Gunman Fires on Tel Aviv Restaurant

AP - Fox News Breaking | 3/4/2002 | AP

[terilyn]

Gunman Fires on Tel Aviv Restaurant

Mon Mar 4, 7:50 PM ET

JERUSALEM (AP) - A gunman opened fire at a Tel Aviv restaurant early Tuesday, wounding at least nine people, police and rescue workers said.

The identity of the gunman was not immediately known, but Israeli radio stations were calling it a terror attack.

[July 4th]

Everyone against killing Arafat says it will escalate the violence. So the Pali's are going to shoot up two steak restaurants if Arafat's killed? It can't get much worse, in my opinion. The IDF can handle a large-scale assault. Take out Arafat NOW.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

We here in freeperland, seem to be the only ones aghast at the everyday acts of terrorism and Israeli's lukewarm response to it. Are the Israeli's so fatalistic and hardened, that they don't see the escalation as anything out of the ordinary? I could not believe NBC News tonight-they focused entirely on the Palestinian civilian casualties, blown up school children, weeping moms, etc. I feel like I've gone into a time warp-according to the media, it seems that terrorism is ok, retaliation is not.

[Alouette]

Updated report in Ha'aretz:

A Palestinian gunman opened fire with an M-16 assault rifle at around 2:15 A.M. on Tuesday, at Tel Aviv steakhouse and seafood restaurants, killing three people and injuring 10 others, Israel Radio reported. Police said that the gunman also threw a grenade, but that it did not explode. After he ran out of bullets he pulled out a knife and began stabbing people.

The wounded were taken to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, Beilinson Hospital, Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva and Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer.

According to initial reports, a policeman at the scene of the attack shot the gunman dead. The attack took place at Mifgash Hasteak which is located on Derekh Petah Tikva, a main Tel Aviv artery. Police initiated a search for possible accomplices. They said that there were no specific reports of attacks in the area.

Police said that they were checking a vehicle in the area suspected of being booby-trapped.

[KevinDavis]

Islam the religion of peace.

[Thane_Banquo]

It's interesting that these Palestinian gunmen use M-16s, American guns, while at the same time criticizing the United States for selling weapons to Israel. Once again we see that Arab militants are not above blatant hypocracy.

[Catspaw]

Son of a ....

I leave for a while to eat dinner & take the dog for a walk & the damn Pals commit yet ANOTHER act of terrorism.

Who's taking credit for it this time? Fatah, al Qsda, Hamas....

[OldFriend]

Media elites hate Israel with unreasoned fervor.

[Texaggie79]

[madison46]

Just saw a picture at WashingtonPost.com of a bunch of Hamas supporters protesting. I can honestly say I would not care if Isreal dropped their version of a Daisy Cutter on the whole crowd. The picture showed only young males, so may as well stop them now............

[r9etb]

Is Israel holding back because they don't want to ignite a war with Islam? Their withholding action makes me wonder what they're up to.......

I think they probably have a realistic idea of what an all-out attack means, and they aren't ready yet to make that decision.

Consider: for now, it's just a small-scale killing contest in which the existence of Israel is not really threatened.

But an all-out attack means that they've launched a life-or-death battle, in which it's a tossup as to whether Israel is destroyed; or the Palestinians are ethnically-cleansed back to Jordan or wherever, with no real abatement of the threat to Israel and a profound foreign policy problem; or perhaps Arab capitals get turned into piles of glassy rubble.

It's not really an easy choice, and they probably don't want to make it until they absolutely have to. They're not to that point yet, though it could be coming. (E.g., wanna bet that there's a lot of PLO activity on Passover?)

[lowbridge]

How did he manage to wound so many people before he got shot by a cop? Where are all those armed israeli citizens?

[cidrasm]

A Palestinian gunman opened fire with an M-16 assault rifle

What?!? That can't be right. Ashleigh Banfield (MSNBC) made a big deal after her Arafat interview last month that only Israelis use M-16s, Palestinians use Kalashnikovs. And we know the media is always right on things like guns. < /sarcasm>

[terilyn]

I honestly think Israel is holding back because Iraq is just too close and too dangerous. If they took out Arafat or got serious about ending this constant terrorism, Iraq would hit Israel.

One more reason that we need to take care of Saddam this time for good.

[terilyn]

"it seems that terrorism is ok, retaliation is not."

You're not the only one that's noticed this. I've fumed regularly over the whiney Europeans and the liberal media shedding tears over the casualties in Afghanistan. Not much mention anymore about the over 3000 people who died in NYC, The Pentagon and PA.

[RCW2001]

Not to mention the fact that apparently there actually may be 'stolen' russian nukes floating around...and no one knows who or where they may be.

The USA is worried about one being smuggled into the US while Israel is right in the 'hood'...

[terilyn]

I saw a picture of a four year old Palestinian boy lying down, training with an assault type rifle. This is so sad. These children are trained from birth to hate Jews and Americans. I'm sure the celebrations are going on in the streets of Palestine as we speak.

[JimSEA]

I agree with you. I can recall seeing population maps with ethnic areas highlighted. It is a real chowder with neighborhoods literally yards away from each other. When you say Israel, you are talking a very small land mass and a limited population. I am not defending the PLA by any means but "ethnic cleansing" is not an option either practically or (for survivors of the Pograms for centuries) morally. IMHO

[marshmallow]

Yes, but who is the enemy? That is the problem. They are not fighting an opposing army whose location and weaponry are known. They are fighting an insidious and invisible foe. People who move among them dressed as they are.

I haven't the slightest doubt that Israel would exterminate the terrorists if they knew who they were and where they were located. However, in most cases they don't. They're sailing in unchartered waters.

[terilyn]

You're so right. Israel is a sitting duck for a major attack.

My sixteen year old daughter just had to do a paper for her liberal public school history class. The questions had to do with the draft, war, fleeing to Canada, peaceful negotiation vs force, etc. She wrote a nice paper stating that in essense, some nations were evil, (she's been listening to the President talk)!, and could not be dealt with any way but with force and that she would proudly serve her country to defend our freedoms that some take for granted, and then criticize others for defending for them. She ended it saying that Freedom is not Free. (Maybe I do have Fox News on too much around here?) Maybe not. By the 2004 elections I'll have two more Republican voters in my family!

[TheLooseThread]

Oh My! That is the most politically incorrect thing I have seen posted in a very very very long time.

Love it!