How Jordan’s refusal to extradite a convicted terrorist could imperil $1.5 billion in US aid
Conservative Republicans are turning to a new law that could cut Jordan off from as much as $1.5 billion in US assistance unless it agrees to extradite a woman who helped bomb an Israeli restaurant in 2001.
A group of House Republicans have lost patience with Jordan for its refusal to extradite Ahlam al-Tamimi, a Jordanian woman who helped kill 15 people, including two Americans, in a 2001 bomb attack on a Sbarro pizzeria in Israel. The seven conservative lawmakers are now turning to a law they passed in December that could eliminate Jordan’s $1.5 billion in American economic and military aid unless Amman turns Tamimi in to face the US criminal justice system.
Rep. Gregory Steube, R-Fla., and six of his House Republican colleagues pressed the issue last month in a letter to Jordan’s envoy to Washington, Dina Kawar.
“Seeing Jordan provide a confessed bomber with legal impunity while rebuffing an arrest warrant and extradition request from its most significant ally and friend, the United States, amounts to a deeply troubling scenario,” the lawmakers wrote. “We believe it is of the highest importance to US/Jordan relations that an outcome is found that honors Jordanian law while ensuring the unrepentant terrorist and murderer of innocent Americans is brought to US justice."
The letter threatens sanctions on Jordan under a provision in the foreign aid spending bill Congress passed into law last year. However, the provision in question — written with Jordan’s refusal to extradite Tamimi in mind — doesn’t actually authorize sanctions.
