27-Nov-19: The Washington Institute has a response. Not to us, but yes: a response.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/jNPo/~3/GT9ciAvmJaU/27-nov-19-washington-institute-has.html

From today’s Jewish Insider mailer

If you have been following the quite irritating way the Washington Institute for Near East Policy honored Jordan’s king a week ago while simply ignoring the polite and relevant comments we sent them and published, you may be interested in their somewhat delayed response.

No, they didn’t respond to us. Not today, and not ever.

Instead a journalist at Jewish Insider published a brief summary of what we have been saying about the Washington Institute’s choice of honoree and then asked its executive director to react. Which he did.

Here’s the text as published today as part of a longer piece under the headline “INTERVIEW | Washington Institute’s Rob Satloff on honoring King Abdullah II” in JewishInsider.com’s Daily Kickoff mailer to subscribers:

Pointed criticism: Arnold and Frimet Roth, the parents of U.S.-born Malki Roth — who was killed in the 2001 terror attack at the Sbarro’s pizzeria in Jerusalem — penned an op-ed criticizing The Washington Institute’s decision to honor the Hashemite ruler. The Roths argued that the Jordanian king shouldn’t be feted while he refuses to extradite Ahlam Tamimi — a Jordanian national convicted for her role in the Sbarro bombing and freed in the Gilad Shalit deal — to face U.S. federal charges. 

Satloff’s response: “I am very proud of hosting the King of Jordan, who has steadfastly remained committed to the Jordan-Israel peace treaty throughout the 20 years on the throne and has been an important partner with the U.S. on a broad range of security and strategic matters throughout the Middle East. I have great sympathy for the issue that [the Roths] raised and believe it deserves high-level engagement by the appropriate American authorities with the appropriate Jordanian authorities. It is one important item on a lengthy agenda of bilateral relations.”

Great sympathy. But not really our concern. Got it, Dr Satloff.

Sometimes it helps just to know how influential people actually think. A pity that our troubling questions about honor, justice and decency [here] remain unanswered, and are likely to stay that way.