A Palestinian bomber boarded a packed Jerusalem bus making
its way from the Western Wall last Tuesday night and blew
himself up, murdering 21 people and wounding more than 100
others, a dozen seriously, in one of the deadliest bombings
in the past three years of violence. Eight children were
among the dead, Hy'd, and at least 40 youngsters were
wounded in the bus blast.
The attack on the Jerusalem No. 2 bus line that runs from the
Kosel to Har Nof was the 101st Palestinian suicide bombing in
the past 35 months of violence. It came one week after back-
to-back bombings in Rosh Ha'ayin and Ariel. The bombings on
Ariel and Yerushalayim were claimed by Hamas which also
claimed to be observing a cease-fire until Israel killed one
of its senior operatives in Gaza last Thursday.
The bombing took place just before Israel was set to withdraw
from four Palestinian cities as part of an agreement with the
Palestinian Authority. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon froze all
contacts with the PA late Tuesday night, and the security
cabinet later decided on further measures in response to the
attack.
These included the preventive, pinpoint killing of Hamas
leader Ismail Abu Shanab who was killed in a missile strike
in Gaza City last Thursday. Only Shanab and his two
bodyguards, all three of whom were clearly combatants and
legitimate targets, were killed. In a strike on Sunday, four
Palestinian combatants were killed. Again, no noncombatants
were killed.
Later Israel declared that it would no longer distinguish
between political and military echelons of any organization
waging terror, including Palestinian Authority President
Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. It said that all senior
members of terror organizations are legitimate targets.
The United States exerted unprecedented pressure on the
Palestinian Authority to unite its armed forces, collect
illegal weapons and smash terrorist organizations before a
new cycle of terror and reprisal spins out of control.
And the Palestinians made some tentative moves against
terrorists, while urging a new cease-fire.
Initially, the Islamic Jihad took credit for the attack. But
later, the 29-year-old bomber was identified as a Hamas
member, Raed Abdel-Hamed Mesk from Hebron. Mesk was an imam
from one of Hebron's largest mosques, a religious 29-year-old
man who had memorized the Koran by age 16. He was also
married and the father of two young children.
Hamas described Tuesday's bombing as retaliation for the
Israeli Army's killing of one of its militants in June. But
the New York Times pointed out, "Hamas is a self-
appointed gang of thugs with no right to kill anyone, Israeli
or Palestinian."
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who was
meeting with Islamic Jihad officials at the time of the
blast, condemned the bombing, calling it a "terrible act
which cannot serve the interests of the Palestinian
people."
The bomber, wearing what police said was "a large" amount of
explosives on his back, boarded the bus right before he
exploded. There can be no doubt that he knew that his victims
included women and young children. There are reports that
some passengers suspected that he was a terrorist.
The blast ripped through the double-length bus which has a
flexible midsection just as it turned off Rt. 1, the city's
main north-south road, near the Novotel Hotel, in Beit
Yisrael neighborhood when the suicide bomber set off his
explosive charges, which police said were packed with bolts
and nails to cause maximum casualties.
Another Egged bus bringing chareidi women and girls back from
a day at the beach had just passed. The bus did not usually
pass that spot. The driver turned right instead of left at
the Bar Ilan intersection. Many of the passengers asked to be
let off after the wrong turn, saying that they did not mind
the extra walk. The driver replied that it was not necessary.
He would merely turn around at the next opportunity and take
them right to their destination. And so it "happened" to be
in that spot at that time. No one was killed on that bus, but
passengers were among the more than 100 wounded.
The force of the blast tore apart the accordion bus, sending
pieces of metal and flesh across the street. Police were
forced to use blowtorches to remove the wounded from both
buses. No one was murdered on the second bus, but a number of
the passengers were injured. Among the murdered were several
who were standing on the sidewalks when the bomb went off.
Hospital officials said it was one of the worst attacks ever
in terms of the number of youngsters, children, and toddlers
wounded. It was the most lethal attack in Jerusalem since the
outbreak of violence 35 months ago.
Sifting through the rubble, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, director of
Zaka, lifted up a baby, bloodied but alive. This baby was
Shoshana Nathanson, whose three-year-old sister Tehilloh was
among the murdered. Another Zaka member uncovered a second
infant at the front of the bus, and performed mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation on the street to resuscitate him.
A one-month-old baby was brought Tuesday night to Hadassah-
University Hospital, Ein Kerem, and was identifiable only by
weight. He was later claimed by his mother who was
hospitalized at Shaarei Zedek, and who went thorough hours of
anguish thinking her five children were among the dead,
before being told they were all among the wounded.
A number of American citizens were murdered. They were Goldie
Taubenfeld, her infant five-month-old Shmuel, three-year-old
Tefillah Nathanson of Monsey, New York, and Mordechai
Reinitz, 47, and his nine-year-old son, Yitzchok, long-time
residents of Netanya who had dual Israeli-American
citizenship.
Hastily printed posters in chareidi neighborhoods soon after
the tragedy called for soul-searching and repentance,
"especially for sins committed against one's fellow man."
Smaller notices announced that a prayer rally would be held
that afternoon at the site. Three straight days of prayer
were held in Meah Shearim early this week, and large prayer
assemblies were expected for Yom Kippur Koton on Wednesday.
The American Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah issued a special call
for prayer on that day and rabbinical bodies in Israel were
expected to do the same.
The site of the attack is only about fifty feet away from the
site of a bomb attack on motzei Shabbos about a year-and-a-
half ago that murdered ten and wounded about fifty. One other
bomb went off in the area but no one was hurt. Several other
disasters were averted when bombs were discovered before
exploding. Elsewhere in the country, there were two major
attacks on buses to the chareidi town of Emanuel. Last Av
nine were murdered and the previous Chanukah ten were
murdered.
Rabbi Yisroel Eichler, MK from UTJ, said, "We know that the
body is consumed, but the spirit is immortal. This does not
lessen the pain of parting, but it does ease the sense of
loss. The child -- or the adult, too, of course -- lives on
in our memories, in our conversations and in his immortal
soul."
For many of the murdered and injured, a trip across Jerusalem
to the Kosel to pray and contemplate was a holiday.
The reaction of the chareidi community contrasted sharply
with the reaction to the killing of Abu Shanab. Israel
officials said Shanab was directly involved in planning the
attack on the No. 2 bus in Jerusalem, and was also active in
strengthening Hamas' military infrastructure. Abu Shanab had
admitted to being involved in planning and carrying out the
kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldier Ilan Sa'adon. Abu
Shanab, in his position as one of the Hamas leaders, was
responsible for policy decisions and directing and approving
military operations.
Nonetheless, Hamas seized on the pretext of his killing to
declare that the "cease fire" was over. Right after he was
killed, dozens of Hamas supporters at the scene dunked their
fists in blood and soot, raised them in the air and
threatened revenge, chanting "G-d is great."
In the holy city of Yerushalayim, after 21 were murdered and
over 100 injured, signs were put up asking everyone to pray
and repent.
