Story Significance

Documentary Film: Who Killed Alex Odeh?

On the morning of October 11, 1985, a Palestinian-American activist named Alex Odeh opened his office door in Orange County for the last time. A trip-wire bomb exploded. He died hours later in a nearby hospital. His premature death left his widow Norma, a recent immigrant and stay-at-home mother, to raise their three young daughters alone. Alex's murder shook the local Arab-American community. He was a civic leader, western regional coordinator for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and a well-liked teacher, activist and poet. 

Decades later, the case remains open under FBI investigation. The suspects are American-born extremists who joined the Israeli settler movement to colonize the West Bank, where Alex's hometown, Jifna, is located.

The immediate context is the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Specifically, this film looks at how the international conflict intersects with American life and politics through a 1985 assassination in southern California. The topic is global and local, past and painfully present; from the origins of the conflict up to the contemporary voices who are ascendant in Israeli politics today. 

This film investigates the U.S. government's investigation to ask why this case is unsolved and looks deeply at the impact of this act of terrorism on Alex's family and the Arab American community's participation in civic life. It asks audiences to see the how a traumatic political assassination leaves a long-term scar. 

In December, 1985, FBI Director William Webster admitted that the Alex murder and other attacks put Arab-Americans in a "zone of danger." Alex's brother Sami observed that Webster said this without putting forward a plan to address it, isolating them against the threat. Indeed, the Odeh family still lives in fear. They express concerns that their push for justice could make them a target, but they continue to speak out. 

The filmmakers seek to convert the controversial issues into assets by being even-handed, critical and embracing a humanistic understanding of all parties. The different currents come together in the question, "who killed Alex Odeh?" To ask this is to ask: why has this case remained open for decades? Most would agree that a crime committed on U.S. soil should be investigated and prosecuted. This in turn invites a generative discussion about America's role in the Israel/Palestine conflict (and vice versa). The story also inverts common frames and misperceptions about how we define terrorism. 

PALESTINIAN ACTIVISM HAS BEEN TERRORIZED BY ISRAEL and ITS SCUM

Terror Continues in Israel Amid Political Crisis | Tikun Olam - 8 April 2022 |

My Brush with JDL Bombers: Murderers of Palestinian-American Activist Live Freely in 'Israel' | Shoah.org UK |

New Jewish Agenda poster (design, Ezra Nepon)

‎הרוצחים בינינו: ברוך בן יוסף וישראל פוקס, שני החשודים ברצח הפעיל הפלסטיני-אמריקנ& #1497; אלכס עודה, חיים בגלוי בישראל

Today, I read an article [The Intercept] that brought up very bad, sad memories for me. In 1986, I had just left a PhD program at UC Berkeley to work for one of the first grassroots national Jewish progressive organizations, New Jewish Agenda. In many ways, the group and my experience as a volunteer and staff member changed my life. It's at least partly why I do what I do today, including writing this blog.

Agenda (as we called it) was the first American Jewish organization to endorse a two-state solution. While this may seem reactionary today, it was revolutionary then. In 1980, when NJA was founded no American Jews even accepted the notion of creating a Palestinian state. In fact, in 1979 when I demonstrated with Israeli radicals in Jerusalem on behalf of negotiations with the PLO (not even advocating for a Palestinian state), we were assaulted with rocks by right-wing hoodlums. It's (luckily) the only time I've been physically assaulted or injured at any political protest I've attended.

[...]

I raise this historical context in order to highlight to fevered polarization of American Jewry during that era, when Alex Odeh was killed. He was then the southern California director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee. It was one of the first Arab self-defense groups, created in the mold of the American Jewish Committee. Though it still exists, a better know equivalent today is CAIR. The ADC advocated for Palestinian and Arab-American rights. Odeh himself was a Palestinian-Christian born in a West Bank village.

One morning he arrived to work in a Santa Ana office and opened a package mailed to him. It exploded and he died on the hospital operating table shortly after. As David Sheen's excellent article reveals, no one has ever been arrested or charged with this heinous crime. Now, thanks to David we know all three of the murderers, their names and where they live and work, as confirmed by retired FBI agents who worked the case.

Earl Krugel: Death of an American Jewish Terrorist | Tikun Olam - 8 Nov. 2005 |

[work in progress - ⚠️]