Hamas celebrates 10th anniversary of Netanya Passover massacreSource: Elder of Ziyon Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Hamas' Palestine Times website has a glowing tribute to the Hamas terrorist who detonated the suitcase bomb at the Park Hotel in Netanya ten years ago.
Wikipedia describes the attack:
During the Jewish holiday of Passover in 2002, Park Hotel in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya held its traditional annual Passover seder (festive religious meal) for its 250 guests, in the hotel dining room located at the ground floor of the hotel. During this holiday the hotel consisted many elderly Jews who didn't have family and relatives in Israel.
In the evening of 27 March 2002, a Palestinian suicide bomber disguised as a woman approached the hotel carrying a suitcase which contained powerful explosives. The suicide bomber managed to pass the security guard at the entrance to a hotel, then he walked through the lobby passing the reception desk and entered the hotel's crowded dining room. At 19:30 pm (GMT+2) the suicide bomber detonated the explosive device he was carrying. The force of the explosion instantly killed 28 civilians and injured about 140 people, of whom 20 were injured severely. Two of the injured later died from their wounds. Some of the victims were Holocaust survivors. Most of the victims were senior citizens (70 and over). The oldest victim was 90 and the youngest was 20 years old. A number of married couples were killed, as well as a father together with his daughter. One of the victims was a Jewish tourist from Sweden who was visiting Israel for Passover.
Hamas for some reason doesn't note that 20 of the 30 victims were over 70 years old.
Shula Abramovitch, 63, of Holon
David Anichovitch, 70, of Netanya
Alter Britvich, 88, of Netanya
Frieda Britvich, 86, of Netanya
Andre Fried, 47, of Netanya
Idit Fried, 47, of Netanya
Dvora Karim, 73, of Netanya
Michael Karim, 78, of Netanya
Eliezer Korman, 74, of Ramat Hasharon
Yehudit Korman, 70, of Ramat Hasharon
St.-Sgt. Sivan Vider, 20, of Bekaot
Ze'ev Vider, 50, of Moshav Bekaot
Ernest Weiss, 80, of Petah Tikva
Eva Weiss, 75, of Petah Tikva
Anna Yakobovitch, 78, of Holon
George Yakobovitch, 76, of Holon
Sgt.-Maj. Avraham Beckerman, 25, of Ashdod
Shimon Ben-Aroya, 42, of Netanya
Miriam Gutenzgan, 82, Ramat Gan
Amiram Hamami, 44, of Netanya
Perla Hermele, 79, of Stockholm, Sweden
Marianne Myriam Lehmann Zaoui, 77, of Netanya
Lola Levkovitch, 70, of Jerusalem
Sarah Levy-Hoffman, 89, of Tel-Aviv
Furuk Na'imi, 62, of Netanya
Eliahu Nakash, 85, of Tel-Aviv
Chanah Rogan, 90, of Netanya
Irit Rashel, 45, of Moshav Herev La'et
Clara Rosenberger, 77, of Jerusalem
Yulia Talmi, 87, of Tel-Aviv
Maybe I missed it, but I don't recall seeing any Arabs protesting against this attack, or writing anguished op-eds about how a fellow Muslim could have done such a thing. No Arab groups popped up on college campuses calling for solidarity with Jews against terror. There were no UN resolutions condemning the massacre.
But there was a PA-sponsored soccer tournament in Tulkarem named after the suicide bomber.
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Here's more:
The Middle East: Abstracts and index: Part 2 - Library Information and Research Service - 2006 - Page 219
A soccer tournament in PA-ruled Tulkarm in 1/2003 was named after suicide bomber Abd Al-Baset Odeh, who massacred 30 people in a Netanya hotel on Passover eve in 2002, including a 90 year-old US citizen, Mrs. Hannah Rogen.
http://books.google.com/books?&id=vK1tAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Abd+Al-Baset+Odeh%22
A Palestinian 'gift' for Passover - Official Palestinian promotion of terrorism
8 Apr 2011
The Palestinian Authority has just honored the terrorist mastermind responsible for the 'Passover Massacre', a terrorist atrocity which claimed the lives of 30 innocent Israeli citizens attending the 'Seder', the traditional Passover meal, at Netanya's Park Hotel on March 27, 2002. The Seder, symbolizing the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt, is the most family oriented of Jewish holidays, somewhat akin to Thanksgiving in terms of sentimental importance.
The Palestinian Authority has chosen a bizarre and troubling way to mark the upcoming Jewish festival of Passover. Despite an often voiced Palestinian commitment to end the glorification of terrorists and incitement to violence, on March 28 Issa Karake, the Palestinian Authority Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, visited the family of Hamas suicide-bomb mastermind Abbas Al-Sayed, awarding them with an official, festive plaque, in celebration of the anniversary of the massacre.
The PA daily al-Hayat reports on Palestinian Minister Karake's award of honor to Hamas terrorist Abbas al-Sayed (28 March 2011).
This honor is not the only example of official Palestinian glorification of violence...
The Passover massacre
On March 27, 2002, thirty, mostly elderly, people were killed and dozens maimed and injured when a suicide bomber dispatched by Al-Sayed walked into the Park Hotel on the Netanya seafront in the middle of a Passover Seder, a religious ceremony celebrating the Israelites' freedom from bondage in ancient Egypt.
The suicide bomber, Abdel-Basset Odeh, from a Hamas terror cell in Tulkarm, detonated a large device packed with explosives and shards of metal. The blast killed 22 people outright. Eight more succumbed to their wounds after terrible suffering, despite the desperate efforts of doctors who fought to save their lives. Evidence revealed that Al-Sayed was involved in planning the Park Hotel bombing down to the minutest details, from checking the bomber's explosives belt to helping him write his will and making a video of him reading it.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian_incitement/Palestinian_gift_for_Passover_8-Apr-2011.htm
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=51827