An update on the case of Rasmea Odeh (Ive seen her first name spelled various ways), for those who have been following my posts on it. Odeh is a Palestinian activist who faces up to ten years in prison in the U.S. for failing to disclose on her 2004 application for citizenship that she was convicted by an Israeli court for terrorism in 1970. (Sentenced to life, she was released in a prisoner exchange in 1980, and came to live in Chicago in 1995. But she apparently didnt think U.S. immigration officials had a right to know about her past.) Odehs defense has been to heave as much dung as possible against the wall and hope some of it sticks. She insists she was tortured by Israelis in that prison (an unsupported allegation that was nonresponsive to the U.S. charges against her); that she still suffered from torture-related PTSD when she filled out the application; and that her brother actually filled out the application for her because her English was poor. A jury saw through all her hoop-flying antics and convicted her. (Worth noting: A huge number of apparently un-American, jury-averse professors in the U.S. wrote to Obama demanding that her case be quashed PRE-TRIAL. They included NYU professor Lisa Duggan, the president of the Israel-boycotting American Studies Association.) Needless to say, her torture allegations have been accepted as gospel by Israel-loathing publications such as The Nation. After all, who needs evidence when you have an opportunity to defame Israel. The newspaper salivates over these events. Comes now Steve Emersons IPT with an update. Her lawyers and supporters want her freed on bail, but prosecutors are warning of her serial dishonesty carried out over decades. Odeh is using the racism card -- slamming what she calls the racist verdict. (Theres a shocker.) Meanwhile, Israeli officials say they found explosive bricks in her room the night they arrested her for involvement in the bombing of a Jerusalem supermarket that killed two university students. (Hear that, ASA boycotters? University students. But, I know, I know, they were Israelis -- so who cares.) While Odeh claims her father, by then a U.S. citizen, was forced by their Israeli captors to rape her, he reported nothing of the sort when he met with an American diplomat at the U.S. Consulate. Her dad said she complained about uncomfortable, overcrowded jail conditions. Incidentally, an observer from the International Red Cross present at Odehs terrorism trial stated that the trial was fair, according to William Jacobson, a Cornell University law professor who runs the Legal Insurrection website. If the judge rules against her petition, the odious Odeh will remain in a lock-up until her sentencing, now scheduled for this March. investigativeproject.org/4662/prosecution-lies-should-keep-rasmieh-odeh-detained#
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 23:28:35 +0000
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