Bat Mitzvah massacre

The Bat Mitzvah massacre was a terrorist attack in Hadera, Israel, on Thursday, January 17, 2002, in which a Palestinian gunman, 24-year-old Abdul Salaam Sadek Hassouneh, killed six people and wounded 33 at a Bat Mitzvah celebration, a traditional Jewish celebration held for a 12-year-old girl.[1][2]

Bat Mitzvah massacre
Part of the Second Intifada militancy campaign
The attack site
LocationHadera, Israel
DateJanuary 17, 2002
9:45 pm (GMT+2)
Attack type
Mass shooting, massacre, murder-suicide, suicide bombing
WeaponsM16 assault rifle
Deaths7 (including the perpetrator)
Injured33
PerpetratorAbdul Salaam Sadek Hassouneh
(al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility)

Attack

The attack took place at 9:45 pm (GMT+2) as guests were departing.[3] The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades assumed responsibility for the attack, claiming it was vengeance for the killing of its leader Raed Karmi. An Israeli police spokesman said the man, apparently on a suicide mission, had thrown several grenades into the Armon David wedding hall, where the Bat Mitzvah celebration had taken place, and detonated explosives on himself. A belt filled with explosives was found on the attacker.[1]

Victims

Media coverage

The Al Jazeera television network was criticized for bias in coverage of the massacre, failing to note that the victims were attending a bat mitzvah and that the gunman crashed the event at a crowded banquet hall, and failing to mention the number of people killed by Raed Karmi when covering his assassination several days earlier, which would have provided context for the story.[5]

Perpetrator

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said the attacker, 24-year-old Abdel Salam Hassouna, was from a village near Nablus and launched the attack to avenge the death of Raed Karmi.[1]

After the attack a video made earlier by the attacker was released, in which he is seen declaring: "I am doing this to avenge all the Palestinian martyrs."[5]

Official reactions

Involved parties

 Israel

 Palestinian territories:

  • The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack but blamed Israel for provoking it.[3]
International
  •  United States: the US government condemned the Hadera attack "in the strongest possible terms," calling it a "horrific act of terrorism."[3]
gollark: That post and the comments seem to provide a decent enough explanation, yes.
gollark: You would expect *some* other stargate network, since it was discovered... a few thousand years, or something, ~~since~~ before the present day in-setting and technology has improved since then.
gollark: And why hasn't someone else tried to/succeeded in figuring out the wormholes?
gollark: How is there *not* massive price gouging on the transit network anyway? I'm sure this was explained at some point, but I forgot the explanation, sooo...
gollark: The time loop thing does reduce the use a lot come to think of it, yes.

See also

References

  1. Bat mitzvah massacre in Israel leaves seven dead, Phil Reeves, 18 January 2002
  2. Jackson, Brian A. (2007). Breaching the Fortress Wall: Understanding Terrorist Efforts to Overcome Defensive Technologies. Rand Corporation. ISBN 9780833039149.
  3. Gunman kills 6 Israelis; jets fire missiles in response, January 18, 2002. CNN
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2013-11-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Perspectives on war. Hickey, Neil, Columbia Journalism Review, March 1, 2002


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