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In a May 11, 2020 show on Yarmouk TV (Muslim Brotherhood-Jordan), Jordanian TV host Omar Aysara referred to a letter sent by several Republican U.S. Congressmen to the Jordanian Ambassador to the United States. In the letter, the congressmen threatened Jordan with sanctions if it does not extradite Ahlam Al-Tamimi, a released Palestinian terrorist who currently lives in Jordan. Al-Tamimi is on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List for the role she played in an August 9, 2001 suicide attack in a Jerusalem pizzeria that resulted in the killing of 15 civilians, two of whom were U.S. nationals. Aysara said that no Jordanian would agree to the extradition of Al-Tamimi.
Omar Aysara: "The released Jordanian prisoner Ahlam Al-Tamimi... It was reported today that seven Republican U.S. Senators... I'm not sure whether they are from the Senate or the House of Representatives. They are close to Trump, and they demand that Jordan extradite [Palestinian terrorist] Ahlam Al-Tamimi to America, on account of her [August 9, 2001] resistance operation in Jerusalem, in which some Americans apparently died. In any case, there are judicial demands to extradite her. What is new is that those seven senators [threaten] to impose sanctions or exert pressure on Jordan. They seem to think that they are talking about Saudi Arabia or some other country.
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"No Jordanian, regardless of whether he agrees or disagrees with Ahlam Al-Tamimi's vision, her actions, or her philosophy on how to deal with the Zionist occupation, will agree to extradite this Jordanian girl, in whom we take pride and whom we value and respect."
Dr. Anis Al-Qasem: "We never heard of the Americans filing suits against the Vietnamese government because Americans were killed [in the war]."
Aysara: "Right."
Al-Qasem: "Those American [nationals] came to Israel for one of two reasons. The first possible reason is that they were settlers. If they came as settlers... The Americans are the ones who established the principle that it is allowed to kill a person who joins [a war] even if he is a civilian. This legal principle, which has existed since the days of Abraham Lincoln, is called the 'continuous voyage' principle. With your permission, I'll explain..."
Aysara: "Go ahead. Take your time."
Al-Qasem: "In 1862, during the American Civil War, Britain helped the South against the North. The North was led by President Abraham Lincoln. Britain would send civilians to the southern states to help them in their war against the North. Lincoln made the decision to sink the ships carrying those volunteers. People said to him: 'But they are civilians.' He said: 'No, they are not civilians. Their voyage continues. They come as civilians, but when they enter through the Southern ports, they are recruited and they fight us. Therefore, their voyage continues. These are soldiers.'"
Aysara: "Right."
Al-Qasem: "The same principle applies to the Americans who come to the occupied lands. First of all, there is no tourism in a time of war. If a person comes on a tourist trip during a time of war, he does so on his own responsibility, since this is a theater of war. If they came as settlers, then they came as a part of a voyage of aggression against the Palestinian lands and to settle in Palestinian land. In this case, they constitute legitimate targets of the Palestinian resistance."
Aysara: "Nice."
Al-Qasem: "Therefore, we should not be worried about this. These people cannot claim that they were civilians. No! You are not a civilian. You either came as a tourist – and therefore at your own risk – or you came as a settler, in which case your arrival constitutes aggression."
Aysara: "In this case, you are considered a combatant."
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