Posted on 04/17/2006 9:05:30 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up outside a fast-food restaurant in a bustling area of Tel Aviv during the Passover holiday Monday, killing eight other people and wounding at least 49 in the deadliest Palestinian attack in more than a year.
The Palestinians' new Hamas leaders called the attack a legitimate response to Israeli "aggression." Israel said it held Hamas ultimately responsible — even though a different militant group, Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility — and would respond "as necessary."
"We shall, of course, continue to use all means at our disposal to prevent every other attempt," Israeli Prime Minister-designate Ehud Olmert said.
Israeli defense chiefs were to consult later Monday, but security officials said a possible reoccupation of Gaza, the base of the new Hamas government, was not being considered.
The White House strongly condemned the attack, calling it "a despicable act of terror for which there is no excuse or justification."
A security guard posted outside the restaurant, the target of a suicide bombing in January, prevented Monday's bomber from entering the building, police said.
It was the first suicide attack in Israel since the Hamas militant group took over the Palestinian government 2 1/2 weeks ago. Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks, has largely observed a cease-fire since February 2005.
Islamic Jihad, which is believed to be funded in part by Iran and refuses to observe a cease-fire, claimed responsibility in a telephone call to The Associated Press. The group identified the bomber as Sami Salim Mohammed Hammed, from the West Bank town of Jenin.
Islamic Jihad later released a video showing Hammed reading a statement saying the bombing was dedicated to the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
"There are many other bombers on the way," he said.
Hammed, appearing to be in his teens, was dressed in black and wore a headband with yellow Quranic verses written on it.
Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for all six of the previous suicide attacks inside Israel since the cease-fire was declared. On Sunday, the group pledged to carry out more attacks.
The response by Hamas leaders represented a sharp departure from the previous Palestinian leadership's immediate condemnations of such attacks.
"We think that this operation ... is a direct result of the policy of the occupation and the brutal aggression and siege committed against our people," said Khaled Abu Helal, spokesman for the Hamas-led Interior Ministry.
Earlier, Moussa abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader abroad, told Al-Jazeera television that "the Israeli side must feel what the Palestinian feels, and the Palestinian defends himself as much as he can."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of the rival Fatah Party, condemned the bombing, calling it a "terrorist attack."
The bomber struck at about 1:40 p.m. at "The Mayor's Falafel" restaurant, which was targeted in a Jan. 19 attack that wounded 20 people. The restaurant is in the bustling Neve Shaanan neighborhood near Tel Aviv's central bus station, which was crowded with holiday travelers.
Police said the restaurant hired a security guard after the earlier bombing, and that guard apparently was injured in Monday's blast.
A witness, Moussa al Zidat, said the guard asked the apparent bomber to open his bag.
"I saw a young man starting to open his bag. The guard begins opening the bag, and then I heard a boom."
Witness Israel Yaakov said the blast killed a woman standing near her husband and children.
"The father was traumatized. He went into shock. He ran to the children to gather them up and the children were screaming, 'Mom! Mom!' and she wasn't answering, she was dead already ... it's a shocking scene," Yaakov said.
Another witness, 62-year-old Sonya Levy, said she had just finished shopping when the blast occurred.
"I was about to get into my car, and boom! There was an explosion. A bit of human flesh landed on my car and I started to scream," she said.
Her car was 50 yards from the explosion and its windshield was smeared with blood.
Olmert said the blast came as no surprise.
"It's not something that we didn't fear would happen, we know the terrorist organizations groups continue at every moment to look for opportunities to carry out attacks inside Israel," he said. "The security forces are deployed in every corner, every place, but we also know that there is no way we can always prevent such attacks, under all circumstances, in every case."
Police said nine people, including the bomber, were killed. Medics said nine of the injured were in serious condition.
The wounded were treated on sidewalks. One man was lying on his side, his shirt pushed up and his back covered by bandages. A bleeding woman was wheeled away on a stretcher. A dazed-looking man walked near the site, his white T-shirt splattered with blood.
The blast shattered the windshields of cars, and blew out the windows of nearby buildings. The ground was covered with glass shards and blood. The sign of the restaurant's building was blown away. Bottles and other debris were scattered up to 25 yards from the site of the blast.
While rescue crews tended to the wounded, a helicopter hovered overhead and a marksman took position on the roof of the targeted building.
Later, Israeli police stopped a car carrying three Palestinians suspected of aiding the bomber, officials said. The car, identified by witnesses at the scene of the attack, was stopped at a checkpoint on a highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, police said.
