Dutch groups rescind invitation to convicted Palestinian terrorist

Following protests over a planned speech in the Netherlands by a Palestinian ex-terrorist, two organizations that had planned to host her retract the invitations.

A labor association for Turkish immigrants, HTIB, tells De Telegraaf on Tuesday that it is bowing out of hosting Rasmea Odeh this week. HTIB Chairperson Mustafa Ayranci says this following the publication of a report that called into question the move, as HTIB’s receives state subsidies.

HTIB had volunteered to host Rasmea after Amsterdam’s Nasau Church rescinded its invitation to Odeh, who is visiting the Netherlands as the guest of two Marxist groups, Anakbayan-Europe and Revolutionary Unity.

She spent 10 years in an Israeli prison for her role in a 1969 bombing attack at a Jerusalem supermarket that killed two Hebrew University students, Leon Kanner and Eddie Joffe. Israel jailed Odeh for life, but she was released in a prisoner exchange with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1980 and immigrated to the United States from Jordan. She has said her confession to the bombing was the result of severe torture by Israeli security forces.

Odeh obtained a US immigrant visa in 1994 and citizenship in 2004. In both applications, she failed to disclose her arrest and convictions in the bombings. She pleaded guilty to falsifying her immigration applications and was deported to Jordan in September.

In an email inviting listeners to the HTIB headquarters, the organizers wrote: “We ask you DO NOT POST THIS ADDRESS on any online or public platform. This is for Rasmea Odeh’s safety and security.”

— JTA