WASHINGTON, DC – The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today marks the 17th anniversary of the murder of Alex Odeh. Odeh, ADC’s Southern California Regional Director, was killed on October 11, 1985, when a powerful pipe bomb exploded as he unlocked and opened the door of the ADC office in Santa Ana, California.
In addition to killing Odeh, the bomb injured several other victims. According to press reports, the FBI has identified three members of the Jewish Defense League as suspects in this act of domestic terrorism. Yet, in spite of the fact that all three suspects have been identified, no arrest has been made. The suspects have been living in a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
ADC has repeatedly raised the Alex Odeh case with the FBI and the Justice Department. Although the FBI has for several years offered up to one million dollars for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Odeh’s murder, the case remains unresolved.
Ziad Asali, President of ADC, stated that “the ADC family is deeply saddened to mark this solemn occasion. However, we are doubly disappointed in the Justice Department and the FBI, who, in spite of repeated promises, seem determined not to resolve this serious act of domestic terrorism.”
Alex, a native of Jifna, Palestine, immigrated to the United States in 1972 and became a U.S. citizen in 1977. He was a poet, a lecturer and a tireless peace activist. Alex dedicated his life to the defense of civil liberties at home and civil and human rights abroad. He was survived by his wife Norma, and three daughters.