Sbarro Pizzeria Jerusalem Bombing: 25 Years Later, Families Still Wait for Justice

Sbarro Pizzeria Jerusalem Bombing: 25 Years Later, Families Still Wait for Justice

Ahlam Tamimi, the mastermind behind the attack, still lives free in Jordan, which refuses to extradite her—a fight that’s fallen largely to the parents of 15-year-old victim Malki Roth.

It’s hard to believe that today marks a quarter of a century since the Sbarro pizzeria attack. It still stands out as one of the deadliest suicide bombings of the Second Intifada.

And it still stands out for me personally, because one of the American victims, Shoshana Greenbaum, sat at my dining room table only months before.  She and her husband Shmuel came to us for a Shabbos meal when they were newlyweds. She was expecting their first child that August, when the bombing killed her—for Shmuel, a double disaster.

There were two other American victims: New York-born Chana Nachenberg, a young mother who lingered in a vegetative state until she died 22 years later from her wounds; and 15-year-old Chana Malka (“Malki”) Roth.

Malki is the best-known name because her parents, Arnold and Frimet, have campaigned relentlessly to have the attack’s mastermind, Ahlam Tamimi, brought to justice—a cause that’s long circulated on X under the hashtag “#JusticeForMalkiRoth.”

Their son-in-law, an IDF reservist, was killed fighting Hamas in Gaza in December 2023—compounding a grief that, for the family, traces back to the same terror group that took Malki.

The Sbarro bombing and its aftermath were covered here in depth for over a decade by Professor Jacobson and Vijeta Uniyal. An early comprehensive report by Prof. Miriam Elman appears here.

It’s disheartening to look back and realize that, despite renewed diplomatic pressure and advocacy, Tamimi still has not been extradited—just as reported in 2021, when Legal Insurrection marked the bombing’s 20th anniversary.

A Hamas “journalist” born in Jordan, Tamimi is, above all, a religious fanatic who saw the Sbarro attack as one of her “best deeds,” calculated in every respect to maximize the carnage.

On August 9 at about 2:00pm—the height of lunch hour—she directed a Hamas suicide bomber, Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri, to the crowded Sbarro’s pizzeria in downtown Jerusalem where he blew himself up.

He reportedly concealed the explosives in a guitar case packed with nails, screws, and bolts to inflict the most grievous injury.

The blast initially killed 15 people, including seven children. Some 130 others were injured.

Tamimi picked the restaurant because of the many religious Jews who ate there. She surveilled the location using her press pass for easy access, and after the bombing went back to her Palestinian TV station to cover the news live on air.

As Professor Jacobson wrote here, in multiple interviews over the years, she expressed regret that she hadn’t killed more people, and pleasure in finding out from the interviewer that more children died in the bombing than she originally thought:

She later bragged about it:

Flashback: Hamas “journalist” Ahlam Tamimi brags about using her press card to scout Jewish targets in Israel and personally delivering a suicide bomber to the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem.

She sought a place packed with Jews—preferably a school or restaurant—to kill as many… pic.twitter.com/pfCffwMnKN

— Liza Rosen (@LizaRosen0000) August 3, 2026

She thanked G-d for the high death toll and called the attack itself “the crown on my head”:

Following a trial in Israeli court, Tamimi was sentenced to 16 life terms and imprisoned but then released in the 2011 prisoner swap for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Here in the U.S., Tamimi faces criminal charges for her role in the murder of the two American citizens killed in the bombing. She remains on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list, with a $5 million reward for information leading to her arrest.

That arrest still seems unlikely, as Tamimi continues to live the good life in Jordan, enjoying her freedom and her status as a Jihadi celebrity. The regime has repeatedly refused to extradite her to the U.S.—notwithstanding a 1995 extradition treaty between the two countries.

A Freedom of Information Act lawsuit the Roths filed in 2020 turned up a secret letter, revealed the following year, in which Jordan’s former king pledged to honor it—undercutting Jordan’s argument that the treaty was never properly ratified.

Meanwhile, Tamimi reportedly continues to receive “pay-for-slay” payments from the Palestinian Authority—roughly $2,000 a month according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry—despite their earlier promises to end the policy:

THIS IS PAY-FOR-SLAY:

The PA is still paying $2,000 a month to Ahlam Tamimi – the terrorist who orchestrated the Sbarro bombing in 2001.

In that attack, the Dutch-Israeli Schijveschuurder family was nearly wiped out.
Parents Mordechai and Tzira were murdered with three of their… https://t.co/VeA1iuBtK5

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) January 28, 2026

Her family is part of the large Palestinian community in Jordan, Robert Silverman wrote in 2025 at JSTribune—and Tamimi herself remains “openly proud of the Sbarro terrorist attack, saying she would do it again if she could.” Silverman raised his own concern that she may be serving as “a symbol of Muslim Brotherhood resistance,” inspiring others to violence.

“[S]ome analysts believe Tamimi’s extradition might trigger widespread Palestinian protests against Jordan’s pro-Western monarchy,” he added.

But according to those involved in the case, reports Mike Wagenheim at JNS, the claim that handing over Tamimi would cause rioting in the streets is a “convenient excuse” given by Washington to avoid rocking the boat with Jordan—a dynamic Roth has felt directly. No Democrats and just a few Republicans have backed seeking Tamimi’s extradition.

And while the families of the two other American victims give Roth their “quiet support,” he told JNS, they “prefer not to take a public position.”

Roth, by contrast, has refused to stay quiet. Over the past year and a half, he has kept the pressure on through every channel available to him. In May 2025, he and Frimet personally delivered a 30,000-signature petition to U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee. Two months later, they met with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who told them the case remained a DOJ priority.

And this month, timed to the anniversary, he launched a fresh petition urging Secretary of State Rubio to finally enforce it.

Huckabee has responded in his own way: he posted on X that he keeps Malki Roth’s picture on a shelf in his office, a reminder that justice hasn’t been served.

Justice delayed is justice denied. 25 yrs @arnoldroth & wife @frithrotj deserve justice. It’s why Malky’s picture is in a frame on a shelf in my office. She would be 40 yrs old this year. https://t.co/W3CUKV8eNL

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) August 4, 2026

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