Embassy of Israel Briefing
March 13, 2003

Death comes close to home

In memory of the victims of the terror attack in my hometown, Haifa

Seventeen people were killed and over 30 wounded, half of them seriously, when terrorists detonated a powerful bomb in Egged bus in the port city of Haifa on March 5. The murderer, a member of the Hamas terror group, slipped out of Hebron to cause indiscriminate death and pain to the people of my hometown Haifa. The bus, which was en route to Haifa University, was completely destroyed. Among the many youngsters killed in the vicious homicide were three pupils of my high school. The victims included two young Arab women. In a letter the homicide bomber carried in his pocket he expressed boundless praise for the terror attack on the Twin Towers in New York.
Click here to read the letter found on the suicide bomber who blew himself up on the bus in Haifa.

The relative calm that has prevailed in Israel in recent weeks is due solely to the intensive counter-terrorist activities of Israeli security forces, which have succeeded in intercepting a large number of terrorist attacks, despite the fact that every day, over 40 focused terrorist alerts are issued by Israeli intelligence authorities. In the month of February alone, Israel was able to prevent 57 large-scale terrorist attacks, among them 44 attempted suicide bombings. These attempted attacks were planned by all of the Palestinian terrorist factions, including Arafat's Fatah/Tanzim, the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

The criticism sometimes directed toward Israel's preemptive counter-terrorist operations in the PA-controlled areas completely ignores the fact that such operations are intended solely to prevent attacks by Palestinian terrorist groups that target Israeli civilians, such as those commuting on city buses.

It should be reiterated that Israel citizens have been the victims of a continuingterrorist onslaught. There is not and cannot be any political justification for the use of terrorism. The actions taken by the Israeli Defense Forces are intended purely to safeguard the lives of Israel's citizens. It is the obligation of every state to protect its population.

In the face of the Palestinian leadership's unwillingness to renounce terrorism or to confront the terrorists, such a leadership denies its people any chance to achieve peace, improve their condition and realize their aspirations. Furthermore, the refusal of the Palestinian leadership to take action against the terrorists operating within its areas forces Israel to take such action itself, if it is to carry out its sovereign responsibility to protect innocent lives.

 

Sincerely,

Moshe Fox
Minister for Public Affairs
Embassy of Israel, Washington DC