She played dead to survive. Her attacker walked free — join us July 16.

The night that started AIC, and the July 16 Zoom panel on Americans murdered by terrorists and the fight to bring their killers to account.

In this issue: The night that started AIC, and the July 16 Zoom panel on Americans murdered by terrorists and the fight to bring their killers to account.

Before the Atlanta Israel Coalition had a name, it had a story I couldn't put down.

The very first thing I ever did for AIC was bring a woman named Tal Hartuv to a synagogue here in Atlanta. Two hundred of you filled Congregation Beth Jacob to hear her. Many of you met her that night as Kay Wilson. She told us how, on a hike outside Jerusalem, two Palestinian terrorists set upon her and her friend Kristine Luken, an American Christian. They stabbed Kristine to death. They tried to do the same to Tal. She lived only because she was willing to lie perfectly still under the blade until they walked away. That night is the reason this coalition exists.

Now I have to tell you what became of the man who did it. His name is Ayad Fatafta. An Israeli court sentenced him to 35 years for murdering Kristine and 20 more for trying to murder Tal. In 2017, an FBI affidavit laid out the evidence and made the case for his arrest — Kristine was an American, and the United States had claimed the case as its own. Then in October 2025, in the deal that traded more than 2,000 prisoners for some of the October 7th hostages, Fatafta walked out. He had served a fraction of his sentence.

No one called Kristine's family. No one called Tal. Tal wrote the petition now circulating for his extradition, and here is how she tells it:

“Neither Kristine Luken's family nor Tal Hartuv were notified of his release. [We] found out through the Internet… The man who confessed to murdering Kristine Luken because he ‘thought she was Jewish' remains at large — unindicted, unextradited, and apparently unforgotten only by those he harmed.”

He killed her because he thought she was Jewish. He is free. And nine years after the FBI made the case for his arrest, the United States still has not issued the warrant. Without a warrant, there is no arrest. Without an arrest, there is no extradition. Without extradition, there is no trial. The entire path to justice is jammed on the single move only the United States can make, and it hasn't made it.

That is why we are gathering on July 16, and why I'm asking you to join us. Eight years ago you showed up for Tal, and it started all of this. She is still here, still fighting, still asking the country that has the evidence to charge her attacker to finally act on it. On July 16, show up for her again. It's free, it's on Zoom, and every name on that registration list is one more signal to Washington that no one has forgotten Kristine Luken.

— Cheryl Dorchinsky, Founder & Executive Director

Panel · Free · On Zoom

Justice Beyond Borders: Americans Murdered by Terrorists and the Fight for Accountability

Thursday, July 16 · 7:00 PM ET · Live on Zoom

Cheryl hosts survivor Tal Hartuv alongside three people who carry this fight too:

Arnold Roth — his fifteen-year-old daughter Malki was murdered in the 2001 Sbarro bombing in Jerusalem. Her confessed killer walks free in Jordan, unrepentant, on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list.

Kathleen Luken — Kristine's identical twin, who has spent fifteen years keeping her sister's name alive and holding America to its word.

Mark Goldfeder — constitutional attorney and head of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, on what the law actually lets us do when governments won't act.

You'll hear the families and the survivor in their own voices, and a lawyer who can show us where the pressure points are. Then the floor is yours for questions.

Cheryl asked; here is the ask made concrete. It takes a minute.

Sign the petition for Kristine. Nine years after the FBI made the case for his arrest, the United States still has not issued the warrant. Demand it issue the warrant and pursue the extradition of Ayad Fatafta — the man who confessed to murdering Kristine Luken and tried to murder Tal Hartuv.

MITZVAHS THAT FLOAT

A duck on the jeep after trivia night

A Quacker in Peachtree Corners walked out of trivia night to find a kosher duck waiting on their jeep. “How cool!” they wrote — and that’s the whole idea. No occasion, no reason, just a small yellow duck turning an ordinary night into a smile. From city parks to parking lots, the ducks keep popping up. If hate can go viral, why can’t love?