Four decades after a Palestinian-born activist Alexander Odeh was killed in a California bombing attack, the FBI has announced it is continuing to investigate the case. Photo courtesy of FBI
Four decades after a Palestinian-born activist was killed in a California bombing attack, the FBI has announced it is continuing to investigate the case and is seeking help from the public in identifying a suspect.
Alexander Michel Odeh, born near Ramallah in British Mandatory Palestine in 1944, was assassinated in 1985 at the age of 41 when he unlocked and opened the door to the local office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Santa Ana, where he worked as the regional director.
Odeh, who came from a Palestinian Catholic family, was prevented from returning home after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and lived in Jordan until immigrating to the United States in 1972. He became an activist for Palestinian human rights in the United States and was later naturalized as a citizen. Authorities believe he was targeted for his activism.
Before his death, he was scheduled to speak at Congregation B’nai Tzedek in the city of Fountain Valley and had recently appeared on the program Nightline in a discussion with a representative from the Jewish Defense League.
“I have no tears for Mr. Odeh,” Irv Rubin, then chairman of the JDL, said in public statements after his death. “He got exactly what he deserved.”
The FBI questioned several people connected with the JDL during the investigations, but Rubin denied involvement in the killing. After the bombing, U.S. law enforcement identified three JDL-affiliated suspects — Robert Manning, Keith Fuchs and Andy Green — as persons of interest, who were reported to have fled to Israel.
Odeh’s death was classified as a terrorist act in February 1986 and the FBI offered a $1 million reward for information roughly 11 years later. At the time, the ADC praised the reward and a greater effort to extradite the three Jewish suspects from Israel.
“While working theories exist relative to motive, the FBI has not engaged in the naming of ‘persons of interest,’ and to date, no one has been charged with the bombing murder,” the FBI clarified in its latest statement.
But the case has gone decades without closure. The FBI announced Friday it is continuing to seek help from the public for information that leads to an arrest in the case and that the offer for the $1 million reward still stands.
“The investigation into the murder of Alex Odeh has spanned generations, but the FBI has never given up and will continue to investigate new leads on this case until it is solved,” Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement.
“I’m confident that we will find the answers to solve this case for Alex Odeh’s family, including his widow and his daughters.”
The ADC heralded the renewed call for justice in Odeh’s case in a statement, and announced that it would be unveiling a billboard in Times Square in New York demanding accountability.
“Forty years is far too long for a family and a community to wait. We welcome the FBI’s renewed call and the reaffirmed $1,000,000 reward, but a renewed appeal must translate into concrete action,” Abed Ayoub, ADC’s current national executive director, said in a statement.
“Alex was a beloved Palestinian-American civil rights leader murdered on U.S. soil. Equal justice under law requires equal urgency — no exceptions, no double standards.”
