Jordan warns Hamas it may deport mastermind of 2001 Jerusalem Sbarro bombing for trial in US

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has warned the Hamas terrorist organization that it could potentially deport top terrorist Ahlan Tamimi for trial in the United States if no other country is willing to receive her, the Qatari news outlet Al-Araby reported.

Tamimi, who is a Jordanian citizen, is the mastermind behind the Sbarro Pizza bombing attack in central Jerusalem in 2001 that killed 16 people, the majority Israeli nationals. However, the bomb also killed the pregnant American tourist, Yehudit Greenbaum, and 15-year-old dual U.S.-Australian citizen, Malki Roth.  

The Sbarro bombing attack is considered one of the worst terrorist attacks in Israel during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s. At the time of this writing, no official source has confirmed the Al-Araby news report. 

An Israeli court convicted Tamimi for the terrorist attack in August 2001. However, the female terrorist was released in 2001 after Hamas insisted that she should be included in a deal where Israel released over 1,000 terrorists in exchange for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Following the deal, Jordan offered Tamimi a safe harbor. 

The U.S. Justice Department called for her extradition in 2017, and the FBI added Tamimi to its "Most Wanted Terrorists" list. 

However, Jordan has, so far, refused to extradite the arch-terrorist to the United States, Israel or any other country. Since leaving Israeli prison in 2011, Tamimi has been hosting a TV show in Jordan and held public appearances where she praises her lethal bombing attack in the Israeli capital.

In 2017, Tamimi told the Associated Press the Muslim population in Gaza, Judea and Samaria have the right to “resist” the Jewish state by any means including lethal terrorism. 

Amman’s recent reported warning to Hamas indicates that the country is potentially prepared to change its position, likely as a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration. Israeli and American families of the victims hope that Tamimi’s potential trial in the U.S. could bring some measure of delayed justice. 

U.S. President Donald Trump recently assessed that Gaza is in ruins and suggested the neighboring Arab countries Egypt and Jordan would accept refugees from Gaza. 

“I wish [Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi] would take some. We helped them a lot, and I’m sure he’d help us. He’s a friend of mine. He’s in… a rough neighborhood. But I think he would do it, and I think the king of Jordan would do it too,” Trump said. 

However, Egypt, Jordan and most other Arab states have so far refused to accept any Gazans despite claims they care about the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn coastal enclave. 

Washington has offered a bounty of $5 million to anyone who can provide information leading to Tamimi’s arrest. Jordan and the United States signed an extradition treaty in 1995.

However, the Jordanian Supreme Court blocked the extradition in 2017, suggesting the treaty was never ratified, a claim the U.S. disputes. 

During his first presidency, Trump reportedly considered withholding financial aid to Jordan until the country extradited Tamimi. However, the move was never implemented.

Like many other Middle Eastern states, Jordan fears that Trump will now pressure it to accept a large number of Gazans into their societies.

The issue is particularly sensitive in Jordan, where the majority of the Muslim population already hails from Judea and Samaria, internationally known as the West Bank. By floating the idea of extraditing Tamimi to the U.S., Jordan likely seeks to improve its ties with the Trump administration while avoiding pressure to take in a large number of refugees from Gaza.