On August 9, 2001, Arnold Roth’s life was irrevocably derailed. His 15-year-old daughter, Malki, was murdered in a terrorist attack on the Sbarro pizzeria in downtown Jerusalem. A vibrant young woman with a passion for caregiving—and devoted to her special-needs sister—Malki was one of 16 killed and 130 injured in a bombing spearheaded by Ahlam Tamimi, a 21-year-old Hamas operative and journalist from Jordan. Tamimi selected the site because Jewish children would be thronging the eatery during school vacation and later boasted repeatedly of her deeds, repulsively claiming divine approval. For Roth, the tragedy ignited what has become a decades-long and ongoing pursuit of justice marked by resilience, frustration and a determination to hold Tamimi accountable—but also by systemic failures, geopolitical inertia, outright lies, deception.
Malki’s death turned Roth’s world “upside down.” The Israeli authorities told the family nothing about the arrest, trial, or sentencing of Tamimi. A mysterious glimpse into the process came from an anonymous source who handed him the trial transcripts – a bundle of non-public documents that revealed Tamimi’s scornful boastfulness. Sentenced to sixteen life terms after pleading guilty to all charges, she smirked to the judges that her release would come sooner than they thought. She was right: in 2011, Israel traded 1,027 terrorists—including Tamimi—for Gilad Shalit, a soldier held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for five years. Tamimi returned triumphantly to her native Jordan to instant fame. Roth and his wife were devastated by Jordan’s undisguised embrace of the Sbarro bombing monster.
Weeks later, she began hosting her own weekly TV show from studios in Jordan’s capital. For the next five years, this platform spread Hamas’s horrifyingly extremist message to Arabic-speaking audiences worldwide, promoting an obscene, sanitized Islamic account of the massacre as a “resistance operation” and urging support for those doing terror.
Roth’s outrage grew as she basked in unrestrained celebrity, free and influential despite her crimes.
Then a glimmer of hope came in the form of an opportunity to see the terrorist murderer brought to justice. Learning of an obscure U.S. law targeting terrorism outside the U.S. against Americans and involving weapons of mass destruction, Roth flew to Washington unannounced, securing a Department of Justice undertaking to act. The key: Malki was a U.S. citizen as were two other of Tamimi’s victims.
In 2013, federal charges were secretly filed against Tamimi. Unsealed in 2017, she was named an FBI Most Wanted Terrorist. A $5 million State Department reward came soon afterwards. Bound by its bilateral 1995 extradition treaty with the U.S., Jordan refuses to comply, calling the treaty invalid. Officially the U.S. position is that it is perfectly valid – but American officials, according to Roth, say so in a very small voice. By suing the State Department under the Freedom of Information Act, the Roths obtained documents that strongly refute Jordan’s claim, but which get no media attention.
Jordan is regarded as a close U.S. ally and is deeply reliant on generous U.S. aid. Yet King Abdullah II escapes all public pressure about the kingdom’s thwarting of a Tamimi extradition during his frequent White House visits. Published claims preceded Abdullah’s February 2025 Oval Office meeting with President Trump that Jordan was about to extradite Tamimi. They were denied by Jordan immediately afterwards. Roth sees such claims as disinformation intended to keep Tamimi safe from U.S. justice.
Roth’s frustration with American officials is palpable. A 2022 letter from Victoria Nuland, then a senior State Department official, writing on behalf of President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken, told the Roths that bringing Tamimi to justice is “a foremost priority” and promised to keep the Roths updated. With some bitterness, Roth says Nuland, Biden, and Blinken never said another word about the case.
The bitterness grew when, in December 2023, Naftali Gordon, the husband of Malki’s younger sister, fell in combat fighting Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
Roth spoke recently on the Inspiration from Zion webinar series and podcast, about efforts see Tamimi tried in Washington. This, in the context of a recent deal with Hamas to release dozens of hostages the terrorists kidnapped on October 7, 2023, in return for a ceasefire, and the release of hundreds more terrorists from Israeli prisons. Seeing terrorists with blood on their hands released from Israeli prisons reopens agonizing wounds. As others see the murderers of their loved ones walking free as he did, he dreads what will come.
Unrepentant terrorists walking free, and the near certainty that more terror and additional deaths will follow, trigger strong emotions for Roth. Joy for the freed hostages and their families of course, but profound concern at the price. He mentions the 900-year-old story of Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg of whom Arnold Roth is a direct descendant: a giant of Jewish scholarship who was taken hostage and who forbade his community to ransom him lest it lead to more hostage-taking. That milestone ruling, says Roth, ought to guide us today. If the price of redeeming captives is to encourage more hostage-taking, we have done a terrible thing.
Roth emphasizes that his fight is not for vengeance but justice. His tools are public advocacy—a petition at www.change.org/extraditeTamimi —and relentless storytelling, as shared in a recent conversation with Inspiration from Zion.
He deplores congressional inaction while singling out Senator Ted Cruz who has challenged designated US ambassadors to Jordan in their confirmation hearings. “Not a single Democrat,” says Roth, “has spoken out about Tamimi. This should never have become a partisan issue.”
Roth’s plea is for others to amplify his story, to sign the family’s petition, to pressure representatives in Congress and the media to press the U.S. to act. The closing prayer during Roth’s recent conversation invoking divine justice for Malki and strength for the Roths mirrors Roth’s resolve. His fight is a testament to a father’s love, a call for accountability, a stark warning of justice betrayed. “Everybody can do something,” he insists, refusing to let Malki’s memory—or Tamimi’s freedom—fade into silence.
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