Authorities suspected the vehicle was "directly connected" to the attack, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The car's three occupants were detained for questioning, and a bomb squad was examining the vehicle.
Monday's bombing was the deadliest since Aug. 31, 2004, when suicide bombers on two buses in Beersheba killed 16 Israelis.
It was the second major Passover bombing in four years. In 2002, a Palestinian bomber blew himself up at a hotel in the coastal town of Netanya, killing 29 people. That attack triggered a major Israeli military offensive.
Palestinian militants have carried out nine suicide attacks in Israel and the West Bank since a Feb. 8, 2005, truce declaration. All but one attack have been carried out by Islamic Jihad.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir said Israel held Hamas ultimately responsible for such attacks because it is "giving support to all the other terrorist organizations."
"From our point of view it doesn't matter if it comes from Al Aqsa, Islamic Jihad or Hamas. They all come out of the same school of terrorism led by Hamas," he said.
The ROP chose Passover for the attack but MSM will barely mention that fact.
Wow, what's that about? If Israel had occupied part of West Jordan illegally then it would have been in the news or something.
No wait, I remember! Jordan attacked Israel, and Israel took Jerusalem off them, just like the Russians took Kalingrad off the Germans. Too bad if the Arabs can't accept reality.
There is only one peace plan that will work. Seal the border. Get your people on the safe side of the border. And punish every attack across the border by moving the border.
There is an endless supply of arab cannon fodder, so merely killing a few of them accomplishes nothing. The only thing that will make an impression is for them to pay a price in land every time they attack.
And seal the border. Period. There should be no entry into Israel by land, ever, not for a generation.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
I'd imagine the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) and the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) will continue to call for the security fence to be dismantled, among other sickening and shortsighted proposals from those two church bodies.
Just reading about these horrors raises my blood pressure. Dear heaven, how long will these atrocities continue?
The Russians want to fund Hamas. Screw them.
And the pukes in our State Department are no better.
As long as the enemy is allowed to wander about freely
in the country any where they please, the bombings will not stop.
It is obvious that not only the "Palestinians" think this terrorism was legitimate but so does the Israeli Government.
If they didn't, they would do something to hurt the murderers and their enablers.
Instead we get the usual rhetoric.
Israel has turned into the Eloi to the Arab Morlock.
For living their comfortable First World lives and hoping they are not the random sacrifice, Israelis are content for some of them to be murdered at regular intervals.
Hell, they make it easier by unilateral surrender.
It's just the way it is on the yellow star Road Map.
To Hamas, Israel's existence alone is an 'act of aggression.'
"I still cannot fathom how these people think that they are doing God's work by deliberately killing men, women and children in this way."
- All you have to do is read the Koran and Hadith to know why. In both sources killing jews is not only condoned but specifically ordered by Mohammed/Allah as the duty of all muslims. They think they are doing god work becuase their god (Satan or Mohammed's alter ego) specifically told them to do so in the Koran.
| ...Middle East scholar and author Douglas E. Streusand explains that for Islam, the world is “divided into Muslim and non-Muslim zones, Dar al-Islam (Abode of Islam) and Dar al-Harb (Abode of War) respectively.” Thus, there is the implication that “perpetual warfare” exists until all of humanity submits to Islam... ...Quoting from Hadith 390, the virtual Islamic Library Witness Pioneer notes: “I have been commanded (by Allah) to fight people until they testify that there is no true god except Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and perform Salat and pay Zakat. If they do so, they will have protection of their blood and property from me except when justified by Islam, and then account is left to Allah.” This passage is explained as meaning that non-believers who pay tribute may be spared, but goes on to assert that defensive war is not sufficient to be a good Muslim. “The real distinction of Islam lies in its enjoining Muslims to wage war for upholding the truth besides fighting for their own defense.” Any place wherein Islam is not practiced is by definition a place of “darkness, heresy and tyranny” that must be liberated as it is the realm of man-worship. Thus, true “Muslims are bound to fight such evils and finish them by means of Jihad...” |
Whether through benign neglect or active support the hamas government and the pa in general have fostered terrorism against Israel. With Hamas taking an overwelming majority in the pa elections when does this go from being lack of oversight of radicals and turn to an open declaration of war "in effect" by the pali's? It seems the people have spoken. They want war. Fools that they are.
I wonder what the excuse would be for blowing up Christians on easter in Bethleham. Blowing up Jews on Passover is the equivalent. And making excuses for this massacre is an open invitation to the prior.
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