IPT News
http://www.investigativeproject.org/4197/palestinian-bomber-chicago-arrest-triggers
There is outrage among many pro-Palestinian activists in Chicago after Tuesday's indictment of a woman accused of hiding her conviction for two 1969 Jerusalem bombings when she applied to become an American citizen.
The anger is not about Rasmieh Yousef Odeh's alleged lies and secret,
murderous past. Rather, the activists are upset with federal law
enforcement officials for daring to charge her.
"An attack against any community organizer is [an] attack against us
all. Rasmieh Odeh is not alone," the US Palestinian Community Network wrote in a Twitter post Tuesday.
Odeh's arrest represents "another example of the continuing
repression of Palestinians and people who stand in solidarity with
them," a group called the Committee to Stop FBI Repression said in a statement.
"Homeland Security, the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and
the U.S. Attorney's office now are carrying out enforcement of the
Israeli occupation of Palestine."
Odeh spent 10 years in an Israeli prison after being convicted in
connection with two February 1969 bombings by the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); one at a crowded supermarket that killed
two people, and one at the British Consulate in Jerusalem which left
property damage.
She failed to disclose her arrest, conviction and incarceration when
she applied first for a visa to come to America and then, in 2004, for
naturalization as a citizen. Immigration forms specifically ask about an
applicant's background and associations. Odeh's failures to disclose,
and her sworn signature that her applications were true, are the basis
for the new prosecution.
"The United States will never be a safe haven for individuals seeking
to distance themselves from their pasts," said William Hayes, acting
special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in Detroit,
said in a statement.
"When individuals lie on immigration documents, the system is severely
undermined and the security of our nation is put at risk."
Odeh is an associate director
with the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) in Chicago. Last spring,
she was honored as a "2013 Outstanding Community Leader" by the Chicago Cultural Alliance,
a group which describes itself as a "consortium of Chicago's ethnic
museums, cultural centers, and historical societies whose mission is to
effect social change and public understanding of cultural diversity
through first voice perspectives."
The AAAN is a "core member" of the alliance.
In a video biography
posted in concert with the award, Odeh describes how her family lost
its land and home "in 1948, when the Zionists occupied Palestine." Her
father moved to the United States to find work, she said through a
translator, permanently dividing the family. She makes no mention of the
bombing or of her time in an Israeli prison, saying she went to college
in Beirut in 1967, and returned a year later to visit family.
"[A]nd I was never able to go back because the Israelis wouldn't let me out," she said in the video.
In its statement, the Committee to Stop FBI Repression makes no
reference to the 1969 PFLP bombings. Instead, it makes a blanket
accusation against the Israeli court system, saying it "detains
Palestinians without charge - a court that has over 200 children in
prison today and does not recognize the rights of Palestinians to due
process."
AAAN Executive Director Hatem Abudayyeh also seemed disinterested in Odeh's connection to terrorist bombings, telling a Chicago reporter
Tuesday that Odeh has dedicated "her life to racial and social justice,
that's the Rasmieh Odeh I know, and that's the Rasmieh Odeh who's under
attack here."
In a Twitter post, Abudayyeh wrote that "Rasmieh Odeh will be demonized in media by people who do not know her, her life and her struggles against oppression. I stand with her."
Abudayyeh is believed to be among two dozen people under
investigation for possibly providing support to the PFLP and the
Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). FBI agents raided homes and offices of radical peace activists in Chicago and Minneapolis in the fall of 2010.
No charges have been filed and it's not clear whether the
investigation remains active. But the Stop FBI Repression statement
argued that Odeh's arrest is related, noting the presence of the same
federal prosecutor handling the PFLP/FARC investigation in the courtroom
Tuesday for Odeh's initial appearance.
The 2010 raids also drew the ire of national Islamist groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Both dismissed the raids as a "fishing expedition."
CAIR Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab called the investigation
"a waste of taxpayer dollars," "a new low," and "an example of FBI
overreach when it comes to activism or commentary on the (Middle East)
conflict."
If Odeh is found guilty, she would become the latest in a long series
of people who enjoyed community support even after their ties to
terrorists and the support for terrorist groups has been exposed.
Cleveland Imam Fawaz Damra was convicted on a similar immigration fraud and later deported. He is shown on video openly raising money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Brothers Bayan and Basman Elashi were deported last year after being convicted for their parts in a Hamas-financing network. And former Florida professor Sami Al-Arian, exposed as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad board member, faces a deportation order once a pending contempt case against him is resolved.
Odeh will get her day in court. But her first trial found her guilty
of participating in two terrorist bombings that killed two people. Maybe
her supporters never knew that. If so, their anger is directed at the
wrong targets.
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