NY Times Publishes Photo of Smiling Female Terrorist 

by Lee Green

The photo accompanying the June 27, 2007, New York Times' TV-film review shows the pretty smiling face of Ahlam Tamimi.  The photo caption reads: 

"Ahlam Tamimi in a scene from the documentary 'Hot House.' Ms. Tamimi is among about 10,000 Palestinians being held in Israeli jails."  

However, the Times failed to inform readers that this smiling woman is actually the unrepentant female terrorist who smuggled explosives in a guitar case into Jerusalem and helped provide cover for another terrorist who used the bomb to murder 16 people, including 15 year-old Malki Roth, at the Sbarro Pizzeria. Read the moving words of Arnold Roth, Malki's father, upon seeing the radiant photo in the New York Times of one of his daughter's murderers. Click here for the June 28, 2007 posting on the Solomonia blog . 

Here's a photo of the murdered Malki -- one Times readers won't see.

The NY Times film reviewer, Neil Genzlinger, compounds the whitewash of Tamimi with a smug dose of false moral equivalence, portraying Israel's self-defensive counter-terror measures as no better than Palestinian terrorism against civilians, and trivializes it all as a "cat and mouse... game":  

"...by the end of 'Hot House' you may feel more than a little annoyance at the two sides in this endless conflict. These enemies know each other absurdly well. They learn from each other, and talk openly about doing so. Yet they can't seem to break the cycle: a cat and mouse addicted to their own game."

There's no "cycle" of violence.  Whenever Israel held back from responding to Palestinian terror attacks, the violence did not stop.  The Palestinian terrorists continued their violence against Israeli civilians and communities.  

And it's not a "game" for Israelis to defend themselves against brutal terrorists.  In self-defense, Israel works to destroy the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure, including arresting/attacking terror leaders and their armed followers.  If the Palestinians put down their weapons, there would be peace.  If the Israelis put down their weapons (or eliminate security checkpoints, as they have many times done), violent Palestinian attacks would escalate.

Originally Published on 6/29/2007 for CAMERA