Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing

{{Infobox terrorist attack

|title=Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing

|partof=the Second Intifada militancy campaign

|image=Jerusalem Jaffa Road (2542500017).jpg

|caption=

|map= {{location map|width=275|border=infobox|Jerusalem#Israel jerusalem#Israel

|lat_deg=31|lat_min=46|lat_sec=59|lat_dir=N

|lon_deg=35|lon_min=13|lon_sec=05|lon_dir=E

|caption=The attack site

}}

| location = Jerusalem

| coordinates = {{coord|31.7830|N|35.2179|E|display=inline,title }}

|target=Israeli visitors of the Sbarro pizza restaurant

|date=9 August 2001
2:00 pm (IDT)

|time-begin=

|time-end=

|timezone=

|type=Suicide bombing

|fatalities=16 civilians (+1 bomber)

|injuries=140

|perps=Hamas

}}

A Palestinian suicide bombing at a pizzeria in downtown Jerusalem on 9 August 2001 killed 16 people, including seven children and a pregnant woman. A further 130 were wounded. The attack occurred during the Second Intifada.

Attack

At the time of the bombing, the Jerusalem branch of the Sbarro pizza restaurant chain was located at the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in the region. Although not required to do so, owner Noam Amar added extra support columns on the advice of city inspectors.{{cite news|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122609|date=31 May 2007|title=Inventor of Pal-Kal Sentenced to Four Years|author=Hillel Fendel|access-date=18 January 2008|publisher=Arutz Sheva|archive-date=20 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070920185600/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122609|url-status=live}}

Ahlam Tamimi, who was charged as an accomplice, scouted for a target before leading Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri, the suicide bomber, to the Sbarro restaurant. They arrived just before 2:00 p.m., when the restaurant was filled with customers, "dozens of women, children and babies", and pedestrian traffic outside was at its peak. Tamimi departed before Al-Masri, thought to be carrying a rigged guitar case or wearing an explosive belt weighing five to 10 kilograms, containing explosives, nails, nuts and bolts, detonated his bomb.{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/remembering-the-sbarro-bombing-five-years-on-1.194921|date=11 August 2006|title=Remembering the Sbarro bombing five years on|author=Frimet Roth|access-date=6 April 2013|publisher=Ha'aretz|archive-date=20 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820151909/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/remembering-the-sbarro-bombing-five-years-on-1.194921|url-status=live}}

Chaviv Avrahami, who saw the scene of the attack after the bombing, recounted: "I heard a tremendous explosion, and I was thrown up a metre into the air. I knew immediately that it was a bomb attack, and a catastrophic one. There were people – babies – thrown through the window and covered with blood. The whole street was covered with blood and bodies: the dead and the dying." Naor Shara, a soldier who witnessed the attack, said, "The worst thing I saw, which I think will haunt me all my life, is a baby that was sitting in a stroller outside a shop and was dead. After the explosion, the baby's mother came out of the store and started screaming hysterically."

Casualties

The dead included 14 Israelis, one pregnant American, and one Brazilian.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} Additionally, 130 were injured.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} One victim, Chana Nachenberg, remained hospitalized in a persistent vegetative state more than 20 years after the attack until finally dying of her injuries on 31 May 2023.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-744793|title=Israeli Sbarro bombing victim dies after 22 years in coma|date=31 May 2023|website=The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com|access-date=1 June 2023|archive-date=1 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601012010/https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-744793|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://onefamilyfund.ca/in-one-swift-minute-chana-nachenbergs-story/|title=In One Swift Minute – Chana Nachenberg's Story|date=28 January 2014 |access-date=19 November 2023|archive-date=19 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119122454/https://onefamilyfund.ca/in-one-swift-minute-chana-nachenbergs-story/|url-status=live}} She was 31-years-old at the time of the bombing. Her daughter, who was two years old at the time, was one of the few in the restaurant who was not injured.

