Speaking of justice, Your Majesty — why is Tamimi still free?

September is when the United Nations General Assembly holds its opening session at UN headquarters in New York City each year. Jordan’s King Abdullah II has flown in to speak at the event eighteen times in the twenty-six years he has sat on the Hashemite throne. There’s a good chance he and his royal retinue are on their way there now.

He must not be allowed to leave that chamber unchallenged.

It’s entirely in character for the King to use this podium to speak of justice, international law, the protection of civilians, the duty of nations to honor their obligations. Jordan’s king was right when, addressing the General Assembly two Septembers ago, he observed:

“The harsh reality many see is that some nations are above international law, that global justice does bend to the will of power, and that human rights are selective; a privilege to be granted or denied at will. We cannot stand for that…”

He’s right. And it’s for me, the father of a murdered American child, to point out how he seems to not see what it says about the Tamimi case. And his own personal responsibility.

Tamimi speaks often about the 2001 Sbarro atrocity. The school vacation afternoon terror assault on a pizzeria thronged with children was, in her own words, “my operation”. She takes credit for helping plan the showcase massacre on behalf of Hamas, selecting the target and accompanying the human bomb from Ramallah to the center of Jerusalem, leaving him at the doomed eatery’s front door while she escaped. Among the fifteen innocent lives lost in the carnage were American citizens including my teenage daughter, Malki.

Israel convicted Tamimi and then, over our furious objections, released her in the catastrophic 2011 Shalit Deal. She has lived openly in Jordan ever since and speaks publicly about the attack without remorse. She is a celebrity there, an influencer, an icon.

In 2013, United States federal prosecutors charged her with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against US nationals outside the United States, resulting in death. Those charges stayed inexplicably secret until they were unsealed in 2017. She is today on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list. A US arrest warrant and extradition request have been outstanding for years.

American courts are still waiting. And Jordan has refused to send her.

Amman cites a 2017 court ruling that the 1995 US–Jordan extradition treaty was never ratified by parliament. My wife and I sued the US State Department some years ago to obtain documentary proof that King Hussein signed an instrument of ratification in 1995. While Washington quietly maintains the treaty is in force, it avoids raising its voice to demand that Jordan hand Tamimi over. Meanwhile she remains free in the capital of a major US ally.

That is the record. The King has not closed it.

The years of pushing for a Tamimi trial, and for the most part being ignored and worse, have been hard on my wife and me. Now, weeks after the twenty-fifth anniversary of Tamimi’s “operation” and our child’s murder, it’s time to make demands.

The American media covering UNGA week should put the question to him directly, on camera, and not accept a pivot to other subjects:

Will Jordan extradite Ahlam Tamimi to stand trial in a US federal court?

If not, on what legal and moral basis does the Kingdom continue to shield a woman charged in the killing of Americans?

Why has this case been left unanswered at the very forum where Jordan asks the world to treat law as binding?

We cannot let another September pass with the speech delivered and the case ignored. For those privileged to speak there, the General Assembly cannot be a sanctuary from hard questions. If Jordan’s ruler comes to New York to speak for his country, he should be asked — plainly, publicly, and by name — about Tamimi.

Justice thwarted since 2013 must come with consequences and accountability. There needs to be an answer to whether American lives, American courts, and a written treaty with a close partner even count when the accused lives under Hashemite protection.

Ask the question. Keep asking it until there is an answer.