Suspects in O.C. Bomb Slaying Held in Israel

A Jewish husband and wife named as suspects in connection with the 1985 bombing death in Santa Ana of Arab-American leader Alex Odeh and with other terrorist acts were reportedly arrested Sunday.

The British news agency Reuter reported from Jerusalem that Israel Radio had identified the suspects as Robert and Rochelle Manning, American-born immigrants to Israel and residents of the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

But conflicting reports surfaced throughout the day over whether the couple was arrested in connection with the bombing of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee office in Santa Ana in 1985, a bombing that killed Odeh.

An Israeli Ministry of Justice spokeswoman in Jerusalem said late Sunday that the Mannings were not arrested in connection with Odeh’s murder, but rather were apprehended as suspects in a fatal 1980 bombing in Manhattan Beach.

Ministry of Justice spokeswoman Etty Eshed said there was “no connection at all” between the arrests and the Odeh case. “That’s the one thing I know for sure.”

“The Minister of Justice is going to bring the case to court and I think, if the court will decide, then give them to the United States,” she said.

Rochelle Manning was tried in 1988 for the murder of Manhattan Beach secretary Patricia Wilkerson in that 1980 bombing, but prosecutors were forced to dismiss the case after a jury could not reach a verdict. She then returned to Israel--where her husband had remained a fugitive under indictment for the bombing.

The Reuter news service said the Mannings were arrested at the request of the United States government in connection with the death of Odeh. Former chairman of the West Coast region of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Odeh was killed Oct. 11, 1985, when he opened the door to the ADC’s Santa Ana office and tripped a wire that detonated a bomb.

The incident occurred a day after Odeh defended the Palestine Liberation Organization in a television interview. Palestinians said Odeh was not formally a PLO activist.

An FBI official could not confirm the arrest report Sunday.

“If indeed they were arrested, it was not through (the cooperation) of the FBI, so I cannot confirm this. I’m not aware of it,” said bureau spokeswoman Sharon Smith. “He may well have been arrested at the request of another agency”

A Santa Ana police spokesman said the investigation had been taken over by the FBI. But the news of the arrest and pending extradition proceedings was enthusiastically received by Odeh’s friends and associates.

“If this process is carried to maturity the way it should be, then . . . it will reinforce in my mind and the mind of other people that sooner or later justice will prevail,” said Odeh’s brother, Sami Odeh, an Orange County real estate agent. “I have been expecting that to happen for a long time. The Israeli government has been stalling. . . .”

Odeh’s widow, Norma, generally has declined interview requests and could not be reached for comment Sunday.

ADC director of legal services Gregory Nojeim in a telephone interview from Washington characterized the arrests as “a very, very significant development.”

“Since the FBI identified Mr. Manning as a prime suspect in this case at least four years ago, the ADC has urged the White House and the State Department to work with the Israeli government to have Mr. Manning arrested and brought to justice,” Nojeim said.

“Mr. Manning’s whereabouts in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba have been known for three to four years,” Nojeim said. “The ADC will redouble its efforts to have Mr. Manning extradited to the United States to face murder charges.”

ADC national President Albert Mokhiber said the FBI had suggested as recently as two weeks ago to members of the Arab-American organization that “something like this was about to happen.” He said his organization is awaiting official confirmation of the arrests by the FBI.

The Israeli Justice Ministry is examining the extradition request, made after new evidence emerged, according to Reuter. A remand hearing is expected within two days for the Mannings.

Israel Radio described Manning as an activist of the anti-Arab Kach movement founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was assassinated in New York last year.

Kach activists reportedly will mount a campaign to block the extradition. While Israel ordinarily does not extradite its citizens, there reportedly is no legal barrier in this case since the Mannings allegedly committed the crime before they became Israeli citizens, Reuter reported.

An Israeli government source in the United States said the “whole issue is much more complicated than the eye catches at first.”

“Of course there are claims that he (Manning) was involved in the murder,” the source acknowledged, but added that the legal question of whether Manning, as a West Bank resident, can be arrested based on a United States request remains unclear

The Israeli source declined to speculate on what new evidence may have been presented to Israeli authorities. “I wouldn’t want to furnish any other details until I can check with Israel,” the source said.

Since the bombing, Arab-Americans have complained that the federal government has moved too slowly in the investigation. Some insisted that Manning had been mentioned by authorities as a prime suspect within hours of the blast.

