Ben Yehuda Street bombings
Ben Yehuda Street (named after Eliezer Ben-Yehuda) a main avenue and pedestrian mall in the downtown of Jerusalem, Israel, has been bombed several times by Arab or Palestinian militants over the course of a number of conflicts, with great loss of civilian life.
1948 bombing
| 1948 Ben Yehuda Street Bombing | |
|---|---|
| Location | Ben Yehuda Street , Jerusalem |
| Date | February 22 1948 |
| Target | Pedestrian shopping mall |
Attack type | car bombs |
| Deaths | 58 |
| Injured | 123 |
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.
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 Abed al-Kader al-Husseini, who was the commander of the Holy War Army forces in the area.
The British were also blamed because alleged armored trucks with police insignia had escorted the truck bombs into the area.
1975 bombing
| 1975 Ben Yehuda Street Bombing | |
|---|---|
| Location | Zion Square, leading onto Ben Yehuda Street , Jerusalem |
| Date | July 4 1975 |
| Target | Pedestrian shopping mall |
Attack type | time bomb |
| Deaths | 15 |
| Injured | 77 |
| Perpetrators | 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
| 1997 Ben Yehuda Street Bombing | |
|---|---|
| Location | Ben Yehuda Street , Jerusalem |
| Date | September 4 1997 |
| Target | Pedestrian shopping mall |
Attack type | suicide bombers |
| Deaths | 7 (including 3 suicide bombers) |
| Perpetrators | Hamas |
On 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.[1]
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 [2][3].
Another result from the bombing was that some American visitors filed a lawsuit in the United States against Iran and Iranian officials (Jenny Rubin, et al vs. the Islamic Republic of Iran, et al) for their suffering. They won a default judgment, and 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.
2001 bombings
| 2001 Ben Yehuda Street Bombings | |
|---|---|
| Location | Ben Yehuda Street , Jerusalem |
| Date | February 22 1948 |
| Target | Pedestrian shopping mall, responding paramedics |
Attack type | suicide bombers and a car bomb |
| Deaths | 10 (+ 2 suicide bombers) |
| Injured | 188 |
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. Ten people were killed, including many children, and 188 were injured in the terrorist attacks.
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.