Terror victim’s mom lashes out at Tlaib: ‘Checkpoints prevent terrorism’

“My child Malki, a U.S. citizen murdered at 15, would be here today had a checkpoint stopped her murderer,” said Frimet Roth, whose teen daughter was killed in a suicide bombing. 

By World Israel News Staff 

Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is coming under sharp criticism from the mother of an Israeli terror victim for her statement against Israeli checkpoints in Judea and Samaria.

Speaking on Monday in the aftermath of the Israeli decision to bar her and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from visiting what the two referred to as “Palestine” on a trip that had been organized by a group that included supporters of terror and anti-Semitism and included no meetings with Israeli officials, Tlaib said:

“As a young girl, visiting Palestine to see my grandparents and extended family, I watched as my mother had to go through dehumanizing checkpoints – even though she was a United States citizen and proud American.”

Frimet Roth, whose 15-year-old daughter Malki was one of 15 civilians killed in a suicide bombing at a Sbarro restaurant in midtown Jerusalem in August 2001, tweeted in response:

“Rep Tlaib cried about her mother being ‘dehumanized’ at Israeli checkpoints. My child Malki, a U.S. citizen murdered at 15, would be here today had a checkpoint stopped her murderer and a 10-kg bomb from entering Jerusalem. Remind Tlaib: Checkpoints prevent terrorism — save lives.”

The Sbarro bombing occurred in the midst of a 2000-2005 terror uprising, known as the Second Intifada, in which some 1,000 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks.

After the Israeli rejection of her visit together with fellow Omar, Tlaib was granted permission by Israel’s Interior Minister Arye Deri, on humanitarian grounds, to visit her grandmother in a village in the Ramallah area. Initially, Tlaib pledged to refrain from promoting a boycott against Israel during her stay but later rejected the Israeli offer, saying that she refused to adhere to Israeli government restrictions.