• Arab terrorist attack Erev Tisha B´Av 2014
• Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing
• Suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem
• Extradite Haniyeh under US law! Don’t allow him to escape justice!

• At What Moment Should European Jews Leave?
• Valley Village: Suspicious Package Forces Evacuation At Shuls

Terror In Yerushalayim: One Killed, Six Hurt When Terrorist Goes On Rampage In Industrial Digger Reb Avrohom Wallis z”l

04August2014  Av 8, 5774  http://matzav.com/terror-in-yerushalayim-one-killed-six-hurt-when-terrorist-goes-on-rampage-in-industrial-digger

A pedestrian was killed and six other people were wounded Monday afternoon when a terrorist went on the rampage in an industrial digger in central Yerushalayim.

One Israeli was murdered and five were wounded this afternoon when Muhammad Naif Ja’abis, of the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood in Jerusalem, drove a tractor and rammed it into a bus, turning it over and hitting a pedestrian. He was stopped after a police officer shot him dead. Another police officer was wounded while attempting to stop the terrorist.  The bus was fairly empty and so there were fewer casualties.

The attack occurred on Shmuel HaNavi Street/[Moshe Sachs St.ed.], just outside the Olive Tree Hotel. [near Chut shel Chessed Yeshiva ed.]

“A police officer at the scene stopped his car, got out, neutralized the terrorist and thus prevented a further attack,” the Jerusalem Police Spokesperson’s Office stated shortly after the attack.

Jerusalem has known other such attacks by Arab terrorists. In the summer of 2008, tractors were used to carry out two separate terror attacks in Jerusalem in the space of three weeks. In 2009, a tractor plowed into a police car on Menachem Begin Boulevard in Jerusalem. The driver was apparently also trying to hit a nearby bus, but missed. Two police officers were in the car when it was hit and both sustained mild injuries. Other police officers nearby shot the terrorist.  In October 2013, a Palestinian was shot dead after he rammed a tractor through the main gate of an army base located north of Jerusalem.

Photos: At the Levaya of Reb Avrohom Wallis Hy”D, Killed in Yerushalayim Tractor Attack http://matzav.com/photos-at-the-levaya-of-reb-avrohom-wallis-hyd-killed-in-yerushalayim-tractor-attack#more-106051

UPDATE: Reb Avrohom Wallis z”l, a 29-year-old chossid of Toldos Aaron, was killed in the accident.

He worked as a mashgiach for Asrah Kadishah at the construction site where the attack took place and also worked for the family Wallis tzitzis company.

He is survived by his parents, Rav and Mrs. Shimon Wallis, and his wife and six children. .

Yehi zichro boruch.

Tazpit News Agency

{Matzav.com Israel}

Chesed saves from hazards/death

From an e-mail to Jerusalem Cat

The day before Tisha B’Av there was a terror attack in Yerushalayim by a digger/tractor driver. Before he turned over a bus injuring some people inside and causing total loss damage to the bus he beat to death a Chasid, young father of 6 children, with the digging scoop of the tractor.

We received a firsthand report of a man who by normal schedule would have been on that bus. However that very same day he had different plans. He lives out of city and had offered to bring medicines to some neighbours from a pharmacy in the city to save them the trouble. To get to the pharmacy he had to go in the opposite direction on an internal line.

This act of chesed (charity) saved him.

Rav Avrohom Wallis HY”D (29), Father Of 6, Killed In Yerushalayim Terror Attack

From the Yeshiva World News 04August2014 http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/boruch-dayan-emmes/252947/rav-avrohom-vales-hyd-29-father-of-6-killed-in-yerushalayim-terror-attack.html
The pedestrian who was run over and killed R”L by the tractor terrorist a few short

Rav Avrohom Wallis HY”D, 29, a member of the Toldos Aaron Kehilla. He was a mashgiach for Asra Kadisha – See more at: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/boruch-dayan-emmes/252947/rav-avrohom-vales-hyd-29-father-of-6-killed-in-yerushalayim-terror-attack.html#sthash.QKinQKt0.dpuf

hours ago has been identified as an avreich, Rav Avrohom Wallis HY”D, 29, a member of the Toldos Aaron Kehilla. He was a mashgiach for Asra Kadisha at the construction site.

The niftar was born and raised in Yerushalayim. His father, Rav Shimon Wallis, is a shochet and mashgiach for the Badatz Eida Chareidis. The niftar worked in the Wallis tzitzis factory run by an uncle.

The niftar is survived by his rebitzen and six children. The levaya will leave the Toldos Aaron Beis Medrash tonight, Tisha B’Av, at 22:00.

Boruch Dayan Ha’Emmes…

The Muqata

News/Media Website 06August2014 https://www.facebook.com/Muqata?fref=nf

9:42am From reader Zev Shandalov….making a shiva visit in Mea Shearim to the family of R’ Avraham Walles. …murdered in the Jerusalem terror tractor attack.

“Just returned from an surreal Shiva visit and want to share it with you. I decided to leave my comfort zone and venture deep into Meah Shearim where the family of Avraham Walles (hy”d) was sitting shiva. He is the man murdered in the terror attack the other day when an Arab overturned a bus, in Yerushalayim. If I had been wearing a neon green shirt I could not have stuck out any more. I, in my kippa seruga, non-white shirt surrounded by black and white. The family is Toldos Aharon chassidim (black and white striped frocks). I arrived and stood off to the side. Within seconds, one of the family (a brother) motioned me to take one of the empty chairs. I sat and listened as people attempted to comfort the bereaving family. As someone was speaking to him, the father kept glancing at me and, I assume, asking himself “who is this?” He then looked at me and his gaze asked to to speak. I told him I came from Maale Adumim and as soon as I heard the terrible news I felt I wanted to come and share in their pain. I said that it makes no difference about what one wears on the outside because INSIDE we are ALL part of the same Jewish family. He began to cry and say that indeed, we are all one family and Hashem’s children. When one of this brothers heard I was from Maale Adumim he asked me how about the condition of the security guard who was stabbed soon after the incident with his brother! When I said the HaMakom Yenachem to them, the father rose slightly, looked me in the eye and said “Thank you for coming. We all appreciate it so much.”
Am Yisrael Chai! May Hashem comfort the Walles family and all bereaved families among other mourners of Zion and Yerushalayim.”

