Murder of Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran
Encyclopedia
The murder of Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran occurred on May 8, 2001, when two Jewish teenagers, Yaakov "Koby" Mandell and Yosef Ishran, were killed on the outskirts of the Israeli settlement
of Tekoa in the West Bank
, where they lived with their families. The identity of the killers has never been determined, though a number of sources state that Palestinian militants were responsible.
Koby Mandell was an Israeli-American, his family having emigrated from the United States to Israel in 1996, and the murders resulted in legislation by the U.S. Congress aimed at strengthening the U.S. response to the killing of Americans overseas. Also in response to his death, Koby's parents set up the Koby Mandell Foundation to provide support for families bereaved by terrorist attacks.
of Tekoa, in the West Bank
, located near the Palestinian town of the same name variously referred to in English as Tuqu'
, Tekoa, and similar spellings.
On May 8, 2001, the boys skipped school and went hiking in the Judean desert
surrounding their village. At first, their parents did not worry about the boys. They believed that they had gone to school, and then to Jerusalem to participate in a political demonstration. But when the boys did not come home by midnight, their parents informed the authorities.
The bodies of two boys were discovered the next morning in a cave near the West Bank settlement where they lived. USA Today
reported that, according to the police, both boys had "been bound, stabbed and beaten to death with rocks". The newspaper continued, "The walls of the cave in the Judean Desert were covered with the boys' blood, reportedly smeared there by the killers". CNN
and the Irish Independent
reported that "Israel's Channel Two TV said police believed there were at least three assailants who dipped their hands into the boys' blood after the killing and smeared it on the walls of the cave."
Miro Cohen, a sheep rancher described the scene to Time
magazine: "A rock the size of a computer rested on Kobi's smashed skull. Both bodies were covered with stones. Blood smeared the walls, and the dirt floor was muddy with it." The bodies were so badly mutilated and disfigured that dental records had to be used for positive identification.
The Jerusalem Post reported that police could not determine whether the boys had been killed outside the cave, or if their bodies were deposited in the cave after the murders. After forensic examination, the bodies, together with blood-stained rocks, were taken out of the cave.
The boys' funeral was attended by thousands of people.
A few of the many news agencies that reported about the murders said that an anonymous person claiming to represent an Islamic militant group telephoned one or more other news agencies to take responsibility. The Irish Independent reported that a call was made to Reuters
, and that the call could not be authenticated. It also said that the call had stated revenge for the killing of an Islamic Jihad militant the previous Saturday as a motive. The Irish Independent didn't name any particular group. The Jerusalem Post said in its day-after the event story that an anonymous caller to unnamed "foreign news agencies" had said he represented a group called "Hizbullah-Palestine" and that the boys were killed as revenge for the death of a four-month-old Palestinian baby, Iman Hiju, who became the youngest victim of violence when she was killed by an Israeli tank shell a few days previously. That death was apologized for by Ariel Sharon
, who stressed that the "soldiers did not intend to kill her". A subsequent Jerusalem Post story, printed in 2008, suggested that the boys' killings might be attributable to "Bedouin
shepherds".
Three books on terrorism that include compilations of terrorist attacks against Israel subsequently listed the murders as being attributable to Islamic Jihad
and/or a "splinter group" of Hezbollah, called "Hizbullah-Palestine". Another source blames "a Palestinian mob". The Boston Globe reported that Israeli settlers, among other possible motives, suggested "a group of Palestinian youths had staked a claim on the cave during the seven months of violence, and that Israeli youths had been warned not to hike there." Most sources simply blame unidentified Palestinian terrorists. According to a 2004 U.S. Congressional report, there was never a "meaningful investigation or prosecution" of the case, and apparently, the perpetrators have yet to be apprehended.
blamed the murder on the Palestinian Authority. Sharon said that Palestinian security forces do nothing to stop terrorists from murdering innocent civilians. He said that Palestinian TV was promoting violence by "by broadcasting music videos filled with images of children throwing stones."
The Palestinian Authority condemned the killings. A spokesman for the Authority, Saeb Erekat
said, "The Palestinian Authority regrets the loss of life of these two boys and all children, be it Israeli or Palestinian, Jewish, Muslim or Christian." He added, that killing civilians on either side of the ongoing conflict is a crime, and that "the short way for peace and stability is finishing the Israeli occupation."
Yasser Arafat
, President of the Palestinian National Authority, responded by blaming Israel for "victimizing Palestinian children". He cited the case of a three-month old Palestinian girl, Reema Ahmed, who was wounded by gunfire the previous Wednesday during an Israeli attack on a Palestinian refugee camp.
Shlomo Riskin
, a rabbi from Efrat
, saw "a profound distinction" between "Israel and its enemies":
Ariel Sharon also characterized the boys' deaths as a "horrific murder" and ordered a missile strike on Yasser Arafat's Fatah
offices in Gaza City, in which 20 Palestinians were wounded.
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher
called the killings of the Israeli boys "horrible, brutal." Pope John Paul II, speaking in Malta
, said he was saddened by "news from the Holy Land of terrible violence even against innocent young people."
