We received a response to the congressional letter on April 5 from Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, beginning with “The Department of Justice shares your commitment to pursuing those who have murdered or injured Americans in terrorist attacks, whether committed in the United State or overseas, and bringing them to justice.”
What followed, however, was a litany of excuses as to why this is very difficult. We know this is difficult in some cases. But in others – the prime example being Ahlam Tamimi – it is extraordinarily easy.
The weak response by our government just compounds the enormous grief families of terror victims are already suffering.
This is, of course, a tremendously compelling issue strictly on humanitarian grounds. But it is equally significant as a foreign policy issue. Why is our nation not pursuing the monsters who delight in the murder of children? What sort of message are we sending would-be terrorists around the globe?
As the mother of Matthew Eisenfeld – a Yale graduate who was studying in Israel when, in February 1996, he boarded the number 18 bus in Jerusalem shortly before it was blown up – said to me, “It makes me feel that my son’s blood is less American.”
Etched on the edifice of the Supreme Court are the words “Equal Justice Under Law.” Why is there no equal justice under the law for these Americans whose lives were lost or who were maimed by Palestinian terrorists?
Sarah Stern is the founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth, a Washington-based think tank and policy center.