| Mike's Place suicide bombing | |
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| Part of the Second Intifada militancy campaign | |
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Mike's Place
The attack site
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| Location | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Date | April 30, 2003 12:45 am |
| Attack type | Suicide attack |
| Deaths | 3 Israeli civilians (+ 1 bomber) |
| Injured | +50 civilians |
| Perpetrator(s) | Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility |
The Mike's Place suicide bombing was a Palestinian terrorist attack on a bar in Tel Aviv, Israel on April 30, 2003, killing three civilians and wounding 50.
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In 1992, Michael Vigodda, a photojournalist, opened Mike's Place in downtown Jerusalem. Vigodda named the bar after another bar called "Mike's Place" located at the Carleton University Student's Center in Ottawa, Ontario. This was, in turned, named after former Canadian Prime Minister and statesman Lester B. "Mike" Pearson,[1] a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1957 for his role in defusing the Suez Crises.
In 1995, Assaf Ganzman, an Israeli blues musician, vocalist for band called SOBO became a owner of the bar after Vigodda returned to Canada.
In 1999, the bar moved to Jerusalem's Russian Compound and in 2005 to Jaffa Road. In 2001, a second branch was opened in Tel Aviv, next to the American Embassy. The Jerusalem branch closed on January 4, 2009 when the 19th century building in which it was housed was demolished.[2]
After the attack it was revealed that the two assailants entered Israel from Jordan, via the Allenby Bridge.[3]
In addition, after the attack it was revealed that the two assailants reached the scene of the attack from a nearby hotel where they had rented a room several hours earlier. A search was conducted in the assailants hotel room in which the investigators discovered an elastic belt, explosives and a map of downtown Tel Aviv, on which several crowded venues, including Mike's Place, were clearly marked.[3]
At 12:45 am on April 30, 2003, a suicide bomber of British citizenship approached Mike's Place and blew himself up at the entrance. The force of the blast killed three people and injured over 50 people. One of the wounded was security guard Avi Tabib, who managed to block the suicide bomber, preventing him from entering the bar and causing further fatalities.[4]
Immediately after the first attack another suicide bomber, also a British citizen, whom was carrying a concealed explosive belt, was supposed to carry out another attack but his explosive device failed to detonate. This second suicide bomber, whom may have been injured at that point from the explosion, threw away his explosive belt and fled the scene. He reached the David Intercontinental Hotel in the Menashiya residential neighborhood of Jaffa and struggled with the security guard at the entrance trying to steal his ID, but he did not manage to do so.
The body of the second suicide bomber was washed ashore on the Tel Aviv beachfront on May 12 and was eventually identified on May 19, 2003. It is unclear how he died.
An examination of the unexploded bomb discarded by Omar Khan Sharif showed that it had been hidden in a book and contained standard explosives.
After the attack the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the attack. In addition, Hamas spokesman identified the perpetrators as British Muslims Asif Muhammad Hanif, 22, from London and Omar Khan Sharif, 27, from Derby.
Despite the events of that day, the bar reopened on Yom Haatzmaut, Israeli Independence Day.[8]
On 25 April, five days before the attack, Hanif and Sharif had visited International Solidarity Movement (ISM) office, and after chatting for 15 minutes with an ISM volunteer, the men joined a group of 20 people to lay flowers at the site of Rachel Corrie's death for 10 minutes.[9][10][11]
ISM said activists Hanif and Sharif appeared to be 'typical Brits.'[12] An ISM volunteer reported that the bombers had been among a group of 'alternative tourists' who were offered tea when they paid an unscheduled visit to an ISM office on the way to a memorial for Rachel Corrie.[13]
A documentary called Blues by the Beach, about the Tel Aviv Mike's Place, the suicide attack at the bar, and the people affected by it, was directed by American-Israeli filmmaker Joshua Faudem and produced by Jack Baxter, who is a Catholic American who moved to Israel after making the film.[8]
The Jerusalem branch appears in the film "The Holy Land", about a wayward Yeshiva student. The director, Eitan Gorlin, worked as one of the bar's first bartenders in 1994.[14]