Washington, DC, Jan. 07 — More than thirteen years after the murder of Alex Odeh, the FBI is finally taking steps to publicize its reward offer in the place where it may bring results — in Israel and the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) welcomes the FBI’s decision to publicize among Israelis its offer of a $1 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderers of Alex Odeh. Odeh, ADC’s Western Regional Director, was killed in a terrorist attack on ADC’s offices in Santa Anna, CA in 1985. Every evidence suggests that the killers were associated with the Jewish Defense League (JDL) and found safe haven in Israel or in settlements in Israeli occupied territories. Two years ago the FBI announced that it was offering a $1 million reward for information on those responsible for Alex Odeh’s death. ADC has been pressuring the FBI to advertise the reward offer in Hebrew in Israel and Israeli occupied territories where such information is likely to be found. Recent advertisements in several Israeli newspapers and the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds are a welcome and overdue sign that the FBI is committed to finding the murderers of Alex Odeh.
Two colonists in Israeli settlements on the West Bank are suspected of involvement in or knowledge of the details of the Odeh murder. The FBI and the United States government could and should do far more in using its considerable influence with the Israeli government to elicit cooperation in this matter. It must make clear that it will not tolerate terrorism in the United States and that Israel cannot act as a safe haven for those who would commit terrorist murders in our country.