Mr. Happy´s Comments:

This attack was at 13:40! We need all day learning or 1/2 Day Learning and 1/2 Day הפצה Haphatzah (Distribution of CD, Books, material) during Bein Hazmanim

Hundreds at Mir Yerushalayim Saved from Tractor Attack Due to Change in Bus Schedule

Hundreds at Mir Yerushalayim Saved from Tractor Attack Due to Change in Bus Schedule http://matzav.com/photos-hundreds-at-mir-yerushalayim-saved-from-tractor-attack-due-to-change-in-bussing-schedule#more-106057

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Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmuel_HaNavi_bus_bombing

The Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing was the suicide bombing of a crowded public bus (Egged bus 2) in the Shmuel HaNavi quarter in Jerusalem, Israel, on August 19, 2003. Twenty-four people were killed and over 130 wounded. Many of the victims were children, some of them infants.^[1] The Islamist militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack

Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing was the suicide bombing of a crowded public bus (Egged bus 2) in the Shmuel HaNavi quarter in Jerusalem, Israel, on August 19, 2003. Twenty-four people were killed and over 130 wounded. Many of the victims were children, some of them infants. The Islamist militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

On August 19, 2003 (22 Av 5763), a Hamas suicide bomber sent out by the organization’s Hebron cell disguised himself as a Haredi Jew and detonated himself on a No. 2 Egged bus traveling through Jerusalem’s Shmuel HaNavi neighborhood. He blew himself up after entering the back door.^[2] The double-length bus was crowded with Orthodox Jewish children returning from a visit to the Western Wall. The huge explosion killed 7 children and 16 adults, among them an eight-months-pregnant woman, and injured more than 130 people. The bomb was spiked with ball-bearings designed to increase injuries on the crowded bus. Hamas said the bomber was a 29-year-old mosque preacher from the city of Hebron.

Because so many of the dead were young children,^[3] the media dubbed it the “children’s bus”. According to an Associated Press report,

Strollers were scattered near the stricken bus, medics carried away children with blood-smeared faces and a baby girl died in a hospital before doctors could find her parents. At least five children were among the 18 dead in Tuesday’s suicide bombing by a Palestinian militant who blew himself up on a Jerusalem bus. Forty children were among more than 100 people injured. The attack was the 100th Palestinian suicide bombing against Israelis since the latest round of fighting began in September 2000. The youth of the victims stands out in that grim list, and the government said the choice of target was particularly cold-blooded.^[4]

Suicide bombing of No. 2 Egged bus in Jerusalem
August 19, 2003

©Scoop 80  ©Sasson Tiram  ©Scoop 80  ©Scoop 80  ©Scoop 80

https://www.gov.il/en/pages/suicide-bombing-of-no-2-egged-bus-in-jerusalem-19-august-2003

Twenty-three people were killed and over 130 wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated a five-kilogram device packed with ball-bearings on a crowded No. 2 Egged bus in Jerusalem’s Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood. Many of the passengers were returning from prayers at the Western Wall when they were killed. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

For the ultra-Orthodox, the attack took place not only during the vacation, but also on the eve of the month of Elul, the month of selihot – the special penitential prayers recited during the week before Rosh Hashanah.

As a result of the attack, the Cabinet decided on September 1, 2003, among others, to wage an all-out war against Hamas and other terrorist elements, and to freeze the diplomatic process with the Palestinian Authority.

The victims:

– Avraham Bar-Or, 12, of Jerusalem
– Binyamin Bergman, 15, of Jerusalem
– Yaakov Binder, 50, of Jerusalem
– Feiga Dushinski, 50, of Jerusalem
– Miriam Eisenstein, 20, of Bnei Brak
– Lilach Kardi, 22, of Jerusalem
– Menachem Leibel, 24, of Jerusalem
– Elisheva Meshulami, 16, of Bnei Brak
– Tehilla Nathanson, 3, of Zichron Ya’acov
– Chava Nechama Rechnitzer, 19, of Bnei Brak
– Mordechai Reinitz, 49, and Issachar Reinitz, 9, of Netanya
– Maria Antonia Reslas, 39, of the Philippines
– Liba Schwartz, 54, of Jerusalem
– Hanoch Segal, 65, of Bnei Brak
– Goldie Taubenfeld, 43, and Shmuel Taubenfeld, 3 months, of New Square, New York
– Rabbi Eliezer Weisfish, 42, of Jerusalem
– Shmuel Wilner, 50, of Jerusalem
– Shmuel Zargari, 11 months, of Jerusalem.
– Fruma Rahel Weitz, 73, of Jerusalem died of her wounds on August 23.
– Mordechai Laufer, 27, of Netanya died of his wounds on September 5.
– Tova Lev, 37, of Bnei-Brak died of her wounds on September 12.

MFA-Suicide bombing of No 2 Egged bus in Jerusalem – 19-Aug-2003-The victims

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Suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem

https://www.gov.il/en/pages/suicide-bombing-at-the-sbarro-pizzeria-in-jerusalem

MFA-Suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem-9August2001

Suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem
August 9, 2001

16 people were killed, including 7 children, and about 130 were injured in a suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria at the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in downtown Jerusalem. Concealing the explosives in a guitar case which he had carried with him into Jerusalem, the terrorist entered the restaurant just before 2 PM and detonated the bomb. The 5 kg.-10 kg. bomb, which was packed with nails, screws, and bolts to ensure maximum damage, completely gutted the restaurant, which was full of lunchtime diners.

The terrorist was killed in the blast. His controller was on the list of wanted terrorists submitted by Israel to the Palestinians Authority this week. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

The names of the victims:

• Giora Balash, 60, of Brazil
• Zvika Golombek, 26, of Carmiel
• Shoshana Yehudit Greenbaum, 31, of the U.S.
• Tehila Maoz, 18, of Jerusalem
• Frieda Mendelsohn, 62, of Jerusalem
• Michal Raziel, 16, of Jerusalem
• Malka Roth, 15, of Jerusalem
• Mordechai Schijveschuurder, 43, of Neria
• Tzira Schijveschuurder, 41, of Neria
• Ra’aya Schijveschuurder, 14, of Neria
• Avraham Yitzhak Schijveschuurder, 4, of Neria
• Hemda Schijveschuurder, 2, of Neria
• Lily Shimashvili, 33, of Jerusalem
• Tamara Shimashvili, 8, of Jerusalem
• Yocheved Shoshan, 10, of Jerusalem
• Chana Tova Chaya Nachenberg, of Modi’in, was 31 at the time of the attack. Severely injured, she was in a coma for almost 22 years and succumbed to her wounds on Thursday, 1 June 2023.

