"We found Malki… It's all over." That is how Arnold Roth learned that his 15-year-old daughter was gone forever. Twelve hours earlier, a Hamas terrorist entered a crowded pizza shop in the heart of Jerusalem with an explosive device concealed in a guitar case, murdering sixteen people, including seven children, in 2001.
Earlier this week, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization must pay tens of millions of shekels to the victims of the Sbarro massacre. While nothing can ever bring back the victims, for some families, this ruling represents a small step toward justice.
The horrors of the Second Intifada, for many, feel like a distant lifetime, as the events of the October 7 massacre and everything that has followed have created a new and harrowing form of suffering. Yet, for many victims and families who lost loved ones during the five-year period of violence, the barbarity of October 7 and the unrelenting trauma of the Second Intifada feel deeply connected. Approximately 1,053 Israelis, mostly civilians, were murdered in the wave of violence, which included suicide bombings, shootings, and military operations.
The Sbarro Pizzeria massacre stands as one of the most haunting symbols of the cruelty and barbarity of terrorism during that deadly period. Planned by Hamas' military wing, the attack was facilitated by Ahlam Tamimi, who scouted the location and carried out by Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri, the suicide bomber. The explosive device was packed with nails, screws, and bolts to maximize casualties. The perpetrators deliberately chose a busy downtown Jerusalem location and timed the attack during lunchtime, knowing the restaurant was a popular spot for families, including children.
Twenty-three years later, the courts have ruled that the Palestinian Authority (PA) must compensate the victims and their families, citing the PA's longstanding policy of providing financial payments to terrorists and their families. "The Jerusalem District Court decision is a very welcome step towards unwinding the PA's capacity to encourage and fund Palestinian Arab terror. And to provide meaningful compensation to some of its victims," says Arnold Roth, who has spent thirteen years fighting to bring justice to his daughter Malki. He adds, "But the decision itself doesn't seek to target Hamas or Ahlam Tamimi."
After orchestrating the massacre, Ahlam Tamimi was arrested by Israeli authorities, convicted, and sentenced to 16 life terms. However, she was released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal. For the Roth family, no amount of compensation can equate to justice; true justice, for them, would be seeing Malki's murderer back behind bars. "The efforts my wife Frimet and I have made for years since our child was murdered in the Sbarro atrocity have been focused on undoing the catastrophically mistaken Israeli government's decision to free the mastermind of the massacre."
Tamimi's release was a devastating blow to the families of the Sbarro victims, who had to endure the pain of seeing her flown on a VIP flight to Jordan, where she was celebrated and welcomed as a hero. Today, she hosts a Jordanian talk show, Nasim Al-Ahrar (Breeze of the Free), on Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV.
For the Roth family, justice remains elusive until Jordan extradites Tamimi to the United States to face FBI charges – charges issued in 2013 under a bilateral extradition treaty that Jordan continues to defy. Arnold Roth has called on the international community to increase pressure on Jordan. While compensation for the victims is a step forward, it cannot be the end of the story. We cannot accept a world where the justice system fails so profoundly, allowing perpetrators like Tamimi to live freely and glorify acts of terror.
