The Jerusalem Post reported today that an Israeli NGO, Shurat HaDin—Israel Law Center, has appealed to United States Attorney General Eric Holder to extradite Saleh al-Arouri, who directs Hamas’ operations in the West Bank from Turkey, for his role in the kidnapping and killing of Naftali Fraenkel, an American citizen. Turkey’s protection of al-Arouri and other Hamas officials raises questions as to it is whether can truly be considered an ally of the United States.
The Post summarized the legal argument of the letter:
Citing “compelling evidence” that the Hamas official was behind the attack, which killed 16-year-old Naftali Frenkel – who was an American citizen – the NGO called for an investigation into the incident.
“We are confident that an investigation into the evidence of the kidnapping and murder of Fraenkel will result in a strong foundation for the indictment and extradition of senior Hamas leader Aruri from Turkey,” the letter said.
Since the US and Turkey have an extradition agreement, Turkey is obligated to extradite the suspect if he “committed a criminal act that would be punishable by Turkey, had the offense been perpetrated within its territorial jurisdiction.” And as the letter states, the kidnapping and murder of Fraenkel falls into that category.
Al-Arouri’s continued presence in the country is inconvenient for Turkey, a member of NATO. Al-Arouri was seen on a video this week at a conference in Turkey boasting that Hamas’ Qassam Brigades had carried out the June kidnapping of Fraenkel and two other teens, Eyal Yifrach and Gil-ad Shaar. He was also implicated in the recently revealed Hamas coup attempt against the Palestinian Authority.
The question of how to hold state sponsors of terrorism legally accountable for their clients’ actions was one of the questions facing Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, one of the founders of Shurat HaDin. In a profile of of Darshan-Leitner, The Woman who Makes the Jihadis Squirm, which was published in the February 2014 issue of The Tower Magazine, editor David Hazony writes:
Through her nonprofit legal center, Shurat HaDin (“letter of the law” in Hebrew), Nitsana has spent the last decade and a half battling terrorism through civil lawsuits. Representing terror victims from Israel, the United States, Canada, Iran, and elsewhere, she files motions and seizes assets and sends warnings. She has become a menace to terrorists, putting them on their heels, forcing them and their sponsors to spend vast sums on legal fees, to stop using the Western banking industry, to smuggle cash through tunnels instead of using the banks. In the process she has revolutionized the way the civilized world deals with terrorism.
[Photo: Arouri222 / YouTube ]