A Tour For Justice
A Jewish mother wants the terrorist who killed her son
extradited to the United States.
JULIE WIENER
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Oscar Braun's
1998
16
15075 W. Lincoln, Oak Park
(248) 968-5858
Hours:
Mon.-Fri.
10-4
eventeen-year-old David
Boim was a round-faced boy
with a ready smile and a large
circle of friends. A yeshiva
student in the West Bank settlement
of Beit El, he planned to one day
become a doctor.
Nearly two years ago, he was killed
by two Palestinians who fired into a
group of yeshiva students.
One of the murderers, Khalil Sharif,
blew himself up last summer in a sui-
cide bombing at the Ben Yehudah
pedestrian mall in Jerusalem.
According to Boim's mother, Joyce,
the other alleged killer, Amjad Hanawi,
is a free man living in areas under
Palestinian control. She says he was
arrested and briefly jailed by the Pales-
tinian authorities. It is unclear whether
he ever was tried.
Mrs. Boim wants to see him behind
bars for good.
"Losing a child is hard enough," said
Mrs. Boim, who lives in Jerusalem.
"But then knowing the killer is walking
around, maybe planning another attack,
it's too much to bear ... I could be pass-
ing these murderers on the street!"
An Israeli Supreme Court case
resulted in the Israeli government filing
an extradition request for Hanawi to
the Palestinian Authority, but Palestin-
ian authorities have so far refused to
extradite anyone to Israel.
Now Mrs. Boim is trying a new
strategy. Because her son was born in
the United States and held dual Ameri-
can-Israeli citizenship — the family
made aliyah in 1985 — Mrs. Boim is
urging government officials to extradite
Hanawi for trial in the U.S. Under
Congress' 1992 amendment to the
U.S. Anti-Terrorism Law, the murder
of a U.S. citizen anywhere outside the
United States is a federal crime.
Mrs. Boim's Washington, D.C.-
based attorney, Nathan Lewin, plans to
file a civil lawsuit against Hanawi and
others involved in planning the mur-
der. He also is helping Mrs. Boim pres-
sure the Justice Department to bring
criminal charges against him.
Given the current volatility of the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process, it is
unclear if the United States will be will-.
ing to exert such pressure on the Pales-
tinian authorities.
But Lewin says the matter has noth-
ing to do with the peace process.
"This is about basic human rights,"
he said. "A 17 - year - old was murdered
at a bus stop, and whoever perpetrated
this ought to be brought to justice.
stop pressuring the Israelis to make fu
they concessions to the Palestinians.
"People should pressure the U.S.
government to stop funding Arafat
until he complies [with the Oslo
Accords], and to take the pressure off
Israel," said Mrs. Boim. "All the lands
the Arabs have gotten [through the
Oslo Accords] have become [terrorists']
Above: David's funeral in 1996
attracted a large crowd of friends and
supporters.
Right: David with his sister, Bracha.
There should be every effort on the
part of the U.S. government to haul
him back and bring him to trial in
the U.S."
As part of a multi-city tour aimed
at drumming up support for her
cause, Mrs. Boim will speak in
Detroit on Sunday evening at the
Agency for Jewish Education.
Mrs. Boim describes her son as
someone who was "outgoing and well-
liked, always with a smile or joke," and
says she plans to tell of her efforts to
have his murderer brought to justice.
She hopes her tour will bring attention
to the plight•of Jewish victims of terror-
ism. "Entire families are destroyed by
this," she said, describing the emotional
pain faced by survivors.
She also hopes her story will per-
suade the United States government to
cities of refuge."
An opponent of the peace process,
Mrs. Boim desCribes it as "give and
take. We give and they take!" Her son
was the 215th Jewish victim of terror-
ism following the Oslo Accords, and
one of several Americans killed.
"I don't think there will ever be
peace with the-Arabs," said Mrs. Boim.
Mrs._Boim describes the Jewish set-
tlers in the West Bank and Gaza as "the
heart and soul of Israel. They're what's
keeping the country going."