Palestinian Authority extradites suspect in 1982 Paris attack

A man accused of coordinating a 1982 attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris that killed six people arrived in France Thursday after being extradited by the Palestinian Authority.

Hicham Harb, one of four suspects sought in connection with the August 9, 1982 attack, was detained on arrival at an air base near the capital and will be formally notified of the warrant against him on Friday, the national anti-terrorist prosecution office said in a statement.

The attack rocked the French capital's historically Jewish Marais neighbourhood 44 years ago, when a group of three to five men hurled a grenade inside the Jo Goldenberg restaurant, then opened fire on customers, killing six people and wounding 22 others.

Harb, also known as Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra -- now aged 72 -- was arrested by Palestinian authorities in September 2025, days before French President Emmanuel Macron officially recognised a Palestinian state.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said later that year that Harb would be extradited, telling newspaper Le Figaro that France's decision to grant recognition had created "an appropriate framework for this French request".

Following the extradition, Macron's office thanked the Palestinian authorities in a statement for "their cooperation, their commitment to fighting terrorism, as president Abbas promised".

The more than four decades elapsed since the attack "is too long", said a lawyer for victims' families, David Pere, calling for the trial to be held as quickly as possible.

The attack was attributed to the Fatah-Revolutionary Council (Fatah-RC) led by Abu Nidal, a Palestinian splinter group that broke away from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Harb is believed to have been one of the coordinators of the assault.

In February, France's Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court, confirmed that a trial would be held over the 1982 attack against two other Palestinians held in France, one of whom has Norwegian citizenship.

Harb is also the subject of a 1988 German arrest warrant in connection with an attack at Frankfurt airport in 1985, and has been suspected by Italian investigators over an attack on a synagogue in Rome in 1982 in which a two-year-old was killed.