2002 Hadera attack

On Thursday, January 17, 2002, a Palestinian terrorist, 24-year-old Abdul Salaam Sadek Hassouneh, killed six people and wounded 33 at a bat mitzvah celebration in Hadera, Israel.

Attack

The attack took place at 9:45 pm (GMT+2) as guests were departing. 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. The attacker was shot by police. A belt filled with explosives was found on the attacker.

Media coverage

Al Jazeera was criticized for bias in coverage of the massacre for not including in their coverage that the victims were attending a bat mitzvah and that the gunman crashed the event at a crowded banquet hall.

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.

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."

Official reactions

Involved parties

 Israel

 Palestinian territories:

• The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack but blamed Israel for provoking it.

International

•  United States: the US government condemned the Hadera attack "in the strongest possible terms," calling it a "horrific act of terrorism." The widow of the one American killed in the attack, Aharon Ellis, brought a lawsuit against the Palestinian Authority that received a $173 million default judgment in 2006, and in 2009 was settled out of court.

See also

• List of massacres in Israel
• Palestinian political violence
• Passover massacre
• List of terrorist incidents, 2002

References

External links

• Seven killed in attack in Israel - published on BBC News on January 18, 2002
• Seven Suicide terrorist kills 6 at Bat Mitzvah in Israel Archived 2012-11-07 at the Wayback Machine - published on the New York Post on January 18, 2002

1. Hadera attack
2. 2002 Mombasa attacks
3. Hadera
4. List of Palestinian suicide attacks
5. Hadera Market bombing
6. 2002 Metzer attack
7. List of massacres in Israel
8. 2002 Los Angeles International Airport shooting
9. Mass shooting
10. Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
11. 2008 Jerusalem bulldozer attack
12. 2000 Ramallah lynching
13. Hadera bus station suicide bombing
14. Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing
15. 2008 Jerusalem yeshiva attack
16. Dolphinarium discotheque massacre
17. Passover massacre
18. 2002 Itamar attack
19. Atzmona attack
20. Lists of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel