Ben Yehuda Street bombings
| 1948 Ben Yehuda Street bombing | |
|---|---|
| Location | Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem |
| Date | February 22, 1948 |
| Target | Pedestrian shopping mall |
|
Attack type
|
car bombs |
| Deaths | 58 |
|
Non-fatal injuries
|
123 |
| 1975 Ben Yehuda Street Bombing | |
|---|---|
| Location | Zion Square, leading onto Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem |
| Date | July 4, 1975 |
| Target | Pedestrian shopping mall |
|
Attack type
|
time bomb |
| Deaths | 15 |
|
Non-fatal injuries
|
77 |
| Perpetrator | Ahmad el-Sukar |
| 1997 Ben Yehuda Street Bombing | |
|---|---|
| Location | Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem |
| Date | September 4, 1997 |
| Target | Pedestrian shopping mall |
|
Attack type
|
suicide bombers |
| Deaths | 5 (+ 3 suicide bombers) |
| Perpetrators | Hamas |
| 2001 Ben Yehuda Street Bombings | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Second Intifada militancy campaign | |
| Location | Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem |
| Date | December 1, 2001 |
| Target | Pedestrian shopping mall, responding paramedics |
|
Attack type
|
suicide bombers and a car bomb |
| Deaths | 11 (+ 2 suicide bombers) |
|
Non-fatal injuries
|
188 |
The Ben Yehuda Street bombings refer to a series of attacks by Palestinian Arabs and suicide bombers on civilians in downtown Jerusalem, Israel in 1948 and later on. The attacks were carried out on Ben Yehuda Street, a major thoroughfare, later a pedestrian mall, named for the founder of modern Hebrew, Eliezer Ben Yehuda.
On February 22, 1948, three British Army trucks led by an armoured car driven by Arab irregulars and British deserters exploded on Ben Yehuda Street killing from 49 to 58 civilians and injuring from 140 to 200. The bomb had been created by Fawzi al-Qutb. The convoy was led by a Jerusalemite militant, 'Azmi al-Ja'uni, who spoke fluent English and could pass himself off as a British officer. Two British deserters, Eddie Brown, a police captain who claimed that the Irgun had killed his brother, and Peter Madison, an army corporal, had been persuaded to join the attack, also by the promise of substantial financial rewards.
A leaflet stating that the explosion was in response to an Irgun bomb attack three days earlier, in Ramla on the 19th of February, was distributed the following evening. It was signed by Abd al-Qadir who assumed responsibility for the operation. Abd al-Qadir himself, in Cairo the day after, left a statement to Al-Ahram to the same effect and the Army of the Holy War High Command reiterated the declaration in Palestine.Husayn al-Khalidi, secretary of the Arab Higher Committee deplored the act as 'depravity unfit for the Arab spirit,' while the committee itself, in an attempt to distance itself from the incident, tried to throw doubt on the authenticity of Abd al-Qadir's public statements.
In the ensuing confusion, Jewish residents immediately blamed the British for the attack. David Ben-Gurion, on visiting the site of the carnage, has been cited as putting some responsibility for this Arab attack on the shoulders of Jewish thugs, stating, "I could not forget that our thugs and murderers had opened the way." The Irgun spread word ordering militants to shoot on sight any Englishman. By day's end, eight British soldiers had been shot dead, while a ninth was murdered while laid up in a Jewish clinic for treatment of a wound. The day after, on 23 February, a Jewish offensive, deploying mortars, was launched against the Arab village of Musrara, in Jerusalem, killing seven Arabs, including an entire family. The Arabs believed it was in revenge for the Ben-Yehuda Street bombing, though, according to Itamar Radai, at the time the Jews and their official institutions blamed only the British for the incident. Lehi also reacted several days later by blowing up a train full of British soldiers as it drew out of Rehovot station, killing 27.
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Wikipedia