Café Apropo bombing
32°05′01″N 34°46′33″E / 32.08361°N 34.77583°E / 32.08361; 34.77583
c. 13:40 pm (GMT+2)
The Café Apropo bombing was a Palestinian suicide bombing which occurred on 21 March 1997 in a coffee shop in Tel Aviv. Three women were killed in the attack and 48 were injured.
The attack
The attack occurred on 21 March 1997, on the eve of the Purim holiday, at around 13:40, when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated an explosive device which was concealed in a handbag in the entrance to the coffee shop "Apropo" in Tel Aviv. The force of the explosion killed three young women in their early 30s, one of them was three months pregnant.[1]
Assailant
The assailant has been identified as Musa Abd al-Qadir Ghanimat from the West Bank village of Surif. He was member of a Hamas cell run by a relative, Ibrahim Ghanimat, who was finally captured in 2005. The cell, sometimes called the "Surif squad", is also responsible for several other attacks against Israeli targets.[2] It was believed at least at some point during the investigations that the assailant had no intention to die as a suicide bomber, but that the timing device misfired.[3]
Aftermath
Following the attack, the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate found for the first time clear evidence which proved that the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was encouraging and initiating militant attacks on Israeli civilians within Israel in order to advance the negotiations with Israel.[4]
A monument has been placed near the site of the attack which was created by the artist Eliezer Weishoff. The monument depicts three roses which were cut off.[5]
The attack is remembered among the Israeli public, in part, due to the picture taken of a six-month-old infant girl in a clown costume who survived the attack because she was saved by her mother, who protected her with her body from the force of the blast. In January 2015, the child from the photograph, since identified as Shani Winter, joined the Israeli Defense Forces, accompanied by the same traffic policewoman who carried her in the photo.[6]
References
- ^ Perry, Dan (22 March 1997). "Tel Aviv suicide bombing kills four". Times Daily. Tel Aviv. Associated Press. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
- ^ Weiss, Efrad (10 November 2005). "Senior Hamas fugitive nabbed". YNet. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
- ^ LoLordo, Ann (13 April 1997). "2 Israeli families find common bond in death Hamas cell accused of killing their children and nine others". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
Israeli security and military officials now believe that the suspected bomber didn't intend to kill himself in the incident. They say the timing device misfired and Musa Ghanimat, a father of four, died accidentally.
- ^ Immanuel, Jon (21 March 1997). "Ya'alon: Arafat okayed terror Army chiefs warn of future attacks". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
- ^ Weishoff, Eliezer. "Apropo Cafe Bombing Memorial". Israel Public Art. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
- ^ Glickman, Eitan (4 January 2015). "Baby from Apropo Cafe bombing is all grown up - and joining the IDF". Ynetnews. Ynet News.
- v
- t
- e
- Cairo bus attack (February 4)
- Assassination of Meir Kahane (November 5)
- Ein Netafim ambush (November 26)
- Night of the Pitchforks (February 14)
- Buenos Aires Israeli embassy bombing (March 17)
- Murder of Helena Rapp (May 24)
- Abduction and killing of Nissim Toledano (December 13)
- Mehola Junction bombing (April 16)
- Abduction and killing of Yaron Chen (August 5)
- Afula bus bombing (April 6)
- Hadera bus station bombing (April 13)
- London embassy bombing (July 26)
- Abduction and killing of Nachshon Wachsman (October 14)
- Dizengoff Street bus bombing (October 19)
- Netzarim Junction bicycle bombing (November 11)
- Afula axe attack (November 30)
- Beit Lid bombing (January 22)
- Kfar Darom bus attack (April 9)
- Ramat Gan bus bombing (July 24)
- Jerusalem bus 26 bombing (August 21)
- First Jaffa Road bus bombing (February 25) ‡
- Second Jaffa Road bus bombing (March 3)
- Dizengoff Center bombing (March 4)
- Murder of Yaron and Efrat Ungar (June 9)
- Island of Peace massacre (March 13)
- Café Apropo bombing (March 21)
- Mahane Yehuda bombings (July 30)
- Ben Yehuda Street bombing (September 4)
‡ indicates the attack which caused the greatest amount of Israeli casualties during the 1990s