THE STORY – The assassination of a beloved Palestinian American activist in Southern California ignites a 40-year quest for justice, revealing the roots of a dangerous political movement that thrives today.
THE CAST – N/A
THE TEAM – Jason Osder & William Lafi Youmans (Directors/Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 83 Minutes
Investigative true-crime documentaries often find compelling material in a revelation. Whether it’s new evidence from a decades-old case, an illuminating breakthrough in an evolving thread, or an old eyewitness who emerges from the woodwork, there is a reliance on information that hasn’t yet come to light. William Lafi Youmans and Jason Osder’s documentary “Who Killed Alex Odeh?” asks a question that has already been answered, but finds resonance from a follow-up question. Why was this crime not brought to justice? Alex Odeh, a Palestinian American activist and regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), was assassinated in a bombing at his Santa Ana office on October 11, 1985. In a decade-spanning pursuit to close this murder case, the documentary unfolds as a reckoning of buried history and a mirror of Israeli-Palestinian conflict today.
The documentary’s opening moments focus on Odeh’s personal history. During the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, Odeh had been finishing a degree at the University of Cairo and could not return home, so he immigrated to the U.S. Pro-Palestinian and further inspired by the love for his family, Alex worked to improve the image of Arabs by combating racist stereotypes in the media and protecting Arab Americans through the ADC. The evening before his murder, he gave a 45-minute televised interview (later condensed into a few sound bites) condemning the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship on October 7, 1985. He identified with why Palestinians reached desperate measures after being denied their human rights, and that desperation could lead to acts of terror.
Many assumed that Alex Odeh’s murder was in retaliation for his interview the night before. Local law enforcement and the FBI had since pieced together evidence concentrated around the Jewish Defense League (JDL). This far-right-wing extremist group involved Robert Manning, Keith Fuchs, and Andy Green. For decades, the federal government allowed these three suspects to live in plain sight and get away with murder, while the Odeh family grieved. Alex’s wife, Norma Odeh, and their daughter, Helena, both appear in the documentary early on. They look back on cherished family photos, each one unlocking a core memory and underlining the ongoing heartache, all intensified by an egregious denial of justice. For decades, Norma heard the same empty promise over and over, that Alex’s murder case was “top priority.”
“Who Killed Alex Odeh?” traces how the neglect towards solving this crime, motivated by racial hatred and acts of terrorism, and coinciding with the rise of Zionism in the 1980s, has had an impact on modern-day Israeli politics. The documentary expands on the reporting of Israeli journalist David Sheen, who had been studying extremism and the core of ultra racists in Israel for ten years. Sheen connects with Norma and Helena Odeh to help find justice for the family and their community. However, while the Odeh family is at the heart of this documentary, their perspectives are often overshadowed by a disjointed focus on several other topics. Using a combination of archive footage and present-day interviews, the documentary aims for a broader reach while slightly undercutting the family’s personal fight for justice.
The documentary uses Sheen’s investigation as a framework for comprehensive thematic discussions of extremism and impunity. The structure falls into three main chapters, each interrogating the ideologies around the murder suspects. The focus on Keith Fuchs and Andy Green, in particular, leads to the history of the JDL and how its founder, Meir Kahane, promoted ethnic cleansing and influenced violent extremism. It’s infuriating to watch Kahane’s influence carry into the modern day. The documentary’s approach also extends to highlighting inequity in the U.S. criminal justice system, leading to a revelation involving a former Santa Ana police detective whose investigation into Alex Odeh’s murder was forcibly shut down. It’s infuriating to hear Green’s discussion with the former detective, knowing that the question of “Who Killed Alex Odeh?” was answered 40 years ago, and nothing was done.
The documentary takes a conventional approach that too often works against the urgent subject matter, and there’s an inconsistent focus on how Alex’s murder impacts the Odeh family. In one of the most poignant scenes, Norma tearfully recalls a memory of driving her children home shortly after becoming a widow. Unable to continue telling the story, Hannah takes over; she reveals that she and her siblings were told to hide in the car, while their mother threw newspapers at the front door, frightened that the home would explode. Despite the structure and overall approach of “Who Killed Alex Odeh?,” the heartbreaking experiences of this family persevere, echoing a reverberating strength to continue the fight for justice.
