Dolphinarium discotheque suicide bombing

Dolphinarium suicide bombing
Part of the Second Intifada militancy campaign

The abandoned ruins of the Dolphinarium


The attack site



The attack site
Location Tel Aviv, Israel
Coordinates 32°04′02″N 34°45′42″E / 32.06722°N 34.76167°E
Date June 1, 2001
23:30 pm (GMT+2)
Attack type
 Suicide attack
Deaths 21 (+ 1 bomber)
Non-fatal injuries
 100+
Perpetrators Lone Palestinian assailant (Saeed Hotari). Both Islamic Jihad and a group calling itself "Hezbollah-Palestine" originally claimed responsibility.
Inscription on the back of the dolphinarium massacre memorial

The Dolphinarium discotheque suicide bombing was a terrorist attack on June 1, 2001 in which a suicide bomber Saeed Hotari, blew himself up outside of a nightclub, killing 21 Israeli teenagers and 4 adults.[1][2][3][4]

The attack

Suicide bomber Saeed Hotari was standing in line on a Friday night in front of the Dolphinarium, when the area was packed with youngsters (most of them Russian new arrivals) waiting for admission. Survivors of the attack later described how the young Palestinian bomber appeared to taunt his victims before the explosion, wandering among them dressed in clothes that led some to mistake him for an orthodox Jew from Asia, and banging a drum packed with explosives and ball bearings, while repeating the words in Hebrew: "Something's going to happen".[5] At 23:27, he detonated his explosive device.[6] It was the second attack in five months on the same target.[7] Witnesses claimed that body parts lay all over the area, and that bodies were piled one above another on the sidewalk before being collected. Many civilians in the vicinity of the bombing rushed to assist emergency services.

Fatalities

Dolphinarim Massacre memorial on the Tel Aviv dolphinarium site
Dolphinarium discotheque suicide bombing by Victor Brindatch oil on canvas painting size 100x130

One Israeli soldier and 20 civilians, mostly teenagers whose families immigrated from the former Soviet Union, died in the attack:[8]

  • Yelena Nelimov, 18, of Tel Aviv[20]
  • Irena Usdachi, 18, of Holon[21]
  • Ilya Gutman, 19, of Bat Yam[22]
  • Roman Dezanshvili, 21, of Bat Yam[23]
  • Pvt. Diez (Dani) Normanov, 21, of Tel Aviv[24]
  • Ori Shahar, 32, of Ramat Gan[25]
  • Yael-Yulia Sklianik, 15, of Holon[26] – died of her injuries on June 2, 2001
  • Sergei Panchenko, 20, Ukraine[27] – died of his injuries on June 2, 2001
  • Jan Bloom, 25, of Ramat Gan[28] – died of his injuries on June 3, 2001
  • Yevgeniya Dorfman, 15, of Bat-Yam[29] – died of her injuries on June 19, 2001

Perpetrators

Both Islamic Jihad and a group calling itself "Hezbollah-Palestine" originally claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, only to later retract the claims.[30]

Later on it was revealed that the attack was carried out by Saeed Hotari, age 22, a militant linked to the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas.[31]

Official reactions

Involved parties

 Israel:

 Palestinian territories:

Supranational
International

Aftermath

After the attack many in the Israeli public demanded a harsh military retaliation; nevertheless, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to not take any immediate retaliatory actions. US and other governments applied heavy diplomatic pressure on Israel to refrain from action.[33] Nevertheless, the attack was later on noted as one of the reasons cited by the Israeli government for building the Israeli West Bank barrier.[36]

In Ramallah dozens of Palestinians celebrated in the streets and fired in the air as a sign of celebration.[37] The bomber, Saeed Hotari was praised as a martyr by his father.[38] President George W. Bush demanded that Arafat condemn the terrorist act.[39]

According to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, an Israeli-based organization with close ties to the IDF, among the materials seized by the IDF in the course of Operation Defensive Shield were two documents issued by the Martyrs’ Families and Injured Care Establishment, which falls under the authority of the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Social Affairs. The documents address the transfer of a grant in the sum of $2,000 to the father of the suicide bomber, who was living in Jordan at that time (June 18, 2001). According to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, the transfer was made in spite of the suicide bomber’s Hamas affiliation, in spite of the father’s public support of the suicide bombing attack, and in spite of Yasser Arafat’s public condemnation of the suicide bombing attack.[40]

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Page not available (Error 404)". Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  2. ↑ O'Sullvian, Arieh (2001-11-25). "No.". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  3. ↑ Fisher, Ian (2006-01-29). "In Hamas's Overt Hatred, Many Israelis See Hope". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  4. ↑ Ynet – פיגוע בדולפינריום – חדשות
  5. ↑ 3,000 dead yet peace remains elusive Chris McGreal, The Guardian, Monday September 29, 2003
  6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaaT7vdSXrI#t=120
  7. ↑ "Bloody Terrorist Attack in Tel Aviv – 18 Youth Killed" (in Hebrew). Ynet. 2001-06-02. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  8. ↑ "Jun 04, 2001 List of Victims of the Dolphinarium Terrorist Attack". Embassy of Israel in Washington DC. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  9. ↑ "Maria Tagilchev". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Raisa Nimrovsky". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Anya Kazachkov". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Katherine Kastaniyada-Talkir". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Irina Nepomneschi". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Mariana Medvedenko". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Yulia Nelimov". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Liana Sakiyan". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Marina Berkovizki". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Simona Rodin". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Alexei Lupalo". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Yelena Nelimov". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Irena Usdachi". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  22. ↑ "Ilya Gutman". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Roman Dezanshvili". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  24. ↑ "Pvt Diez Normanov". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  25. ↑ "Ori Shahar". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  26. ↑ "Yael-Yulia Sklianik". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Sergei Panchenko". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  28. ↑ "Jan Bloom". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  29. ↑ "Yevgenia Dorfman". GxMSDev. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  30. ↑ Bomb horror hits Tel Aviv disco, The Jerusalem Post, June 4, 2001.
  31. ↑ "Bomber went to West Bank for a better life". the Guardian. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  32. ↑ Shalom, Silvan. "Q&A with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom." Haaretz. May 8, 2008
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Deborah Sontag, "Arafat Calls for Cease-Fire, Deploring Tel Aviv Attack", New York Times, June 3, 2001.
  34. ↑ Press Release SG/SM/7829 of 1 June 2001
  35. ↑ "Israeli police: Four dead in Tel Aviv bombing". CNN. February 25, 2005.
  36. ↑ Israel Foreign Ministry, Four Years of Conflict: Israel's war against terrorism, October 3, 2004, p. 28
  37. ↑ Jerusalem Post-Bomb horror hits Tel Aviv disco By David Rudge
  38. ↑ "Write better papers, faster!". Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  39. ↑ "Bush to Arafat: You Must Condemn This Terrible Attack" (in Hebrew). Ynet. 2001-06-02. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  40. ↑ "The Palestinian Authority's support of Hamas' suicide terrorism". October 2004. Retrieved 2008-05-04.