The Israeli response:
Foreign Minister Peres (August 9): “If the Palestinian Authority had acted with the necessary determination and carried out preventive detentions of Hamas terrorists and their operators, the murders today in Jerusalem would have been prevented.”

In response to these terrorist attacks, Jerusalem police closed down the PLO’s east Jerusalem Orient House headquarters and nine other Palestinian buildings, while the IDF has taken control of Palestinian military and political headquarters at Abu Dis just outside Jerusalem early Friday morning. The IDF also attacked the Palestinian Authority’s West Bank police headquarters in Ramallah.

• IDF forces take control of Governor’s House Compound in Abu Dis – Aug 10, 2001
• Israeli Measures in the Jerusalem Area in Response to Palestinian Terrorism – Legal Aspects – Aug 10, 2001
• Briefing following Israeli Cabinet Meeting – Aug 10, 2001

Reactions of world leaders:

 US President George Bush:
“I deplore and strongly condemn the terrorist bombing in downtown Jerusalem today. My heartfelt sympathies and those of the American people are with the victims of this terrible tragedy and their families.”
White House press release – August 9, 2001

• Pres Bush calls PM Sharon to express condolences – Aug 16, 2001

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
“UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned today’s terror attack by a suicide bomber in Jerusalem. He deplored all acts of terror and is deeply disturbed by the terrible loss of life.”
UN Secretary-General press release – August 9, 2001

European Union
Belgian EU Presidency:
“The Presidency of the European Union unreservedly condemns the bombing of a Jerusalem shopping centre today, 9 August. It abhors this cowardly act which mainly claimed the lives of innocent civilians.”
EU press release, August 9, 2001

Major terrorist attacks in Jerusalem since July 26:

In the past two weeks, there has been a Palestinian effort to concentrate terror attacks in Jerusalem, as follows:

• July 26: Small arms fire on from an ambush towards an Israeli vehicle close to Givat Ze’ev. An Israeli youth was killed and his father was wounded.
• July 27: A watermelon containing an explosive charge based on high explosives, standard and improvised, nails and a cellular detonating system was placed in a bus parked near the Malha shopping mall and was neutralized following a bus driver’s alertness.
• July 29: Following intensive incitement regarding the Israeli intention to take over the Temple Mount, there were severe disturbances by Muslim worshippers on the Temple Mount, resulting in the injury of 15 policemen and some 20 Palestinians.
• July 29: A car bomb (containing 5 gas canisters, a hand grenade and nails with an alarm clock) exploded in the car park of an apartment building in Pisgat Ze’ev in Jerusalem. Two persons were lightly injured.
• July 30: A beer can containing high explosives, nails, and a digital watch was placed in the commercial center in the city center, probably by a member of Hamas from Nablus. There were no casualties.
• July 31 and August 4: Small arms fire towards Gilo nieghborhood, resulting in an injured woman and 14 damaged apartments. Carried out by Fatah operatives.
• August 1: Explosion of a pipe bomb in the King David Hotel car park – there were no casualties. The Hamas claimed responsibility

Never forget: Sbarro Pizzeria Massacre, Jerusalem, Aug. 9, 2001

15 people, including two Americans, murdered by Killer-Turned-TV Star Ahlam Tamimi

Posted by Miriam Elman Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at 02:30pm<

On this day 15 years ago, a Hamas terror gang based in the West Bank executed a bombing attack on a busy restaurant in the center of Jerusalem.  In the horrific act of savagery 15 people were killed, including 7 children.

Two U.S. citizens were among those murdered. Four additional Americans were wounded — one severely.

In total, some 130 were injured with varying degrees of severity by the “human bomb” and his team of accomplices.

The mastermind was Ahlam Tamimi, relative of Bassem Tamimi, and a hero to this day in her home village of Nabi Saleh where international activists still protest the security barrier constructed in response to the Sbarro and dozens of other suicide bombings.

Ahlam Tamimi-MEMRI-revised-2012 mastermind Sbarro suicide bombing

In this post, I revisit the 2001 Sbarro suicide bombing.

Suicide-bombing-Sbarro

I’ll describe the attack, its victims, and the team of terrorists involved in order to underscore the disgraceful fact that for over two decades the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has not prosecuted a single Palestinian terrorist who has killed Americans in Israel or the disputed territories, even though U.S. law requires it to do so.

Included at the end of the post is a statement exclusive for Legal Insurrection by Frimet and Arnold Roth—the parents of Malka (Malki) Roth, a 15-year-old American girl who was murdered in the Sbarro atrocity.

>Malka (Malki) Roth | August 8, 2001 |one day prior to her murder

August 9, 2001: The Sbarro Bombing

At 2:00pm on a hot summer day, a Palestinian terrorist entered the Sbarro Pizzeria and detonated a bomb.

Situated at the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, probably one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in Israel, the bomb blast completely gutted the restaurant.

I ate at this Sbarro a number of times when I lived in and visited Israel. It was a popular kosher eatery, conveniently located, and a good place to bring the kids.

On August 9, 2001 the restaurant was filled with lunch-time diners—many of them children and their mothers. The street was also crowded with pedestrian traffic.

At the time, like most public spaces in Israel the pizzeria wasn’t guarded, something which enabled the human bomber to enter the place unimpeded.

According to media reports, documentation by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and accounts piece together by those who lost loved ones in the horrific attack, the terrorist and his 10 kilogram bomb was transported by taxi to the site by a woman named Ahlam ‘Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi, also known as Ahlam Tamimi, and another Palestinian, Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri.

Ahlam Tamimi in 2012

They reportedly concealed the explosives inside a guitar case. The case was also packed with nails, screws, and bolts to ensure maximum damage.

Sbarro minutes after the bombing | Credit: Times of Israel

Sbarro aftermath | Credit: UK Media Watch

Sbarro Attack | Victim | Credit: YouTube

Sbarro victims assisted | Credit: Israel National News

The terrorist al-Masri was killed in the blast. Tamimi escaped but was arrested a few weeks later. Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Jerusalem municipality police closed down the PLO’s east Jerusalem headquarters (known as the Orient House) and the IDF took control of Palestinian military and political buildings at Abu Dis, just outside of Jerusalem. The IDF also attacked the PA’s West Bank police headquarters in Ramallah.

Although perpetrated by a Hamas terror cell, Israeli officials at the time held the Palestinian Authority and the late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat complicit in the carnage. Then Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the architect of the Oslo peace accords, reportedly said on the day of the attack:

If the Palestinian Authority had acted with the necessary determination and carried out preventive detentions of Hamas terrorists and their operators, the murders today in Jerusalem would have been prevented”.

Six weeks after the bombing an exhibit at Al Najah University in the West Bank, which included a mock-up of the Sbarro pizzeria complete with bloody plastic body parts and partially-chewed pizza crusts, glorified the attack and the bombers:

al-Najah-U-celebrates Tamimi | Credit: ADL

The Terrorists

The Sbarro attack was coordinated and planned by Hamas’ branch in the West Bank.

Shuheil al-Masri, the human bomb of the Sbarro restaurant massacre, was a 22-year-old resident of the West Bank village of Aqaba, north of Tulkarm. He was single and came from a relatively well-off family.

Poster of al-Masri | Credit: This Ongoing War

The explosive charge was manufactured by Abdallah Jamal Barghouti, a Kuwaiti national who moved to the West Bank in the late 1990s and became Hamas’ chief engineer.

For his involvement in the Sbarro bombing and in a number of other horrific terrorist attacks during the second intifada, he was sentenced to 67 life sentences. As I noted in a prior post, he’s one of the highest paid Palestinian mass-murderers now serving time in an Israeli prison.

Marwan Barghouti was also implicated in the terror plot. The former leader of Fatah’s armed militia (the Tanzim) and a still-prominent Palestinian political figure, he’s now also serving five consecutive life sentences for orchestrating the murder of a Greek Orthodox monk outside of Jerusalem in June 2001 and carrying out hundreds of deadly attacks against Israeli civilians during the second intifada.

He reportedly paid Abdallah Barghouti $500 to build the bomb. He also reportedly armed and sheltered Billal Barghouti—another Hamas terrorist who was also captured and admitted his participation in the Sbarro attack—when he was on the run from Israeli authorities.

While incarcerated, Marwan Barghouti has become something of a folk hero. He was recently recommended for the Nobel Peace Prize by Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. Several local councils in France are also seeking to name him an honorary citizen.

Marwan Barghouti | Credit: Breaking Israel News

Based on the information that I could find while researching this post, at least two of the human bomber’s accomplices are no longer locked up in jail.

Mohammad Daghlas, a university student who delivered the bomb that was used in the Sbarro massacre, served time in Israel, but was released to freedom in October 2011 as part of the Shalit prisoner exchange.

That’s what also happened to Ahlam Tamimi, the human bomber’s guide.

Ahlam Tamimi: Massacre Mastermind

Then a 20-year-old Jordanian national living in Ramallah, Tamimi was studying at Bir Zeit University and was working as a part-time journalist when she was recruited by Hamas’ Izzadine el-Qassam terror organization.

Tamimi was reportedly involved in gathering intelligence for the attack and in selecting the venue. She was also instrumental in assisting al-Masri in getting there. She reportedly carried a camera to look like a tourist and spoke in English with the suicide bomber so that he would look less conspicuous.

For her role in the Sbarro massacre, she was sentenced to 16 life terms (320 years).

In 2011, just a few months prior to her release from prison, official PA TV honored her and her family (at the same time, Daghlas was also honored):

The PA’s official daily also published an article on the day before Tamimi’s release glorifying her as a “spirited fighter”.

PA Honors Tamimi and Daghlas | Credit: PMW

Tamimi was deported to Jordan.

There, she’s become a celebrity and a media starlet in the Arab world—a “Palestinian Oprah” who hosts her own weekly talk show on the Hamas satellite TV channel, Al Quds. The show is broadcast to her adoring fans across the Middle East and the world.

Last year, on the 14th anniversary of the Sbarro bombing, websites and Facebook pages across the Arab world and in the West Bank paid tribute to Tamimi.

In between extolling the virtues of “martyrdom attacks”, this depraved woman routinely celebrates her own monstrous achievement. Her Twitter account is full of the glory of the killing. Here is a recent tweet where she pays poetic homage to the Sbarro attack’s human bomber:

Tamimi poetic homage | Credit: This Ongoing War

Living in total freedom in Amman, Tamimi married another convicted terrorist a few years ago—a cousin who was also released in the Shalit prisoner deal. Despite the protests of the Roths and other victims of Palestinian terrorism, he was reportedly allowed by Israeli authorities to leave the West Bank on account of it “being easier” to have hardcore terrorists living in places other than Israel or the West Bank.

The joyous nuptials were covered live on TV.

Tamimi has said on repeated occasions that she carefully selected the Sbarro restaurant in order to maximize civilian casualties—especially children and religious Jews.

In multiple publicly-aired TV interviews, she has never expressed remorse of any kind. In fact, she is proud of the deaths that she helped to cause. During an interview in 2012, she recounted how happy she was to hear of the rising Sbarro attack body count. She had been under the impression that fewer Jews had been killed.

Back in 2006, while still in an Israeli jail cell, she reportedly said: “I’m not sorry for what I did”.

It’s a sentiment she’s repeated ever since.

Ahlam Tamimi and the Tamimi Clan

Ahlam Tamimi is a member of the extended Tamimi family. Based in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, they’ve become heroes in the West—particularly among journalists who frequently feature them as prominent civil society leaders of “non-violent resistance” against Israeli occupation.

The reality, as we’ve noted in prior posts, is that the Tamimis are a bunch of terrorism-promoting and blood-libeling Palestinian activists who have the nasty habit of spending much of their time exploiting their and other village children for anti-Israel publicity stunts.

In an important essay published yesterday in Tablet the German-Israeli researcher and historian Petra Marquardt-Bigman critiques journalist Ben Ehrenreich’s sympathetic treatment of the Tamimis in his new highly-acclaimed book. Marquardt-Bigman marshals considerable evidence from publicly available social media sources (primarily in Arabic) to show how the Tamimi clan openly trade in antisemitic tropes and support terrorism against Israeli civilians (see also her earlier LI post here).

Ehrenreich and other Western mainstream media outlets paint a glowing picture of the Tamimis—especially the matriarch Nariman, who is extoled as a paragon of virtue, an admirable activist, and devoted mother and wife.

In fact, as Marquardt-Bigman meticulously documents, this woman routinely praises and promotes the online material of Ahlam Tamimi, which incites to violence and glorifies terror attacks.

Tamimis love Ahlam Tamimi | Credit: The Tower

Tamimis love Ahlam Tamimi | Credit: The Tower

Nariman’s promoted posts on social media—including those of the notorious Sbarro murderess—put the lie to Ehrenreich’s glowing depiction of a family committed to nonviolence and justice.

Here’s a new video produced by Marquardt-Bigman and the blogger Elder of Zion which offers a glimpse into the intense Jew-hatred and support for terrorism that drives Ben Ehrenreich’s favorite people:

The Victims

Here are the names and selected photos of the victims in the August 9, 2001 terrorist bombing at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem which were released by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

The names of the victims:

• Giora Balash, 60, of Brazil
• Zvika Golombek, 26, of Carmiel
• Shoshana Yehudit Greenbaum, 31, of the U.S.
• Tehila Maoz, 18, of Jerusalem
• Frieda Mendelsohn, 62, of Jerusalem
• Michal Raziel, 16, of Jerusalem
• Malka Roth, 15, of Jerusalem
• Mordechai Schijveschuurder, 43, of Neria
• Tzira Schijveschuurder, 41, of Neria
• Ra’aya Schijveschuurder, 14, of Neria
• Avraham Yitzhak Schijveschuurder, 4, of Neria
• Hemda Schijveschuurder, 2, of Neria
• Lily Shimashvili, 33, of Jerusalem
• Tamara Shimashvili, 8, of Jerusalem
• Yocheved Shoshan, 10, of Jerusalem
• Chana Tova Chaya Nachenberg, of Modi’in, was 31 at the time of the attack. Severely injured, she was in a coma for almost 22 years and succumbed to her wounds on Thursday, 1 June 2023.

MFA-Suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem-9August2001

The majority of those killed were children.

Many young children were also among the injured. Eight-year-old Haya Schijvesschuurder, who was hospitalized for her wounds, lost five members of her family, including both of her parents.

Of the 130 others maimed, many have life-long injuries.

Among those killed in the bomb blast were two American citizens: Judith L. Greenbaum (31) of New Jersey (who was pregnant at the time) and Malka (nicknamed Malki) Roth (15) who lived with her family in Jerusalem.

Our daughter Malka Chana Roth
A beautiful life | 1985-2001

Four other Americans—David Danzig, Matthew Gordon, and Joanne (Chana) and Sarah Nachenberg—were also injured.

Chana Nachenberg—a mother whose only child Sarah was then two-years-old—is still in a vegetative state today, never having regained consciousness. You can read her daughter Sarah’s moving words about her Mom here.

Sarah Nachenberg with her father | 2014

Malki’s parents, Frimet and Arnold Roth, went on to establish an organization for special needs children—the Malki Foundation (Keren Malki)—dedicated to the memory of their daughter.

Over the last fifteen years, they have also spoken and written frequently in print media and online about their personal experience with radical Islamist terrorism and about losing their daughter Malki.

Their website and blog, This Ongoing War, is also an important resource for those who study jihadist terrorism and counter-terrorism efforts.

This Ongoing War https://thisongoingwar.blogspot.com/

This Ongoing War https://thisongoingwar.blogspot.com/

In November Malki would have been 30-years-old—she would have undoubtedly been married with kids, bringing her parents much naches (pride and joy). Today, in her August 9, 2016 blog post, Frimet Roth writes about her “never-ending nightmare”, the “raw grief” and the “fresh outrages”.

Mr. and Mrs. Roth are inviting well-wishers to their daughter’s gravesite for her yahrzeit at the end of the month. Here’s the recent entry on their blog:

come to gravesite of Malki

An Exclusive Statement for LI from Frimet and Arnold Roth

Since 1993, when the U.S. established diplomatic relations with the PLO and the Palestinian Authority (PA), nearly 70 U.S. citizens have lost their lives and dozens more have been wounded (some severely) in attacks perpetrated by jihadist-inspired terrorists in Israel and the disputed territories.

Some of the perpetrators have been killed by Israeli security forces in the process of committing their heinous acts. Others are incarcerated in Israeli jails, where they’re earning hefty salaries and other bonuses in a deplorable PA “pay to slay” system that we documented in a previous post.

But many of the terrorists behind these attacks “continue to roam free across the Middle East”. None of them have ever been prosecuted by the United States.

The parents of Malki Roth aren’t hopeful that the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) will start a U.S. criminal prosecution of their daughter’s killer, despite a congressional mandate ordering the Justice Department to take action against such individuals and the forceful pressure that’s recently been brought to bear by lawmakers.

Arnold Roth had been among those testifying last February at a congressional subcommittee hearing where he said that his goal was to “reassert the humanity of the victims” by calling for increased action from the DoJ.

Arnold Roth and daughter Malki before the Hamas bombing

During the hearing he said that while DoJ officials always exhibited “unfailing courtesy”, the tangible results have been in short supply, noting that he learned more about his daughter’s killers from YouTube and Twitter than from the department’s updates.

Here’s a statement that the Roths emailed to me for inclusion in this post:

Recognizing that terror victims, no matter where, go through an intensely personal, often terribly lonely and isolating, process of dealing with the loss and pain and insult and sense of violation, the U.S. Congress legislated an exemplary law in 2005 that works to ensure that where Americans are injured or killed in terrorist attacks overseas, investigation and prosecution remain a high priority within the Department of Justice. The Attorney General at the time, Alberto R. Gonzales, sounded optimistic in a public statement accompanying the establishment of the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism (OVT for short). It would ‘guarantee a voice for victims and their families’, he said, in investigations and prosecutions of terrorists where Americans overseas were the victims. ‘Our commitment to these victims is as strong as our dedication to bringing their terrorist attackers to justice.’

It has not worked that way.

As a parent of a US citizen murdered in a 2001 Hamas attack in Jerusalem, I was invited to testify before the House Oversight Committee in February 2016.We know precisely who murdered Malki, our daughter, and where they are today. All but one of the terrorist gang were freed in the catastrophic 2011 Shalit deal. We have laid out our expectations before the OVT’s people over the years, and have met with them face-to-face several times. We have been told repeatedly to wait, and that updates would come. But as I put it to the House Oversight Committee, ‘there have been no updates.’ We are as much in the dark today about the pursuit of justice for Malki’s murderers as we were when we first went to Washington to speak to the OVT in 2012”.

Possibility of Prosecuting Ahlam Tamimi in U.S.

According to Adam Turner, an expert on national security law and former counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the DoJ could certainly prosecute Tamimi for her criminal murders of two Americans and the wounding of other U.S. citizens in the 2001 Sbarro terror attack (see his articles here and here).

