August 20 was no ordinary day. It marked the 18th Hebrew memorial date of the murder of Malki Roth and 15 other innocents at the hands of the terrorist Ahlam Tamimi and her collaborators.

Malki’s parents, Arnold and Frimet Roth, have yet to see justice done. As I previously wrote, Tamimi remains free in Jordan, living a life of comfort and privilege.

Malki’s story is being lost amid the roar of misguided support for Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar after they were banned from Israel.

During her response to the ban, Tlaib wasted no time in spreading lies and smears about Israel. She tearfully recounted her “memories” of a visit to her family there as a “young girl,” and watching her mother go through “dehumanizing checkpoints.” Tlaib is 43 years old. This means she must have visited Israel either in the 1980s or the 1990s — when the security checkpoints did not exist.

Tlaib’s insistence that Israel dismantle the security checkpoints, which protect Israelis from Islamist terrorism, could easily lead to more Jewish blood being spilled.

In response to Tlaib and Omar, Frimet Roth said that if the security checkpoints had been built much earlier, the life of her daughter Malki, and thousands of others, could have been saved.

This should have been the real story, not the false heroics of Tlaib and Omar. Their anti-Israel and antisemitic agenda to vilify Jews is there for all to witness.

The pursuit of justice does not consist of dismantling Israeli checkpoints or championing Tlaib and Omar as victims, like members of the insidious organization IfNotNow do.

Malki Roth is a real victim, not Omar or Tlaib. Those who wish to show that they care about justice must not stand shoulder to shoulder with those who hate Israel. Instead, they should pressure Jordan into extraditing Tamimi to account for her crimes in a US court. These wise words from Deuteronomy — “justice, justice shall you pursue” -– have never been more relevant than this week.

Karen Harradine is an anthropologist and freelance journalist. She writes on politics and antisemitism.

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