Bat Mitzvah massacre

Bat Mitzvah massacre
Part of the Second Intifada militancy campaign
The attack site
Location Hadera, Israel
Date January 17, 2002
9:45 pm (GMT+2)
Attack type
Mass shooting, massacre, murder-suicide, suicide bombing
Weapons M16 assault rifle
Deaths 7 (including the perpetrator)
Non-fatal injuries
33
Perpetrator Abdul Salaam Sadek Hassouneh
(al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility)

The Bat Mitzvah massacre was a terrorist attack in Hadera, Israel on Thursday January 17, 2002, in which a Palestinian gunman, 24-year-old Abdul Salaam Sadek Hassouneh, killed six people and wounded 33 at a Bat Mitzvah celebration, a traditional Jewish celebration held for a 12-year-old girl.[1]

The attack

The attack took place at 9:45 pm (GMT+2) as guests were departing.[2] The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades assumed responsibility for the attack, claiming it was vengeance for the killing of its leader Raed Karmi. An Israeli police spokesman said the man, apparently on a suicide mission, had thrown several grenades into the Armon David wedding hall, where the Bat Mitzvah celebration had taken place, and detonated explosives on himself. A belt filled with explosives was found on the attacker.[1]

Victims

Media coverage

The Al Jazeera television network was criticized for bias in coverage of the massacre, failing to note that the victims were attending a bat mitzvah and that the gunman crashed the event at a crowded banquet hall, and failing to mention the number of people killed by Raed Karmi when covering his assassination several days earlier, which would have provided context for the story.[4]

The perpetrator

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said the attacker, 24-year-old Abdel Salam Hassouna, was from a village near Nablus and launched the attack to avenge the death of Raed Karmi.[1]

After the attack a video made earlier by the attacker was released, in which he is seen declaring: "I am doing this to avenge all the Palestinian martyrs."[4]

Official reactions

Involved parties

 Israel

 Palestinian territories:

International

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Bat mitzvah massacre in Israel leaves seven dead, Phil Reeves, 18 January 2002
  2. 1 2 3 Gunman kills 6 Israelis; jets fire missiles in response, January 18, 2002. CNN
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  4. 1 2 Perspectives on war. Hickey, Neil, Columbia Journalism Review, March 1, 2002


Coordinates: 32°26′18″N 34°55′32″E / 32.4382°N 34.9255°E / 32.4382; 34.9255

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