Yocheved Shoshan, 10, was killed, and her 15-year-old sister Miriam was severely injured with 60 nails lodged in her body, a hole in her right thigh, third degree burns on 40 percent of her body, and a ruptured spleen.

Mordechai and Tzira Schijveschuurder, both children of Holocaust survivors, were killed along with three of their children. Two other daughters, Leah, 11, and Chaya, 8, were critically injured.{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/11/israel | title='This isn't a funeral. It's a Holocaust' | work=The Guardian | access-date=6 April 2013 | location=London | date=11 August 2001 | archive-date=25 August 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825110015/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/11/israel | url-status=live }} The family was of Dutch origin.{{cite news | url=http://subscriber.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1337203/Israel-warned-Arafat-of-suicide-bomb-risk.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511081835/http://subscriber.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1337203/Israel-warned-Arafat-of-suicide-bomb-risk.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=11 May 2018|title=Israel warned Arafat of suicide bomb risk | publisher=The Telegraph |author=Inigo Gilmore | access-date=11 May 2018 | date=12 August 2001}}{{cite book |last=Katz |first=Samuel M. |title=The Ghost Warriors: Inside Israel's Undercover War Against Suicide Terrorism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VS86CQAAQBAJ&q=Mordechai+and+Tzira+Schijveschuurder+children+of+Holocaust+survivors&pg=PT156 |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2016 |isbn=9781592409013 |access-date=2 November 2020 |archive-date=22 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231122154409/https://books.google.com/books?id=VS86CQAAQBAJ&q=Mordechai+and+Tzira+Schijveschuurder+children+of+Holocaust+survivors&pg=PT156#v=snippet&q=Mordechai%20and%20Tzira%20Schijveschuurder%20children%20of%20Holocaust%20survivors&f=false |url-status=live }}

Perpetrators

File:Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri.jpg ({{langx|ar| كتائب القسام | Kataeb Al Qassam}}) the militant wing of the Hamas movement. ]]

Both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine initially claimed responsibility,{{bsn|date=November 2023}} with Hamas saying that the attack was in response to Israel's assassination ten days earlier in Nablus of the two leading Hamas commanders Jamal Mansour and Omar Mansour as well as six civilians including two children.{{Cite web |date=2001-08-10 |title='The street was covered with blood and bodies: the dead and the dying' |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/10/israel1 |access-date=2022-07-07 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=29 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629131725/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/10/israel1 |url-status=live }}[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/jerusalem-bombing-a-war-increasing-in-cruelty-fuelled-by-lust-for-revenge-665183.html Jerusalem bombing: A war increasing in cruelty, fuelled by lust for revenge] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925193815/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/jerusalem-bombing-a-war-increasing-in-cruelty-fuelled-by-lust-for-revenge-665183.html |date=25 September 2015 }}, The Independent, 10 August 2001.[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/10/israel2 Who carried out suicide bombing?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212093901/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/10/israel2 |date=12 February 2017 }}, The Guardian, 10 August 2001.

The suicide bomber who died in the course of carrying out the attack was later identified to be Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri{{Cite news|url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3698071,00.html|title=Court denies Sbarro bomber family's damages claim|last=Glickman|first=Aviad|date=2009-06-04|website=Ynetnews|language=en|access-date=2019-08-06|archive-date=6 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806000843/https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3698071,00.html|url-status=live}} ({{langx|ar|عز الدين شهيل المصري}}) from the Palestinian West Bank town of Aqabah. Izz al-Masri was 22 at the time and the son of a successful restaurant owner, and from an affluent land-owning family.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

