Ben Yehuda Street bombings

The Ben Yehuda Street bombings refer to a series of attacks by Arab terrorists and suicide bombers on civilians in downtown Jerusalem, Israel from 1948 until today. The attacks were carried out on a main street, later a pedestrian mall, named for the founder of modern Hebrew, Eliezer Ben Yehuda.

1948 bombing

On February 22, 1948, as the conflict over the coming partition of Palestine grew, three car bombs arranged by Arab irregulars exploded on Ben Yehuda Street killing 52 Jewish civilians and leaving 123 injured.

Infobox terrorist attack
title=1948 Ben Yehuda Street Bombing


caption=
location=Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem
target=Pedestrian shopping mall
date=February 22 1948
time-begin=
time-end=
timezone=
type=car bombs
fatalities=58
injuries=123
perps=

Two British deserters (Eddie Brown, a police captain who claimed that the Irgun had killed his brother, and Peter Madison, an army corporal) were involved in the attack, having been promised pay by Abd al-Kader al-Husseini, who was the commander of the Holy War Army forces in the area.

The British were also blamed because armored trucks with police insignia had escorted the truck bombs into the area.

1975 bombing

Infobox terrorist attack
title=1975 Ben Yehuda Street Bombing


caption=
location=Zion Square, leading onto Ben Yehuda Street , Jerusalem
target=Pedestrian shopping mall
date=July 4 1975
time-begin=
time-end=
timezone=
type=time bomb
fatalities=15
injuries=77
perps=Ahmad El-Sukar

On Friday, July 4 1975, a refrigerator that had five kilograms of explosives packed into its sides exploded on Zion Square, a main square leading to Ben Yehuda Street and to Jaffa Street. Fifteen people were killed and 77 were injured. After the attack, Yitzhak Rabin, then prime minister, said: "The murder serves as a warning not to get caught up in illusions about the intentions of the terror organizations ... Therefore we must follow a strict policy of not negotiating with them. We must speak to them only in the language they understand, the language of the sword."

Ahmad El-Sukar, who was responsible for placing the bomb, was released from Israeli prison in 2003 as a gesture to Arafat.

1997 bombings

Infobox terrorist attack
title=1997 Ben Yehuda Street Bombing


caption=
location=Ben Yehuda Street , Jerusalem
target=Pedestrian shopping mall
date=September 4 1997
time-begin=
time-end=
timezone=
type=suicide bombers
fatalities=7 (including 3 suicide bombers)
injuries=
perps=HamasOn September 4 1997, three Hamas suicide bombers simultaneously blew themselves up on the pedestrian mall, killing four Israelis. The bombing was carried out by Palestinians who all came from the village of Asira al-shamaliye. The month before, Israel had assassinated a senior Hamas leader named Mahmoud Abu Hanoud from the same village. The assassination triggered a wave of suicide bomber attacks. [ [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0222230 Democracy Now! | "The Dominion of Death": An Israeli Mother Who Lost Her 13-Year Old Daughter in a Suicidebombing Speaks Out Against Israel ] ]

One of the Israelis killed was Smadari Elhanan, the 14 year-old daughter of professor and peace activist Nurit Peled-Elhanan, and the granddaughter of the late general, Jewish scholar and politician Mattityahu Peled. As a result of her death, Smadaris parents cofounded the "Bereaved Families for Peace", an organization which brings together Israelis and Palestinians who lost their dear ones in the course of the conflict [http://www.theparentscircle.com/] , [ [http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=16005 מגזין הכיבוש Occupation Magazine ] ] .

Another result from the bombing was that five American students who had been wounded filed a lawsuit in the United States against the government of Iran and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ("Jenny Rubin, et al vs. the Islamic Republic of Iran, et al") for their suffering, under the Flatow Amendment of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, in accord with Section 201a of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, which states that "in every case in which a person has obtained a judgment against a terrorist party on a claim based upon an act of terrorism... the blocked assets of that terrorist party... shall be subject to execution". They were awarded a default judgment of $251 million in compensatory and punitive damages by Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, but there were few assets of the Iranian government present in the United States following the judgment. The plaintiffs threated to seize valuable Persian artifacts located in Chicago museums and sell them for proceeds, leading to the Chicago's Persian heritage crisis, as well as suing the account of the Bank Melli Iran in the Bank of New York, but having the United States Department of Justice speak as amicus curiae in support of Bank Melli, advising that the bank had no responsibility for turning the funds over, resulting in a ruling against the students.." [http://www.nysun.com/article/66227 U.S. Helps Iranian Bank Withdraw, Then Seeks To Freeze Funds] ", Josh Gerstein, The New York Sun, November 9, 2007]

2001 bombings

Infobox terrorist attack
title=2001 Ben Yehuda Street Bombings


caption=
location=Ben Yehuda Street , Jerusalem
target=Pedestrian shopping mall, responding paramedics
date=December 1 2001
time-begin=
time-end=
timezone=
type=suicide bombers and a car bomb
fatalities=10 (+ 2 suicide bombers)
injuries=188
perps=On December 1 2001 two suicide bombers detonated themselves on Ben Yehuda Street, followed by a car bomb set to go off as paramedics arrived. Eleven people were killed, including many children, and 188 were injured in the terrorist attacks. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. [ [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2001/12/Suicide%20bombing%20at%20the%20Ben-Yehuda%20pedestrian%20mall http://www.mfa.gov.il] ]

Other attacks

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz lists the following other attacks in a March 2001 article by Yair Sheleg::*September 8 1971: A grenade was thrown into the entrance of Cafe Alno on Ben Yehuda Street. The grenade did not explode and there were no injuries.:*December 12 1974: An explosive device went off in Ben Yehuda Street. Thirteen people were injured lightly to moderately.:*November 13 1975: An explosive charge went off near cafe Naveh, on Jaffa Road near the pedestrian mall. Seven people were killed and 45 injured.:*April 9 1976: A car bomb was dismantled on Ben Yehuda Street shortly before it was to have exploded.:*May 3 1976: Thirty-three passers-by were injured when a booby-trapped motor scooter exploded at the corner of Ben Yehuda and Ben Hillel Streets. Among those injured was the Greek consul in Jerusalem and his wife. The following day, on the eve of Independence Day, the municipality organized an event at the site of the attack, under the slogan: "Nevertheless.":*January 1 1979: A car bomb was found opposite Cafe Atara on the pedestrian mall and was neutralized about half an hour before it was to have blown up.:*March 24 1979: One person was killed and 13 people were injured, most of them lightly, when an explosive charge blew up in a trash can in Zion Square.:*May 2 1981: A police sapper was moderately injured by an explosive charge that had been placed in a trash can near Cafe Alno.:*August 15 1984: A car bomb was discovered on Ben Yehuda Street and defused about 10 minutes before it was to have exploded. In the car were about 12 kilograms of explosives and another three kilograms of iron nails.

References

External links

* [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=101419 A Short History of Terror]
* [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2001/12/Suicide+bombing+at+the+Ben-Yehuda+pedestrian+mall.htm|Suicide bombing at the Ben-Yehudapedestrian mall in Jerusalem -December 1, 2001]
*Mandate Period Bombing
** [http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Ben_Yehuda_Bombing.htm|Ben Yehuda Street Bombing]
**http://www.jerusalem-archives.org/period4/4-10.html