“In literally every contact we have had with the Administration, we mention the murder case of Mr. Odeh and press for quick action and for the extradition,” the ADC’s Nojeim said. “I think that the pressure did make a big difference because the ADC never let the issue die. Mr. Odeh’s picture is the first picture you see when you enter the ADC’s Washington office. It was like a member of our family had been murdered.”

In Orange County, the bombing took a toll on the local ADC chapter, which numbers about 350.

The organization remains active, “but not as active as it used to be with Alex’s leadership,” Sami Odeh said.

“When you are exposed to that kind of terror it tends to leave profound impact on your life . . . . I would not wish this kind of grief on anybody,” he said.

“Of course, his loss has affected the community because he was a leader,” Odeh said, likening the Arab-American reaction to the bombing to “what the country felt when John Kennedy was assassinated. The Arab community felt a great loss of a leader who was up in the front.”

Robert Manning was a charter member of the Jewish Defense League’s West Coast chapter, although that organization has denied any connection with the bombing.

Moreover, JDL national chairman Irv Rubin said Sunday he is “sure they (the Mannings) are innocent.”

U.S. officials have “been making this charge for years and years--now all of a sudden they come up with new evidence. I’d love to see what it is,” Rubin said. “I don’t know what motivates the Israeli government. I don’t know if there’s a deal been made or what.”

Manning was sentenced to three years probation for a 1972 conviction for bombing an Arab activist’s Hollywood home. He received probation after he disavowed his JDL affiliation in court, records show.

A self-styled demolitions expert, Manning was identified by federal officials in 1988 as a suspect in at least one other bombing.

Manning’s wife, Rochelle, was a defendant in a 1980 mail bomb attack that killed a Manhattan Beach secretary. Robert Manning was indicted in that case, but never extradited from Israel. The case ended in a mistrial in 1989.

“It kind of takes me by surprise,” Michael Adelson, the Los Angeles defense attorney who represented Rochelle Manning in 1988 bombing trial, said when told of her arrest. “I knew that they had suspected Robert Manning of that killing, but I had no suspicion they would want Rochelle.

“The only thing I can say is that she is a very gentle kind person,” Adelson said. “I cant imagine her being involved in any kind of a killing.”

It was unclear Sunday whether Robert Manning would face charges for bombings other than the Odeh killing.

“We know the arrest . . . (is) not going to return our beloved Alex to us, but at least it will uphold the principal that justice will prevail sooner or later,” Sami Odeh said. “And hopefully it will deter the Mannings and people like them from terrorizing other people, regardless of background.”

Times staff writer Lily Dizon contributed to this report.

THE ALEX ODEH CASE: A CHRONOLOGY

* Oct. 11, 1985: Alex Odeh, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, is killed when he opens the door of the ADC’s Santa Ana office and triggers a bomb. In a television interview the night before, he had praised PLO leader Yasser Arafat as “a man of peace.”

* December, 1985: Singling out the Odeh case, the FBI summons 40 anti-terrorism agents to Washington to coordinate efforts at combatting an apparent rise in political attacks against those perceived by some as “enemies of Israel.”

* June, 1988: Rochelle Manning is arrested upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport, questioned on the Odeh case and later charged in connection with the 1980 bombing death of a Manhattan Beach secretary. Also charged in the earlier bombing is her husband, Robert, but he remains a fugitive in Israel.

* Summer, 1988: As evidence in the Manhattan Beach secretary’s death unfolds, Robert Manning is named by government officials as a prime suspect in the bombing that killed Odeh. A U.S. Army-trained demolitions expert, Manning is also suspected in several other bombings linked to Rabbi Meir Kahane, the militant Jewish leader assassinated last year in New York.

* Fall, 1988: Diplomatic wranglings between the United States and Israel slow efforts to extradite Robert Manning in connection with any possible terrorist activities in the United States.

* January, 1989: A jury fails to reach a verdict on charges against Rochelle Manning and a second defendant in the 1980 bombing of real estate broker William Ross. Released, Manning returns to her husband in the occupied West Bank.

* March 24, 1991: Israel Radio reports that the Mannings are arrested in Israel at the request of the United States in connection with the death of Odeh. The Israeli Justice Ministry reportedly cites “new evidence” in deciding to re-examine the U.S. extradition request.

Compiled by Times staff writer Eric Lichtblau