(New York, N.Y.) — President Trump and King Abdullah II of Jordan are set to meet this week, reigniting the issue of Hamas member Ahlam al-Tamimi’s extradition to the United States. Earlier this month, reports emerged in Arab media that Jordan had informed Hamas that it would turn Tamimi over to U.S. authorities if the terror group did not find another country to host her. However, Jordanian Speaker of Parliament Ahmed al-Safadi later denied the reports, claiming they were “not accurate.”
Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi was the first female member of Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. She is one of the FBI’s most wanted female terrorists. Israel sentenced Tamimi to 13 life sentences in 2003 for her participation in the August 9, 2001, Hamas suicide bombing of the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, which killed 15 people, including U.S. citizens Judith Greenbaum and Malki Roth. Four U.S. citizens were also among the 130 wounded in the bombing.
Ahead of the Sbarro bombing, Tamimi picked up the bomber, Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri, from the West Bank village of Aqabah and drove him to the Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem. Israel arrested Tamimi in September 2001. In 2003, she pleaded guilty in an Israeli court to multiple counts of murder, resulting in her multiple prison sentences. Israel released Tamimi in 2011 as part of a prisoner swap agreement with Hamas for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. In that trade, Israel released 1,026 prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar, one of the architects of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror attacks. Since her release, Tamimi has resided in Jordan, where she has worked as a journalist and continued to publicly praise Hamas. Between 2012 and 2016, Tamimi hosted a talk show on Hamas’s Quds TV network on Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. In interviews, Tamimi openly said she would repeat the actions that led to the Sbarro massacre.
The United States has sought to extradite Tamimi for her role in the murder of U.S. citizens, but the Jordanian government has thus far refused requests for her extradition. The United States and Jordan signed an extradition treaty in 1995, but Jordan’s high court ruled in 2017 that the treaty is invalid because the Jordanian parliament did not ratify it. On July 11, 2022, the U.S. National Security Council released a statement reiterating that the U.S. government still seeks Tamimi’s extradition.
“The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan continues to protect Ahlam Tamimi while the voices of her victims cry out for justice,” said Counter Extremism Project Senior Research Analyst Josh Lipowsky. “It is unfathomable that a close U.S. ally continues to harbor somebody with American blood on her hands, especially when Tamimi has shown no remorse for the deaths she caused. Bringing Tamimi to the United States to face justice should be a top priority when President Trump and Jordan’s King Abdullah II meet later this week. There should be no haven—especially among U.S. allies—for murderers of U.S. citizens.”
Click here to read CEP’s profile on Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi.
Click here to read CEP’s report on Hamas.
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