Basically, Turner claims that Tamimi’s post-imprisonment media appearances have made an “airtight case against her even tighter”.

Tamimi has admitted to her crime—repeatedly confessing—in taped interviews which she cannot claim were coerced or somehow forced by Israel. As Turner rightly notes,

In Jordan, she is under no duress from anyone; in fact she is celebrating her terrorist actions”.

According to Turner (see also this article by Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney whose daughter was murdered in a Palestinian terror attack in April 1995), Tamimi’s prosecution wouldn’t have any problems with the chain of custody of evidence or the admissibility of confessions, that could possibly be issues with regard to prosecuting some other Palestinian terrorists in U.S. courts.

The tapes aren’t banned hearsay under U.S. law and they would be admissible to be used by the court to convict her.

As Turner claims, “There is no credible legal reason…that would bar [the DoJ] from prosecuting Ahlam Tamimi for her 2001 terrorist crime against six Americans citizens”.

DOJ must prosecute Oprah | Credit: Breitbart

The U.S. government has “plenty of leverage” to convince Jordan to hand over Tamimi, and can secure the necessary evidence to indict. It’s just doesn’t seem all that interested in doing so.

I contacted The Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), a non-partisan Washington, D.C.-based think tank which has spearheaded efforts to achieve justice for the American victims of Palestinian terrorism, about the U.S. Department of Justice’s apparent foot-dragging on prosecuting Palestinian terrorists.

I knew from media reports that back in February the congressional subcommittee had instructed the DoJ to put together a task force to examine the challenges that the department faces in prosecuting foreign terrorists. If the DoJ was being responsive, the task force should’ve been up and running right about now.

Sarah N. Stern, EMET’s Founder and President, confirmed my suspicions: it doesn’t look like the DoJ will meet the deadline. Stern emailed me the following statement to include in this post:

As someone who grew up fully believing in the American justice system, the most heartbreaking endeavor I have ever been engaged in is the pursuit of justice for the at least 67 Americans, (that I know of),  who have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists, since  the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. After more than five years of consistent efforts working, with the help of Congress, to get the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism opened, I am sorry to say that it has been opened for 11 years now, and they have not brought a single Palestinian suspect to justice on these shores, despite the  fact that there is a prior law that says that any time an American is murdered or injured abroad by terrorism, we are entitled to do so. Worse than not doing anything at all, this office has played on the emotions of the victims’ families, by meeting with them once every five years or so, and telling them not to do anything,  that they are very close to apprehending their loved ones’ murderer. I had erroneously thought that once an office was opened in the Department of Justice and “Justice” was the name on the door, as opposed to “State”, whose major role is diplomacy, we would get a pure crack at justice, uncontaminated by political or diplomatic factors. However, for the Americans unlucky enough to be killed or injured by Palestinian terrorists, they are regarded as mere pawns on a political and diplomatic chess board. This should not be. It is morally wrong. And it is not what the America I grew up believing in is all about”.

Conclusion

Terrorists from around the world are routinely extradited to the U.S. to stand trial for attacks on Americans abroad. But Palestinians seem to be one class of killers that’re immune from extradition.

The DoJ and the OVT are obviously failing to do their job when it comes to prosecuting those terrorists. The grieving families of Americans killed in Israel deserve better from these U.S. prosecutors.

Families of US Victims of Palestinian Terrorism Wait for Justice for Years.

Quite simply: their pain is being compounded by the lack of justice coming from their own government.

But there’s another good reason not to let the Palestinian killers of Americans, like Ahlam Tamimi, escape justice to enjoy fame and good fortune.

The obvious reluctance to prosecute Tamimi and other Islamist terrorists like her undermines U.S. policy and national security because it “sends the wrong message” to would-be terrorists around the globe. As EMET’s Sarah N. Stern rightly notes, it contributes to the terrorists’ sense of “impunity and invincibility”.

It also allows the Palestinian governing authorities, and even allies like Jordan, to act dismissively toward the United States and the lives of American citizens. As EMET’s staff legal counsel Adam Turner puts it:

A woman responsible for the deaths of two Americans—one only 15 years old and another one pregnant with a child—is smiling and celebrating her crimes all over the Arab world, and she and the Arab governments that celebrate and reward her have absolutely no fear or concern that the United States will take any action to punish her or them. The twisted moral code shown here, and the lack of respect for the U.S., is almost unbelievable”.

Bottom line: Ahlam Tamimi is more than just another Palestinian terrorist. She is a “symbol” of U.S. weakness and a prominent example of how unserious we are about fighting the war on terror. If she continues to escape justice, there will undoubtedly be a lot more dead Americans.

—————

Miriam F. Elman is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Syracuse University. She is the editor of five books and the author of over 60 journal articles, book chapters, and government reports on topics related to international and national security, religion and politics in the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She also frequently speaks and writes on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) anti-Israel movement. Follow her on Twitter @MiriamElman

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Extradite Haniyeh under US law! Don’t allow him to escape justice!

Terrorist mass murderers who murdered US citizens are walking the streets in violation of explicit US law. Haniyeh is living it up in Qatar, Tamimi in Jordan. Trying them in court would educate Americans to what terror is, as Eichmann’s trial did for the Holocaust. Op-ed.

Leonard Grunstein / 7May2024 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/389531

It is reported that the US is pressuring Qatar to expel the Hamas leadership residing there, because they have not agreed to release the hostages.

However, why just call for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and cohorts to be expelled; why not indict them under US law and demand they be extradited to the US to face justice?

It must be remembered that in December of 2004, Congress passed the Koby Mandell Act, which was signed into law, by President George W. Bush. The law was named after Israeli-American citizen Koby Mandell, who was brutally murdered by a Palestinian Arab terrorist, on May 8, 2001. Congress found that, in the period since 1968 and through the passage of the law, numerous American citizens have been murdered or maimed by terrorists around the world, including more than 100 in Palestinian terrorist attacks occurring in Israel or in territories administered by Israel or by the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The law also noted that the US Government had not devoted adequate efforts or resources to the apprehension of terrorists who have harmed American citizens overseas, particularly in cases involving terrorists operating from the PA administered areas. Congress found the situation was especially grave in the areas administered by the PA, because many terrorists involved in the murders of Americans were walking free there and some were even given positions in the PA security forces or other official PA agencies. The law noted there were also a number of schools, streets, and other public sites have been named in honor of terrorists who were involved in the murders of Americans.

The operative provisions of the Act (Section 3) included setting up a special office within the Justice Department tasked with prosecuting terrorists who have harmed Americans overseas.

