The family of a 15-year-old American girl who was killed in one of the most high-profile terrorist attacks in Israel's history is suing the Hamas operative who planned the operation in an American court for the first time, hoping to secure justice 25 years after the horrific bombing claimed their daughter's life, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Arnold and Frimet Roth, on behalf of their daughter Malki, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi, the female terrorist who helped plan and execute the 2001 bombing on a Sbarro restaurant in downtown Jerusalem that killed 15 people and wounded approximately 122 more, including seven children. The attack, carried out during the Second Intifada, or uprising, against Israel, sent shockwaves through the country that reverberated internationally. Al-Tamimi was sentenced in 2003 to serve 16 life terms by Israel, but was ultimately released from prison in 2011 during a prisoner release deal that granted her citizenship in Jordan.
Since that time, al-Tamimi has "publicly described her role in the Sbarro attack," "celebrated its lethality," and "expressed no remorse" for the terror bombing, the lawsuit states. Al-Tamimi even became a revered media figure while in Jordan, "hosting a weekly television program on the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds satellite channel" from 2012 to 2016. Al-Tamimi remains on the FBI's Most Wanted list, and there is an outstanding U.S. warrant for her arrest in Jordan, which will not extradite her to face federal criminal charges originally filed in 2013.
The Roth family’s civil case—filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia—offers a new pathway to hold al-Tamimi directly responsible for her crimes in an American court 25 years after their daughter was murdered. There is already legal precedent for holding foreign terrorists accountable in American civil courts, where they can be tried without the extradition necessary for a criminal trial.
"Jordan can block an extradition but it cannot block a judgment," said Mark Goldfeder, CEO and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC), which is handling the case alongside the Schoen Law Firm. "For twenty-five years, Ahlam Tamimi has lived free in Jordan while the Roth family lived with an empty chair at their table. Congress opened the doors of American courts to American victims of terror, and after twenty-five years, the Roths are walking through them."
Al-Tamimi remains one of the most brazen faces of terrorism living free in Jordan, where she is protected from the FBI and other federal authorities seeking her extradition. The State Department has a $5 million bounty on al-Tamimi's head and, in 2017, the Department of Justice unsealed its criminal complaint and arrest warrant.
She has also become the proud face of Palestinian resistance for a host of anti-Israel groups and pro-Hamas campus groups in the United States and abroad. In 2025, for instance, the University of Washington's Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return hailed al-Tamimi as a "heroine" on its Instagram page, writing that she "represents every Palestinian woman who refuses to kneel before oppression." After the U.S. government issued its 2017 arrest warrant, Arabic-language speakers across social media launched a campaign of support billed under the hashtag, "We are all Ahlam Tamimi."
The case has also galvanized the American Jewish community, which has petitioned the State Department for years to prioritize al-Tamimi's extradition from Jordan.
B'nai B'rith International pressed Secretary of State Marco Rubio in August 2025 to provide public updates and any diplomatic efforts to secure al-Tamimi's extradition from Jordan. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a communal umbrella group, issued a similar call last week, asking Rubio "to publicly reaffirm" that a 1995 extradition treaty with Jordan remains in effect and to press the country "to meet its obligations" under it.
U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee raised the issue earlier this week, saying that he stands "with Israel against terrorism in all its forms and remain[s] committed to bringing every last fugitive of this heinous act to justice." He also met with the Roth family in early June and was presented with a petition calling on Jordan to extradite al-Tamimi.
Al-Tamimi herself told Al Jazeera in 2017 during an interview from her Amman home that she was "shocked" the American government is pursuing her and blamed American Jews for the situation.
"These groups have somehow been able to steer the US government to go after me. Even after I was convicted and spent many years in Israeli prisons," she said. "The US government, who is always trying to solve the problems of the world, especially in the Middle East, has decided to go after one woman for no obvious reasons."
The Roth family is seeking "compensatory damages" from al-Tamimi "at the maximum rate allowed by law" after a trial by jury.