The person who constructed the explosives was Abdallah Barghouti. For his part in the bombing and a string of other attacks, in which 67 civilians were killed and 500 injured, he received 67 life sentences on 30 November 2004.{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+and+Islamic+Fundamentalism-/Abdallah+Barghouti+sentenced+to+67+life+sentences+1-Dec-2004.htm|title=Abdallah Barghouti sentenced to 67 life sentences|work=GxMSDev|access-date=14 December 2014|archive-date=18 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118232904/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+and+Islamic+Fundamentalism-/Abdallah+Barghouti+sentenced+to+67+life+sentences+1-Dec-2004.htm|url-status=live}}{{bsn|date=November 2023}}

=Ahlam Tamimi=

Izz al-Masri was escorted to the restaurant by Ahlam Tamimi, a 20-year-old female university student and part-time journalist, who had disguised herself as a Jewish tourist for the occasion. She later commented that she was not sorry for what she had done and does not recognize Israel's existence. "Despite the fact that I'm sentenced to 16 life sentences I know that we will become free from Israeli occupation and then I will also be free from the prison," she said.[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3232591,00.html Sbarro terrorist 'not sorry'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006220711/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3232591,00.html |date=6 October 2014 }}, Ynetnews, 27 March 2006 When she first learned from a journalist who was interviewing her in jail that she had murdered eight children, not just three as she had initially believed, she just smiled broadly and continued with the interview.[http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/analysis/regards-from-amman-the-tamimi-family-and-the-good-life/2012/06/27/ Regards from Amman: The Tamimi Family and the Good Life] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707144555/https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/analysis/regards-from-amman-the-tamimi-family-and-the-good-life/2012/06/27/2/ |date=7 July 2019 }} by Meir Indor, TheJewishPress.com, 27 June 2012.[http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/bibi-are-you-the-kind-of-leader-we-need-now/ From terrorist to talk-show host: a letter to Netanyahu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130818145425/http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/bibi-are-you-the-kind-of-leader-we-need-now/ |date=18 August 2013 }} by Frimet Roth, Times of Israel, 1 April 2012.

Tamimi was released in October 2011 in exchange for the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/16/world/meast/israel-prisoner-swap/?hpt=wo_c2|work=CNN|title=Israel releases list of Palestinian prisoners to be swapped|date=16 October 2011|access-date=16 October 2011|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095624/http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/16/world/meast/israel-prisoner-swap/?hpt=wo_c2|url-status=live}}

Aftermath

In response to the attack, Israel shut down the unofficial Palestinian "foreign office" in Jerusalem, at the Orient House.Yaacov Lozowick, Right to Exist, 2003, p.20

In 2001, the family of Malka Chana (Malki) Roth, a 15-year-old victim of the attack, founded The Malki Foundation, a charity organization that supports families of children with disabilities. All services and equipment are provided at no cost to the families and people of all religions and backgrounds are eligible for assistance.[http://www.kerenmalki.org Keren Malki website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051129025406/http://www.kerenmalki.org/|date=29 November 2005}}/[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1082169.html The power of numbers, Frimet Roth], Haaretz Her parents, Arnold and Frimet Roth, participated in a mass protest in Europe alongside the families of other terror victims in support of the legality the Israeli West Bank barrier. Arnold remarked, "Do I feel bad about the destruction the fence is causing? I do. But do not compare the murder of my daughter to the inability of a Palestinian to get to work by 9:00 A.M."{{cite book |author=Giulio Meotti |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqMVfx6dCJkC&pg=PA125 |title=A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism |publisher=Encounter Books |year=2010 |isbn=9781594034770 |access-date=28 April 2013}}

The incident inspired the Belzberg family to establish the ONE Family Fund, a charity that provides assistance to victims of terrorist attacks targeting Israel.{{cite news |last1=Cashman |first1=Greer Fay |date=9 September 2001 |title='Jerusalem Post' donates NIS100,000 to one Family Fund for terror victims |publisher=Jerusalem Post |id={{ProQuest|319330960}}}}{{cite news |last1=Nielson |first1=Jacob |date=16 May 2002 |title=Sending Flowers to Victims of Terror: One Family and EISF Team up for Seeds of Solidarity |publisher=Jewish Advocate}} The husband of Shoshana Greenbaum, the pregnant woman killed in the attack, organized a group called "Partners in Kindness" and writing a column called "A Daily Dose of Kindness". He explained that he made these efforts in attempt to "improve the world".{{cite news |date=9 August 2011 |title=Lesson on Faith: Sbarro Bombing and a Book on Kindness |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/146533 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122063017/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/146533 |archive-date=22 January 2012 |access-date=7 April 2013 |publisher=Israel National News}}

