Extradition Sought for Suspect in Odeh Death, 2nd Bombing

Despite alleged Israeli reluctance to assist in such matters, federal authorities are seeking the extradition of a Los Angeles-born Jewish militant who has been indicted in the 1980 mail bomb murder of a Manhattan Beach secretary and is a prime suspect in the Orange County bombing of an Arab-American leader, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Nancy Wieben Stock said a request for the arrest of Robert Steven Manning, 36, is being prepared as the first step to bring him back to Los Angeles to stand trial in the death of Patricia Wilkerson. She was killed on July 17, 1980, when an explosion ripped through the office of Prowest Computer Corp.

Federal authorities have identified Manning as one of four suspects in the death of Arab activist Alex M. Odeh, who was killed in 1985, when a bomb ripped through the Santa Ana offices of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee.

The Palestine-born Odeh, who was the committee’s West Coast regional director, suffered the full force of explosives rigged to go off when he opened the door to his offices on the morning of Oct. 11, 1985. The 41-year-old Odeh was killed 12 hours after he appeared on a local television news broadcast, in which he criticized the media for linking the Palestine Liberation Organization with the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro and praised PLO leader Yasser Arafat as a “man of peace.”

Federal authorities have said the Odeh murder is one of four bombings in the United States that may be the work of West Bank followers of militant Jewish leader Meir Kahane, who is head of Israel’s anti-Arab Kach party. No arrests have been made in those cases.

Stock said the request for Manning’s arrest will be forwarded to Israeli authorities later this week. If he is arrested, prosecutors here will have 60 days to prepare documents to support an extradition request, Stock said.

Manning and his wife, Rochelle, 48, were indicted last week in the Wilkerson case. Their fingerprints were allegedly found on the box that contained the explosive and an accompanying letter.

Rochelle Manning was arrested June 22 when she stepped off a flight from Tel Aviv at Los Angeles International Airport. She is being held without bail.

Refused to Speculate

In an interview, Stock refused to speculate on the likelihood of Manning’s extradition.

No one has been extradited to this country from Israel since 1967, in spite of the existence of extradition treaties between the two countries.

“We’re not going to be concerned with the track record of that,” Stock said. “We’re going on the facts of this case. He’s been indicted, so let’s get him over here.”

Moshe Ran, the Israeli deputy consul general in Los Angeles, said Israel would seriously consider any extradition request, “but the Americans have not made any” in recent years.

Manning, like his wife, holds dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship but that would not affect a request for extradition, Ran said.

According to U.S. government sources, such a request could become politically delicate partly because of the continuing Palestinian protests on the West Bank. Israeli public opinion has swung in favor of Kahane supporters who have, in some cases, fought with protesters to defend Jewish settlements in the area, the sources said.

Kiryat Arba, the West Bank community where Manning lives, is a stronghold of Kahane supporters.

Manning, who moved to Israel with his wife in 1973, has gone into seclusion at his home since his wife’s arrest, refusing to speak to reporters. Manning has denied any involvement in the 1980 bombing and in Odeh’s murder.

For several years, U.S. authorities have tried to get Israeli approval to gather evidence in Israel against Kahane’s followers who live in and around Kiryat Arba. But Israeli officials have rebuffed such efforts, federal authorities said.

Meanwhile, federal authorities have ruled out politics as a motive for the 1980 bombing. Stock and other investigators said the attack was not connected to the politics of the Jewish Defense League or some other group.

Six current and former JDL members have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in the case, prompting speculation that the mailing of the bomb may have been politically motivated.