Anyone who cares at all about the pursuit of justice just got an unexpected holiday gift last week. Congress just passed a huge omnibus spending bill, which was signed by the U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 20 and became the law of the land: Public Law 116-94.
Tucked into this bill by an anonymous member of Congress, without any fanfare, was HR 7055, which states: “None of these funds provided by this Act, may be used to provide assistance, (here there is a reiteration of the emergency exceptions), to the central government of a country which has notified the Department of State of its refusal to extradite to the United States any individual indicted for a criminal offense for which the maximum penalty is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, or for killing a law enforcement officer.”
For many families who have been suffering in quiet anguish for the last 18 years, this is nothing short of a long overdue miracle.
Let me explain. On Aug. 9, 2001, 21-year-old Ahlam Tamimi picked up Izz Al-Din Shuheil Al-Masri from the West Bank and accompanied him to the Sbarro pizzeria on the corner of Jaffa and King George streets in the heart of West Jerusalem. Ms. Tamimi had said that she particularly scouted out this restaurant because it was frequented by young Jewish families.