After the suicide bombing, Palestinian university students at the An-Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus created an exhibition celebrating the first anniversary of the Second Intifada.{{cite news |date=24 September 2001 |title=Gruesome exhibit marks anniversary of uprising |url=http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2001/sep/24/gruesome_exhibit_marks/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311022216/http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2001/sep/24/gruesome_exhibit_marks/ |archive-date=11 March 2007 |access-date=9 August 2006 |publisher=The Associated Press}}{{cite news |date=25 September 2001 |title=An Exhibit on Campus Celebrates Grisly Deed |url=http://www.kerenmalki.org/Press/NYT_Sbarro_Recreated.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060814044809/http://www.kerenmalki.org/Press/NYT_Sbarro_Recreated.htm |archive-date=14 August 2006 |access-date=9 August 2006 |work=The New York Times}} The exhibit's main attraction was a room-sized re-enactment of the bombing at Sbarro. The installation featured broken furniture splattered with fake blood and human body parts. The entrance to the exhibition was illustrated with a mural depicting the bombing. The exhibit was later shut down by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1564188.stm Arafat closes 'suicide bombing' art show] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040630235505/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1564188.stm|date=30 June 2004}}, BBC, 26 September 2001.

Reactions

Foreign Minister Peres said that "If the Palestinian Authority had acted with the necessary determination and carried out preventive detentions of Hamas terrorists and their operators, the murders today in Jerusalem would have been prevented."{{cite news|url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFA-Archive/2000/Pages/Suicide%20bombing%20at%20the%20Sbarro%20pizzeria%20in%20Jerusale.aspx|date=9 August 2001|title=Suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem – 9-Aug-2001|access-date=10 March 2014|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs|archive-date=11 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311133036/http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFA-Archive/2000/Pages/Suicide%20bombing%20at%20the%20Sbarro%20pizzeria%20in%20Jerusale.aspx|url-status=live}}{{bsn|date=November 2023}}

Within the Palestinian Territories, Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing which it praised as a "retaliation of the Palestinian people" against Israel. President of the Palestine Liberation Organization and of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat condemned the "bombing attack ... in West Jerusalem and I denounce all acts that harm civilians."{{Cite web |title=Israel Takes New Actions After Suicide Bomb |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=80653&page=1 |access-date=2022-07-07 |website=ABC News |language=en |archive-date=7 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707210856/https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=80653&page=1 |url-status=live }} but the Palestinian Authority blamed Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon for provoking the attack and stated it held him "fully responsible for what happened. The assassinations, the killings and the terrorism that he has practised and escalated in recent weeks led to this result."{{Cite web |last=agencies |first=Staff and |date=2001-08-09 |title=Restaurant bomb kills 18 |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/09/israel |access-date=2022-07-07 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=7 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707210858/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/09/israel |url-status=live }} The following day, the PA claimed that they had arrested two people "in connection with the Sbarro bombing".{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Nomi |date=10 Aug 2001 |title=Crowded Jerusalem pizzeria bombed |pages=2 |work=The Modesto Bee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/695217846 |url-access=subscription |access-date=20 Aug 2023 |archive-date=20 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820133853/https://www.newspapers.com/image/695217846 |url-status=live }}

U.S. President George W. Bush expressed condolences and stated, "I deplore and strongly condemn the terrorist bombing in downtown Jerusalem today. My heartfelt sympathies and those of the American people are with the victims of this terrible tragedy and their families." Bush demanded Arafat to "condemn this horrific terrorist attack, act now to arrest and bring to justice those responsible, and take immediate, sustained action to prevent future terrorist attacks."

