New Yorker injured in Jerusalem pizzeria terror attack dies after years in coma
The victim of a bombing at a Sbarro in Jerusalem who remained in a coma for 22 years passed away Wednesday, making her the third U.S. national to die as a result of the attack.
Chana Nachenberg was 31 when a Palestinian suicide bomber targeted a Sbarro pizzeria and injured over 100 people on Aug. 9, 2001.
The BBC reported that Nachenberg, born in New York but holding dual citizenship, became the 16th victim killed by the attack, including seven children.
Nachenberg was in the pizzeria with her 3-year-old daughter, who escaped physically unharmed from the attack.
“It has been 21 years and nine months since the attack, for which my daughter has been unconscious, in a coma, at Reuth [Rehabilitation] Hospital in Tel Aviv,” Nachenberg’s father, Yitzhak, told Hebrew-language media. “About three weeks ago, she was hospitalized at Ichilov Hospital, where she died this evening.
The U.S. has continued to seek the extradition of Ahlam al-Tamimi, a woman born in the West Bank and holding Jordanian citizenship, who was found guilty by an Israeli court for her role in the attack.
Al-Tamimi was handed 16 life sentences but was released in 2011 as part of a deal to free an Israeli soldier held by Hamas militants in Gaza.
She moved to Jordan following her release but has spoken openly about her involvement in the bombing, according to The Times of Israel.
The family of Malka Roth, a 15-year-old girl killed in the attack, has continued to press American authorities to extradite al-Tamimi.
Jordan last refused to extradite her in 2017, claiming that an extradition treaty signed between the U.S. and Jordan had never been ratified.
In 2020, the Trump administration considered withholding aid from Jordan over this but ultimately did not.
“Something is obviously terribly wrong with how the pursuit of America’s most wanted female fugitive is going,” the Roths wrote in a letter sent to President Biden in an effort to speak with him in 2022.
“We want to explain this to you better in a face-to-face meeting,” they said. “We want you to look us in the eyes, Mr. President, and tell us how Jordan’s king can be a praiseworthy ally.”
Al-Tamimi remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list for charges of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against American nationals.
The U.S. State Department is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information that leads to her arrest or conviction.
An American arrest warrant was issued under seal in 2013 and made public in 2017.
