Key Suspect in 1982 Paris Restaurant Attack Extradited by Palestinians

Fri Apr 17 2026 18:30:15 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Hicham Harb, a suspect in a deadly 1982 attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris, has been extradited by the Palestinian National Authority, following a request from French authorities.

French authorities have arrested 72-year-old Hicham Harb, a key suspect in the 1982 attack at the Jo Goldenberg restaurant, resulting in six fatalities. The Palestinian National Authority responded to a French extradition request, marking a significant step in judicial cooperation. Harb, suspected of directing the attack alongside multiple assailants, is now held in detention near Paris. The case symbolizes France's efforts to address historical injustices tied to anti-Semitic terrorism.

French authorities have detained a 72-year-old man considered a key suspect in a grenade and gun attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris in 1982, in which six people were killed.

Hicham Harb was extradited by the Palestinian National Authority on Thursday, in response to a request last September by France's National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT).

Harb, whose real name is Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra, is suspected of directing the attack in the Rue des Rosiers and acted as one of the gunmen who shot at diners.

French President Emmanuel Macron thanked the Palestinian Authority and described the extradition as a concrete demonstration of judicial cooperation resulting from France's recognition of a Palestinian state in September 2025.

Upon arriving at the Villacoublay air force base near Paris, Harb was placed in detention, according to PNAT.

No-one has ever been convicted of carrying out the six killings inside and outside the Jo Goldenberg restaurant in the historically Jewish Marais quarter of Paris, where more than 20 people were wounded. The attackers initially threw a grenade into the restaurant and at least three men then entered firing machine guns while people attempted to escape.

Last year, France’s highest judicial court, the Court of Cassation, ordered a trial for six suspects, three of whom are in absentia and residing in the West Bank, Jordan, and Kuwait.

The Rue des Rosiers attack was blamed on a Palestinian splinter group founded by notorious militant Abu Nidal, who was shot dead in Iraq in 2002. This organization was responsible for a series of deadly attacks that claimed 900 lives, predominantly in the 1980s.

Two suspects in the Paris attack are already in France, including Norwegian citizen Abou Zayed, who is suspected of being one of the gunmen, while Hazza Taha is thought to have concealed weapons used in the attack.

Abou Zayed's lawyers deny his involvement in the shooting. Meanwhile, Hicham Harb's son Bilal al-Adra stated that the family considers his extradition illegal and without guarantees of a fair trial.

The Paris courts, however, have previously rejected an appeal to have the case judged by a jury instead of by judges in a special court.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who met families of the victims last year, promised them that everything would be done to put the suspects on trial.

Forty-four years after the attack, he noted that justice could finally be served: Faced with anti-Semitism and terrorism, France never forgets and never gives up.