included on the web site, Hamas will not be named as the group that did
it–thus making it harder for potential informants to acquire information about
the killers.

* The State Dept Won’t Name the Suspects

The same web site lists the names of suspects in cases of terrorism
against Americans abroad–except in cases involving Palestinian Arab terrorists,
where no names are listed. Thus even if the State Department knows the names of
the suspected organizers of the Applebaum bombing, they will not be included
on the web site–thus making it harder for potential informants to acquire
information about the killers.

* If the Killers Hide in a Famous Church,

the State Dept Will Pressure Israel to Let Them Go

In April 2002, a group of Palestinian Arab terrorists –including several
killers of Americans– took over the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem.
The Bush administration pressured Israel to let them leave and refrain from
arresting them. Some went to Gaza, others went to Europe. At least one of the
killers of an American is now living openly in Spain, another in Ireland–yet the
Bush administration has made no effort to capture them.

* If the Killers Hide in Arafat’s Headquarters

the State Dept Will Pressure Israel to Ignore Them

At least three known Palestinian Arab killers of Americans are living in
the official PA headquarters in Ramallah: Tawfik Tirawi (former head of PA
Intelligence), Mahmoud Damra (Ramallah regional commander of Yasir Arafat’s Force
17), and Damra’s deputy Khaled Shawish. (Ha’aretz, March 12, 2003; Jerusalem
Post, Aug. 5, 2003) They organized the October 30, 2000 murder of U.S. citizen
Esh-Kodesh Gilmore (whose parents are from Ohio and New Jersey) and the
December 31, 2000 attack in which U.S. citizens Binyamin and Talia Kahane (from New
York) were murdered, and five of their children were wounded. Some of the
terrorists involved in the attacks were captured, and confessed that they
operated under Damra’s direct command. Shawish himself was directly involved in the
shooting of the Kahane family. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 28, 2001, March 16, 2001 &
April 24, 2001) Yet the Bush administration has repeatedly pressured Israel
from sending its forces into the PA headquarters compound.

* If the Killers Are Rewarded With Jobs in the

PA Security Forces, the State Dept Will Ignore Them

At least four of the suspects in murders of Americans have been rewarded
with jobs in the PA Security Forces: Bassam Issa, Kamal Khalifa, Yasser Yusef
Mustafa Khasin, and Mahmad Sanwar, who were involved in the February 1996 bus
bombing in which Sara Duker, Matthew Eisenfeld, and Ira Weinstein were
murdered. (Jerusalem Post, July 3, 1998) Yet the Bush administration has never
demanded that they be handed over to the U.S. for prosecution; it has not even
demanded that they be fired from their jobs.

* Even if the U.S Indicts the Killers,

It Won’t Demand that the PA Hand Them Over

Even in the unlikely case that the U.S. will indict the Applebaums’
killers, it can be expected that the U.S. will make no effort to actually bring
them to the U.S. for prosecution. The only indictment in such a case came in
February 2003, when the U.S. government indicted eight Palestinian Arab terrorists
involved in an Islamic Jihad cell whose victims included Alisa Flatow of West
Orange, NJ, a 20 year-old Brandeis University junior, who was murdered in a
bombing near Kfar Darom on April 9, 1995; and Shoshana Ben-Yishai, 16, of
Queens, NY, who was murdered in a shooting attack on a bus in Jerusalem on November
9, 2001–although they were indicted on general terrorism charges, not for
their role in these murders of Americans. One of those indicted was Abd Al-Aziz
Awda, 52, who is described in the indictment as the founder and “spiritual
leader” of the terror ring. He is head of the Al Qassam Mosque in the
PA-controlled Gaza Strip. Although the indictment was issued more than seven months ago,
the U.S. has never demanded that the PA hand him over, nor have FBI agents
been sent to the mosque to arrest him.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2003 and is filed under news.