On February 2, 2016, then Congressman (now Governor) Ron DeSantis, as Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, held a Hearing on the matter of “Seeking Justice For Victims Of Palestinian Terrorism In Israel”. In his opening statement, he said:

“”Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, more than 64 Americans, including two unborn children, have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists in Israel and the disputed territories. Some of them were tourists, some were students, some were living and working in Israel. Many were Jewish, but some were not. The stories of these American victims are heart wrenching.”

In 1996, Matthew Eisenfeld was a young graduate of Yale University who was studying abroad in Israel. He and his girlfriend, Sara Duker from New Jersey, had the misfortune to ride the number 18 bus that was blown up by Palestinian terrorists. Matthew’s mother, Vicki, later bemoaned the quote, “lack of justice. It makes me feel like my son’s blood is less American,” unquote.

In 2002, Americans Dina Carter, Benjamin Blutstein, Marla Bennett, Janis Coulter, and David Gritz were studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. They were eating in the school cafeteria when Palestinian terrorists detonated a bomb inside the cafeteria, killing them all.

Malki Roth was a beautiful and talented 15-year-old girl, who was eating at the Sbarro Pizza Restaurant on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem on August 9th, 2001, when a Palestinian Arab suicide bomber blew himself up. He took 15 civilians with him, including Malki and another American, Judith Greenbaum, who was pregnant at the time. The person responsible for planning and executing this dastardly attack, Ahlam Tamimi, has boasted about this many times on video, yet, she resides in Jordan and hosts a television show for Hamas…

In 2001, Koby Mandell was a 13-year-old American boy who went on a hike with an Israeli friend, Yosef Ishran. They didn’t come home, and their parents were worried. Their bodies were later found in a cave. They were so brutally bludgeoned that dental records were needed to positively identify the bodies. More than 10 years ago, the memories of American victims of terrorism, such as Koby and others, provide an inspiration for a bill bearing Koby’s name, which became the legislative source for the opening of the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism within the Department of Justice.

The American people overwhelmingly believe that terrorists who kill Americans abroad must face justice. To this end, the office was designed with a purpose of ensuring, quote, “that the investigation and prosecution of terrorist deaths of American citizens overseas are a high priority within the Department of Justice…

Yet, DOJ has not been able to cite one example for this committee of even a single terrorist that has been prosecuted in the United States for any of the 64 attacks against Americans in Israel. Indeed, many of these terrorists roam free as a result of prisoner exchanges or evasions. This is not what Congress intended. This is not what the American people want. And this does not provide the justice to the victims’ families that has been so tragically elusive…

Chairman DeSantis questioned a representative of DOJ at the hearing. In sum and substance, it was confirmed that although, since 1993 through the date of the hearing, at least 64 Americans had been killed and 91 wounded by terrorists in Israel and in the disputed territories, none of the terrorists were indicted, extradited, or prosecuted during this time period.

It’s now been years since the Hearing, yet sadly and indeed stunningly, the answer is there are still no actual prosecutions against Palestinian Arab terrorists killing or wounding Americans in Israel or Judea and Samaria. Even the passage of the Taylor Force Law, did not change the seemingly endemic culture at the State Department and DOJ passively to accept the existence of terrorism and not to root it out and bring the perpetrators to justice. Thus even such rudimentary steps as reducing the funding of the PA and Hamas, as required under the Taylor Force Act to cause the despicable pay to slay program to be ended, have been evaded.

Shockingly, even as American citizens and others continue to be murdered, kidnapped, raped and maimed by Hamas terrorists, as occurred on October 7, 2023, even those directly involved in the atrocities continue to be rewarded under the provisions of the PA’s repugnant pay-to-slay program.

Until now the poster child for this US governmental nonfeasance might have been Tamimi. She’s unrepentant and even brags about her heinous crimes. She is also on the FBI’s most wanted lists; but, nevertheless, she has yet to face American justice.

Unfortunately however, now we also have evil Hamas, including Haniyeh and his cohorts, who continue to walk free in Qatar and enjoy their billions in ill-gotten gains derived, in no small measure, from US and other aid sources.

It should be noted that besides clear violations of explicit US laws, including against murder and kidnapping, the taking of hostages is also prohibited by the International Convention against the taking of hostages, dated December 17, 1979. Similarly, financing of terrorism is prohibited under the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, dated December 15, 1997.

In addition, there is the Treaty the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, dated January 12, 1998, which criminalizes the use of an explosive or incendiary weapon or device that has the capability to cause death, serious bodily injury or substantial material damage as was done by Hamas on October 7th. In this regard, it is important to note that the criminal offender is not only the person on the point who directly commits the offence; it also includes those who organize or direct others to commit the offence covered under the Treaty or in any other way contribute to the commission of one or more offences by way of persons acting with a common purpose.

It’s time to extradite Haniyeh and his cohorts and require them to face justice. Allowing them to escape is not only immoral it is tantamount to condonation. We should not delay in bringing these evil criminals to justice.

Young Americans would also benefit from witnessing a real trial that brings to light and confirms beyond a reasonable doubt the evil deeds perpetrated by villainous Hamas. It seems so long ago in 1961, when the trial of arch-villain Adolf Eichmann occurred. I still remember how the adults around me discussed it day by day and recounted the shocking testimony. The naked and awful truth of the Holocaust was laid bare. It shook up a post war generation unschooled in the lessons of the Holocaust and the absolute evil of the Nazis.

A public trial of the evil that is Hamas and its leadership might have the same salutary effect of educating a post 9/11 generation and piercing through the arrogant subversion of truth and the moral inversion that seems to have taken hold among some who are indoctrinated in the propaganda propagated by Hamas and its cohorts.

Bring Haniyeh and his cohorts to justice. Now.

Leonard Grunstein, retired attorney and banker, founded and served as Chairman of Metropolitan National Bank and then Israel Discount Bank of NY. He founded Project Ezrah and serves on the Board of Bernard Revel at Yeshiva Univ. and the AIPAC National Council. He has published articles in the Banking Law Journal, Real Estate Finance Journal and more

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At What Moment Should European Jews Leave?

Paula R. Stern 05August2014 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15464#.U-DJm7uk2b9

Comment: Just because you live in the US does not exempt you from reading this and taking action!!

At what moment prior to the Holocaust should the Jews of Europe have chosen to leave? Was it in 1933, as Hitler was on the rise? Was it in 1938, when the Germans went on a killing spree, burning Jewish stores, homes and synagogues and beating Jews in the streets? Was it in 1939, when World War II began?

What was the moment in time when it became too late, that their fates were sealed…and where would they have gone? The United States turned them back to death; so did the British and many others.

We now know that these anti-Semites are the ultimate cowards and we do not fear them.

The buildup was, as it is today, subtle. Too subtle for us to understand, then, the full extent of destruction and death that can result from such hatred. We honestly didn’t know, didn’t believe. Sure, we’d been hated for centuries, but we lived by the absurd concept that it was good once, it would be good again. All we had to do was wait for it.

What World War II taught us was that this is a lie. Sometimes evil can win; sometimes evil can override the humanity and decency of the majority. Germany taught us that lesson and we must never forget it.

It is now 2014 and it is happening again. No, not concentration camps and gas chambers…yet…but those were not happening in 1933 either.

In the last few days, I received a series of messages from a Jew in Amsterdam. He wants me to give a message to Israelis who are visiting Europe. His message is chilling. Here’s what he wrote:

“It’s like before 1945, Germany has warned do not be recognizable as a Jew it’s too dangerous. It is in many EU countries like this. Israelis should know. Do not talk Hebrew and no Jewish dress like tzitzit [a fringed garment]. Europeans on the streets, warning Israelis who might go to Europe on vacation about Germany it was by the Jewish community leader of Germany. But it is also here [in the Netherlands], and every country of Europe. Better not to show that you are a Jew openly.

“No Kippah, or Tzitzit, and don’t speak Hebrew openly. I myself have been attacked six times but only with words, no beatings. In the Netherlands, it is mostly Moroccan boys and even girls, yesterday they attack party member of PVV (Wilders). I do see many Israeli tourist and they wear Kippah’s, but it is just to dangers to do so. You can wear one but hide it. Really, it feels like before 1945, but many people support Israel here. Only police and politicians do nothing. I work at a small Jewish memorial, and we were visited by the police and warned to be extra careful because of the danger of an attack”.

I read this several times and agonized over how to answer, over what to think. Finally, I asked if I could share this message here. And as I thought about it, I realized there are two messages here, not one.

First – there is a warning in Europe, being told quietly to Jews, but also to Israelis. This Jew in Europe is worried about Israelis coming to Europe. Afraid that they will feel they are free, as they are in Israel, to be what they were born to be. Proud. Strong. Jews. Out in the open, nothing to hide. We speak the language of our forefathers with pride; we wear the signs of being a Jew on our heads, on our bodies, in our hearts.

That is how we raise our children here in Israel. So different from how Jews are raising their young in America and especially different from how Jewish children are being raised in Europe.

My children do not know the fear of the ghetto; Israeli children do not know that to walk, to breathe, simply to exist is enough to cause hatred and anger outside the safe world where they were raised. Without thought, they speak an ancient language with modern words. They dress, without thought that the mere sight of a kippah (a yarmulka, a skull cap) could get them attacked. What do you mean we should hide what and who we are? It is as natural for my children to speak Hebrew as it is for them to breathe.

It is too dangerous to wear a kippah, to openly be seen as Jewish in Europe today. I didn’t write these words. They were sent to me by a Jew from the Netherlands – not even France and Germany, where we know that the level of hatred has risen tremendously.

And I beg him to leave. Why would you continue to live there? I hear many reasons – I accept none of them. I can’t.

The police and the politicians do nothing, he writes. Nothing. As before and during World War II, nothing. He writes to tell me to warn Israelis – this is where his mind is, his love and concern evident. If you come here, be careful, he begs.

I can imagine if I read this to my sons, what they would think. They would look at me like I was crazy. WE should be careful? What do they think we are? Let them try; we will beat them, kill them if they try to beat us, kill us. What, do you think it is 1940?

I have three sons – each stepped forward when called to the army; each came home with a 97 profile – that means the State of Israel examined them and found them to be in excellent health; strong, tall, proud.

Okay, the army didn’t find them proud…or maybe it did. Do you want to serve, each was asked. Are you willing to serve in a combat unit? Will you fight, with your body and soul for the State of Israel, for the Jewish State?

Yes…Yes…and Yes.

Each one has raised with the belief that he stands in front of Israel, in front of Jews and behind him stands a nation that will never bow to anti-Semites. We now know that these anti-Semites are the ultimate cowards and we do not fear them.

If they can live in a world where they can dress as they want, so can we. If they can speak the language of their fathers, so can we.

When my sons were called to the army, there were other questions that they were never asked and yet they were answered. Yes and No, as needed.

Will you protect Jews, not just here in Israel but around the world? Yes.

Will you be the ghetto Jews? No.

Will you, as a representative of the State of Israel, protect Jews here in our land, and everywhere in every land? Yes.

Will you allow others to demand you be other than what you are? No.

Will you sit in silence while Jews elsewhere suffer? No.

What will you do if that old hatred rises up again? Fight it.

What will you do for the Jews of France and Germany, Holland and the Netherlands and even, if it comes to it, for the Jews of the United States of America? And each son, every son of Israel answered. We will bring them home.

Bring them home. Come home. That is my response to this man, the second message I get from reading the above. He sits in the Netherlands and cares so much about my sons, as my sons care about him. He has reasons he can’t leave – too many Jews in Europe have reasons.

But the reasons have to be put aside or brought with you. Elderly parents – bring them; a thriving business, leave it, sell it. Don’t put things and money above your lives. Don’t wait until the doors close; until you can’t get out. Don’t wait until the violence comes to your city, never mind your door.

Get out of Europe now.

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From The Yeshiva World News

Valley Village: Suspicious Package Forces Evacuation At Shuls; LAPD Bomb Squad On Scene

31July2014 http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/252320/los-angeles-suspicious-package-forces-evacuation-at-shuls-lapd-bomb-squad-on-scene-1228-pm-et.html

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/252320/los-angeles-suspicious-package-forces-evacuation-at-shuls-lapd-bomb-squad-on-scene-1228-pm-et.html

A person came in to Congregation Bais Tefila in Valley Village, CA this morning, dropped off a backpack and left the building which is located at Chandler and Whitsett. Anti-Semitic material was found with the backpack. The LAPD was called and they evacuated the shul and neighboring buildings including Valley Torah High School.

The bomb squad is currently en route.

Shacharis minyanim continued outside.

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Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il

It’s time to come home! Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream 1-866-4-ALIYAH

Tisha B’Av 2014: The Children Are Ready III

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