PA arrests Palestinian suspect decades after deadly Paris restaurant attack

In a move that comes as France prepares to recognize a Palestinian state, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has made an important arrest for a key suspect in a 1982 fatal attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris.

Six people were killed and 22 others were injured in the terrorist attack on the Jo Goldenberg restaurant in Le Marais on August 9, 1982.

The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office of France announced in a statement on Friday that Interpol had informed the French government of Hicham Harb’s arrest in connection with a 2015 international warrant.

The suspect had been detained in the occupied West Bank, according to President Emmanuel Macron, and his nation is now working with the PA to expedite his extradition to France.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot stated on X that Macron’s recognition of an independent Palestinian state, “enabling us to request extradition,” had made the arrest possible.

Macron is scheduled to address the landmark declaration at the UN General Assembly in New York next week along with representatives from about 10 other nations, including Australia, Belgium, the UK, and Canada.

Wanted man

One of France’s most wanted men, Harb, who is known as Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra, has been the subject of a 10-year international arrest warrant.

The 70-year-old is accused of leading five other assailants in the restaurant’s gunfire assault, which was regarded as France’s most systematic anti-Semitic attack since World War II.

Assailants entered the restaurant and opened fire with Polish-made machineguns before the assault, which was blamed on the Palestinian Abu Nidal Organization, which started at noon.

Harb is suspected of supervising the assault and of being one of the gunmen who opened fire on diners and bystanders.

In July, French judges formally indicted him on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with the attack. Harb and five other defendants were sent to the trial.

A 66-year-old Norwegian of Palestinian descent, Abou Zayed, has been in French custody since his 2020 extradition from Norway. He has refuted the allegations.

The arrest of Zayed’s alleged accomplice is seen by Bruno Gendrin and Romain Ruiz, Zayed’s defense, as proof that “the investigation was not complete.”

They told the news agency AFP in a statement that “as usual, the anti-terrorism courts wanted to rush things, and we are now seeing the results.”