According to the U.N. press release, "UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned today's terror attack by a suicide bomber in Jerusalem. He deplored all acts of terror and is deeply disturbed by the terrible loss of life."{{bsn|date=November 2023}} According to the Belgian EU Presidency, "The Presidency of the European Union unreservedly condemns the bombing of a Jerusalem shopping centre today, 9 August. It abhors this cowardly act which mainly claimed the lives of innocent civilians."{{bsn|date=November 2023}}

In November 2024, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the Palestinian Authority must compensate the victims of the Sbarro restaurant bombing; the compensation is estimated to total millions of shekel.{{Cite web |date=2024-11-19 |title=Court orders PA to compensate victims of 2001 Sbarro terror attack |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-829810 |access-date=2025-05-27 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en}}

=2011 prisoner exchange=

During the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, relatives of the victims of the bombing vehemently protested the release of Ahlam Tamimi, who chose the Sbarro restaurant as a target and drove the bomber to the location.

Arnold and Frimet Roth circulated a petition against Tamimi's inclusion in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu urging him to exclude her from the list.[http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=241991 Family begs for daughter’s killer to be kept in prison] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222063505/http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=241991 |date=22 December 2011 }} by Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post, 17 October 2011. Frimet Roth said in October, "We feel desperate. We beg Mr. Netanyahu to grant us a few minutes of his time and hear us out. In any sane country with a fair judicial system, even paroled murderers are not released without granting the victims' loved ones a chance to address the parole board."{{cite news|date=16 October 2011|url=http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/mother-of-israeli-suicide-bombing-victim-do-not-free-my-daughter-s-murderer-1.390197|title=Mother of Israeli suicide bombing victim: Do not free my daughter's murderer|publisher=Ha'aretz|access-date=6 April 2013|archive-date=15 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815064724/http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/mother-of-israeli-suicide-bombing-victim-do-not-free-my-daughter-s-murderer-1.390197|url-status=live}}

Chaya Schijveschuurder, whose parents and three siblings were killed in the attack, protested with a sign that read, "My parents' blood screams from the grave!" Her brother, Shvuel, vandalized the Yitzhak Rabin memorial and commented, "My opinions are all right compared to [Chaya's] and compared to how she feels about the deal. She was badly wounded in the [Sbarro] attack, she feels that releasing the terrorist is as if she were raped and then the rapist went and murdered her parents and is now being released. For her it's like being raped twice."{{cite news|date=16 October 2011|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/vandal-in-rabin-memorial-case-shalit-family-sold-israel-for-son-1.390143|title=Vandal in Rabin memorial case: Shalit family sold Israel for son|publisher=Ha'aretz|access-date=7 April 2013|archive-date=7 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707214029/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/vandal-in-rabin-memorial-case-shalit-family-sold-israel-for-son-1.390143|url-status=live}}

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20130426201937/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2000/10/Suicide%20bombing%20at%20the%20Sbarro%20pizzeria%20in%20Jerusale Suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem – Israeli MFA] (with pictures)
[http://www.kerenmalki.org/ The Malki Foundation]. Last accessed 9 August 2006
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060813084542/http://www.partnersinkindness.org/aboutus.php Partners In Kindness]. Last accessed 9 August 2006
[http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2001/sep/24/gruesome_exhibit_marks/ Gruesome exhibit marks anniversary of uprising]. The Associated Press, 24 September 2001. Last accessed 9 August 2006
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1564188.stm Arafat closes 'suicide bombing' art show]. BBC News. 26 September 2001. Last accessed 9 August 2006
[http://terror.fredogfrihed.dk/Jerusalem%20-%20August%209%202001/Jerusalem080901.htm Photos of the murdered victims]