September 11, 2003 Contact: (212) 481-1500 Attn: NEWS EDITOR

If Past Experience is Any Guide...

PALESTINIAN ARAB KILLERS OF AMERICAN DOCTOR & DAUGHTER WILL GO FREE, AND
STATE DEPT WILL LOOK THE OTHER WAY

NEW YORK- Millions of Americans are now aware --thanks to front-page stories
in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and elsewhere-- that two
American citizens, Dr. David Applebaum and his daughter Nava, were among the
people massacred in Palestinian Arab terrorist bombings in Israel this week.

But what the American public does not know is that the terrorists who
organized and financed the attacks can fully expect to remain free,
sheltered by the Palestinian Authority and ignored by the State
Department--because that is what has happened in all the cases of the 48
Americans murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists in Israel since 1993.

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) points out that, based on past
experience concerning the behavior of the State Department with regard to
such cases, here is what is likely to happen to the Applebaums' killers:

* No FBI Man-Hunt for the Terror Organizers: Although the FBI routinely
sends agents abroad to apprehend foreign killers of Americans, they do not
sent agents to Palestinian Arab areas. The ZOA has learned from reliable
sources that the State Department has in the past blocked plans by the FBI
to send agents to pursue such killers.

* The State Dept Won't Name the Group: That Did It The State Department
maintains a web site that offers rewards for information leading to the
capture of terrorists who murder Americans abroad. In other cases, the name
of the group that carried out the bombing is identified on the web site. But
in cases involving Palestinian Arab terrorist groups, the State Department
refuses to identify Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or Fatah by name--even when they
claimed responsibility for the attack. The web site calls them only "groups
opposed to Middle East negotiations." Thus if the Applebaum bombing is
included on the web site, Hamas will not be named as the group that did
it--thus making it harder for potential informants to acquire information
about the killers.

* The State Dept Won't Name the Suspects: The same web site lists the names
of suspects in cases of terrorism against Americans abroad--except in cases
involving Palestinian Arab terrorists, where no names are listed. Thus even
if the State Department knows the names of the suspected organizers of the
Applebaum bombing, they will not be included on the web site--thus making it
harder for potential informants to acquire information about the killers.

* If the Killers Hide in a Famous Church, the State Dept Will Pressure
Israel to Let Them Go: In April 2002, a group of Palestinian Arab
terrorists --including several killers of Americans-- took over the Church
of the Nativity, in Bethlehem. The Bush administration pressured Israel to
let them leave and refrain from arresting them. Some went to Gaza, others
went to Europe. At least one of the killers of an American is now living
openly in Spain, another in Ireland--yet the Bush administration has made
no effort to capture them.

* If the Killers Hide in Arafat's Headquarters the State Dept Will
Pressure Israel to Ignore Them: At least three known Palestinian Arab
killers of Americans are living in the official PA headquarters in Ramallah:
Tawfik Tirawi (former head of PA Intelligence), Mahmoud Damra (Ramallah
regional commander of Yasir Arafat's Force 17), and Damra's deputy Khaled
Shawish. (Ha'aretz, March 12, 2003; Jerusalem Post, Aug. 5, 2003) They
organized the October 30, 2000 murder of U.S. citizen Esh-Kodesh Gilmore
(whose parents are from Ohio and New Jersey) and the December 31, 2000
attack in which U.S. citizens Binyamin and Talia Kahane (from New York) were
murdered, and five of their children were wounded. Some of the terrorists
involved in the attacks were captured, and confessed that they operated
under Damra's direct command. Shawish himself was directly involved in the
shooting of the Kahane family. (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 28, 2001, March 16,
2001 & April 24, 2001) Yet the Bush administration has repeatedly pressured
Israel from sending its forces into the PA headquarters compound.

* If the Killers Are Rewarded With Jobs in the PA Security Forces, the
State Dept Will Ignore Them: At least four of the suspects in murders of
Americans have been rewarded with jobs in the PA Security Forces: Bassam
Issa, Kamal Khalifa, Yasser Yusef Mustafa Khasin, and Mahmad Sanwar, who
were involved in the February 1996 bus bombing in which Sara Duker, Matthew
Eisenfeld, and Ira Weinstein were murdered. (Jerusalem Post, July 3, 1998)
Yet the Bush administration has never demanded that they be handed over to
the U.S. for prosecution; it has not even demanded that they be fired from
their jobs.

* Even if the U.S Indicts the Killers, It Won't Demand that the PA Hand
Them Over: Even in the unlikely case that the U.S. will indict the
Applebaums' killers, it can be expected that the U.S. will make no effort to
actually bring them to the U.S. for prosecution. The only indictment in such
a case came in February 2003, when the U.S. government indicted eight
Palestinian Arab terrorists involved in an Islamic Jihad cell whose victims
included Alisa Flatow of West Orange, NJ, a 20 year-old Brandeis University
junior, who was murdered in a bombing near Kfar Darom on April 9, 1995; and
Shoshana Ben-Yishai, 16, of Queens, NY, who was murdered in a shooting
attack on a bus in Jerusalem on November 9, 2001--although they were
indicted on general terrorism charges, not for their role in these murders
of Americans. One of those indicted was Abd Al-Aziz Awda, 52, who is
described in the indictment as the founder and "spiritual leader" of the
terror ring. He is head of the Al Qassam Mosque in the PA-controlled Gaza
Strip. Although the indictment was issued more than seven months ago, the
U.S. has never demanded that the PA hand him over, nor have FBI agents been
sent to the mosque to arrest him.
* * *
The Zionist Organization of America, founded in 1897, is the oldest
pro-Israel organization in the United States. The ZOA works to strengthen
U.S.-Israel relations, educates the American public and Congress about the
dangers that Israel faces, and combats anti-Israel bias in the media and on
college campuses. Its past presidents have included Supreme Court Justice
Louis Brandeis and Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver.