An appeals court in Berlin has ordered the deportation of the convicted Palestinian terrorist, Rasmea Odeh. The Higher Regional Court was responding to an appeal filed by Odeh’s lawyer, challenging the earlier deportation order issued by Berlin State’s Home Affairs Department, or Innensenat, ordering her to leave the country.
That deportation was promptly carried out. Odeh is out of Germany.
Odeh, feted by anti-Israel activists across the world, is the mastermind of the 1969 Jerusalem supermarket bombing that killed two Hebrew University students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. She was convicted of the bombing and served a 10-year sentence, only to be released in a prisoner exchange for a captured Israeli soldier in Lebanon. She later moved to the U.S. where she applied for citizenship, concealing her terrorist past.
German authorities ordered the deportation, claiming Odeh had not disclosed her public engagements while applying for a visa at the German embassy in Jordan, where she currently resides. Odeh’s lawyers denied their client hid the real purpose of her visit. On Friday, the appeals courts accepted the version presented by the German embassy and reinstated the prior deportation order.
On Monday, the newspaper Berliner Morgenpost confirmed Odeh’s departure from Germany. “The ex-terrorist Rasmea Odeh has left Berlin. The Jordanian national voluntarily left the country, [Berlin’s] Department of Internal affairs declared,” the newspaper reported. “The police oversaw her departure from Germany.”
Odeh, member of the terror outfit Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has a history of making false claims on visa applications. In 2017, a Michigan court stripped Odeh of her U.S. citizenship for lying on her visa and naturalization forms. She was allowed to leave the country without a prison term as part of a plea bargain.
The German daily Bild Zeitung reported the details surrounding Odeh’s visit:
She is a convicted terrorist and a murderer, and yet she was going to make an appearance in Berlin. However, Berlin State’s Home Affairs Department stalled those plans, banned the appearance, and revoked Odeh’s [Europe-wide] Schengen visa. Her [appeal] has been rejected by Berlin’s Higher Regional Court.On Friday, the court accepted — without any objections — the decision of the Immigration Office to revoke Odeh’s visa, citing that she is a threat to public order.Odeh argued in her complain that the Germany embassy in Amman, Jordan was informed about the purpose of her visit. This was not the case, the [Higher Regional] court ruled. [Translated by the author]
While challenging her deportation order, Odeh taunted the authorities by streaming a speech at a ‘pro-Palestinian’ event in Berlin. The daily Berliner Zeitung covered the details of Odeh’s appearance in Berlin:
The 72-year-old convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh has evaded the ban. She addressed her supporters at an event in Café “Be’kech” at Exerzier Street through a video message. In a 20-minute speech, she accused Berlin authorities of racism for barring her from speaking. She concluded the speech with the words: “Honour to all martyrs!” That was met with a big applause. It was nuclear, when and where the video was taken. The fact that it had subtitles, rule out live-streaming. [Translated by the author]
The newspaper reported that a local Jewish group Jüdische Forum has filed a criminal complaint against Odeh for violating the ban.
“We have filed a criminal complaint against the convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh. There is reason to suspect that she had engaged in political activity on Wednesday evening through a video message despite a ban,” Berlin-based Jüdische Forum wrote on Twitter.
“It is the purpose of the prohibition order [issued by the state of Berlin] to prevent Odeh from getting the opportunity to glorify anti-Semitic terrorists as ‘martyrs.’ Although Odeh was not present [at the event] herself on Wednesday evening, but that’s exactly what she succeeded in,” head of the Jüdische Forum, Lala Süsskind, said in a statement on the organisation’s website.
In Berlin, Odeh was hosted by a terror-linked group, Bild Zeitung noted. She “entered Germany with a Jordanian passport to take part in an event hosted by the Palestinian Samidoun network. The association has close links to the Palestinian “Liberation Front” PFLP and has been banned in the United States and Israel,” the newspaper reported.
Samidoun activists took to Twitter against Odeh’s deportation order. “German authorities stripped Rasmea of her Schengen visa at the demand of Israeli and U.S. officials, both tied deeply to the global right wing,” Samidoun lamented. The group urged its German followers to use hashtag #RasmeaSpricht, or ‘Rasmea speaks,’ to protest her impending deportation.
Founded in 2011, the Palestinian activist network, Samidoun, aims to link up with far-left groups in North American and Europe. On its website, the group called upon “Puerto Rican independentistas, Black liberation organizers, Latino and Chicano activists” and other radical groups to make common cause with the “Palestinian liberation movement,” or Arab and Islamist groups waging the campaign of terror against Israeli civilians.
Video of Roslyn, mother of Edward Joffe, who was murdered by Odeh and her accomplices in 1969 Jerusalem bombing
[Cover image via YouTube]
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