Ma'alot massacre
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The Ma'alot massacre was a school massacre in Ma'alot, Israel, that occurred on May 15, 1974.
On this date, the 26th anniversary of Israeli independence, three Arabs subsequently identified as members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a faction affiliated with the PLO, broke into the high school in Ma'alot, a community in northern Israel, where a group of 100 14-16 year olds were sleeping on the floor after a day spent hiking.
The Arabs had infiltrated into Israel from Lebanon dressed as Israeli soldiers. They first attacked a van bringing Arab women home from work, killing two women and wounding one. They then infiltrated the town of Ma'alot and took over a local school, immediately killing a security guard, a student, and one other person. Some students managed to escape by jumping out of a window, but 90 or so students and some teachers were held as hostages.
The hostage-takers presented their demands the next morning: release 23 Arab militants from Israeli prisons, or they would kill the students. The deadline was set at 6:00 p.m. the same day.
The Knesset, the Israeli parliament, met in an emergency session, and by 3:00 p.m. a decision was reached to negotiate, but the DFLP members refused a request for more time.
At 5:45 p.m., a unit of the elite Sayeret Matkal special forces group stormed the building. The hostage-takers were killed in the assault, along with 21 students and one Israeli soldier. Reports vary as to the exact circumstances of the killings. Some reports say that the hostage-takers detonated their grenades and shot the children. An army inquiry later found tactical mistakes in the storming unit's assault. All told, 26 victims were killed and 71 were wounded.
The names of the 21 students who were killed during the assault: Ilana Turgeman, Rachel Aputa, Yocheved Mazoz, Sarah Ben-Shim'on, Yona Sabag, Yafa Cohen. Shoshana Cohen, Michal Sitrok, Malka Amrosy, Aviva Saada, Yocheved Diyi, Yaakov Levi, Yaakov Kabla, Rina Cohen, Ilana Ne'eman, Sarah Madar, Tamar Dahan, Sarah Soper, Lili Morad, David Madar, Yehudit Madar.
The traumatic effect of the event on the Israeli public was a major contributor to the establishment of the Israeli Civil Guard (MASHAZ) volunteer police unit, on July 10, 1974.
External links
- Terrorism Knowledge Base description of the massacre (http://www.tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=1275)
- Wall Street Journal article on the massacre (http://www.defenddemocracy.org/research_topics/research_topics_show.htm?doc_id=239342&attrib_id=7450) by Ehud Olmert, deputy prime-minister of Israel, who was a newly elected member of the Knesset at the time of the massacre
- BBC report on the massacre and subsequent Israeli air strike (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/16/newsid_2512000/2512399.stm)