Jerusalem bus 2 massacre
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The Jerusalem bus 2 massacre was a suicide bombing in a crowded bus in Jerusalem, Israel on August 19, 2003, which killed 23 people and wounded over 130. Many of the victims were children.
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The attack
On August 19, 2003, a Palestinian suicide bomber of Hamas' Hebron cell, apparently disguised as a Haredi Jew, detonated himself on a No. 2 Egged bus in Jerusalem's Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood. The double-length bus was crowded with Orthodox Jewish children coming back from the Western Wall. The huge explosion caused lethal damage, killing 7 children, 16 adult civilians and wounding over 130 people.
Reactions
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, which put a seal on the so-called 3-month-Hudna announced on July 2003. US president George W. Bush sent his condolences to the victim's families. The European Union and the UN also denounced the terrorist attack and called Palestinian Authority to stop terrorism.
- Aug 20: The European Commission strongly condemns last night's devastating terrorist attack in Jerusalem and expresses its sincere condolences to the families of the victims and to the Israeli Government.
- This is an attack on all the forces working for peace. The European Commission calls on the Palestinian Authority to do everything in its powers to prevent such unacceptable and unjustified act of violence, and urges the PA and the Israeli Government to pursue their dialogue and common efforts towards peace as set out in the Road Map.
Following the terrorist attack, IDF forces raided on Hebron and managed to kill or arrest every one of terrorists who was involved in the massacre.
In 2004 a memorial plaque to the victims was erected in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem. The name of the non-Jewish victims were engraved separately from the others. [1] (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/465063.html)
The victims
- Avraham Bar-Or, 12, of Jerusalem.
- Binyamin Bergman, 15, of Jerusalem.
- Yaakov Binder, 50, of Jerusalem.
- Feiga Dushinski, 50, of Jerusalem.
- Miriam Eisenstein, 20, of Bnei Brak.
- Lilach Kardi, 22, of Jerusalem.
- Menachem Leibel, 24, of Jerusalem.
- Elisheva Meshulami, 16, of Bnei Brak.
- Tehilla Nathanson, 3, of Zichron Ya'acov.
- Chava Nechama Rechnitzer, 19, of Bnei Brak.
- Mordechai Reinitz, 49, and his son:
- Issachar Reinitz, 9, of Netanya.
- Maria Antonia Reslas, 39, of the Philippines.
- Liba Schwartz, 54, of Jerusalem.
- Hanoch Segal, 65, of Bnei Brak.
- Goldie Taubenfeld, 43,
- and Shmuel Taubenfeld, 3 months, of New Square, New York.
- Rabbi Eliezer Weisfish, 42, of Jerusalem.
- Shmuel Wilner, 50, of Jerusalem.
- Shmuel Zargari, 11 months, of Jerusalem.
- Fruma Rahel Weitz, 73, of Jerusalem died of her wounds on August 23.
- Mordechai Laufer, 27, of Netanya died of his wounds on September 5.
- Tova Lev, 37, of Bnei-Brak died of her wounds on September 12.
External links
- Suicide bombing of No. 2 Egged bus in Jerusalem August 19, 2003 (http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2003/8/Suicide+bombing+of+No+2+Egged+bus+in+Jerusalem+-+1.htm)
- List of massacres committed during the Al-Aqsa Intifada.