. The legislation was spearheaded by Morton Klein
's Zionist Organization of America
but was not a priority of other Jewish groups, who said that it did more to reprimand the State Department rather than support counter-terrorism: by targeting only Palestinian terrorists, they said, it was too narrow in its scope and would not, for example, have been able to deal with
the murder of Daniel Pearl
. The provisions of the law which created the office were eventually incorporated into a 2004 omnibus spending bill.
, in his book Terror: how Israel has coped and what America can learn, writes that Koby's parents are determined "to take the cruelty of Koby's murder and transform it into kindness."
Both Seth and Sherri Mandell reject responding to violence with violence. Seth Mandell says that "Throwing stones at Arab houses makes us as bad as the Arabs, and is not an intelligent response." Urging against the violence he says: "There’s plenty of stuff that can be done that is non-violent and makes a point."
Sherri Mandell says that "Revenge, to her, means they have won".
Koby's parents also organized comedy shows to commemorate the memory of their son, who they say loved jokes.
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
of Tekoa in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, where they lived with their families. The identity of the killers has never been determined, though a number of sources state that Palestinian militants were responsible.
Koby Mandell was an Israeli-American, his family having emigrated from the United States to Israel in 1996, and the murders resulted in legislation by the U.S. Congress aimed at strengthening the U.S. response to the killing of Americans overseas. Also in response to his death, Koby's parents set up the Koby Mandell Foundation to provide support for families bereaved by terrorist attacks.
Disappearance and discovery
Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran were two Israeli teens, 13 and 14 years old. Koby was a citizen of both the United States and Israel. The boys lived and attended school in the Israeli settlementIsraeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
of Tekoa, in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, located near the Palestinian town of the same name variously referred to in English as Tuqu'
Tuqu'
Tuquʿ is a Palestinian town in the Bethlehem Governorate, located 12 km southeast of Bethlehem in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , Tuqu' had a population of 8,881 in 2007.The town is a part of the 'Arab al-Ta'amira cluster, along with Za'atara, Beit...
, Tekoa, and similar spellings.
On May 8, 2001, the boys skipped school and went hiking in the Judean desert
Judean desert
The Judaean Desert is a desert in Israel and the West Bank that lies east of Jerusalem and descends to the Dead Sea. It stretches from the northeastern Negev to the east of Beit El, and is marked by terraces with escarpments. It ends in a steep escarpment dropping to the Dead Sea and the Jordan...
surrounding their village. At first, their parents did not worry about the boys. They believed that they had gone to school, and then to Jerusalem to participate in a political demonstration. But when the boys did not come home by midnight, their parents informed the authorities.
The bodies of two boys were discovered the next morning in a cave near the West Bank settlement where they lived. USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
reported that, according to the police, both boys had "been bound, stabbed and beaten to death with rocks". The newspaper continued, "The walls of the cave in the Judean Desert were covered with the boys' blood, reportedly smeared there by the killers". CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and the Irish Independent
Irish Independent
The Irish Independent is Ireland's largest-selling daily newspaper that is published in both compact and broadsheet formats. It is the flagship publication of Independent News & Media.-History:...
reported that "Israel's Channel Two TV said police believed there were at least three assailants who dipped their hands into the boys' blood after the killing and smeared it on the walls of the cave."
Miro Cohen, a sheep rancher described the scene to Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine: "A rock the size of a computer rested on Kobi's smashed skull. Both bodies were covered with stones. Blood smeared the walls, and the dirt floor was muddy with it." The bodies were so badly mutilated and disfigured that dental records had to be used for positive identification.
The Jerusalem Post reported that police could not determine whether the boys had been killed outside the cave, or if their bodies were deposited in the cave after the murders. After forensic examination, the bodies, together with blood-stained rocks, were taken out of the cave.
The boys' funeral was attended by thousands of people.
Responsibility
Israeli police made several statements about responsibility for the murders. They were reported variously as stating that thieves, who stole 100 goats from Tekoa the same night, may have been responsible; that there was no clear link between the two crimes; and that there was no link. One police commander however expressed the view that there was "no doubt" the murders were committed "for nationalistic reasons". Police said the killings appeared to have taken place during a "chance encounter" rather than one that had been planned in advance. Israeli security forces arrested 20 Palestinians from nearby villages and imposed curfews and roadblocks in response to the attack.A few of the many news agencies that reported about the murders said that an anonymous person claiming to represent an Islamic militant group telephoned one or more other news agencies to take responsibility. The Irish Independent reported that a call was made to Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, and that the call could not be authenticated. It also said that the call had stated revenge for the killing of an Islamic Jihad militant the previous Saturday as a motive. The Irish Independent didn't name any particular group. The Jerusalem Post said in its day-after the event story that an anonymous caller to unnamed "foreign news agencies" had said he represented a group called "Hizbullah-Palestine" and that the boys were killed as revenge for the death of a four-month-old Palestinian baby, Iman Hiju, who became the youngest victim of violence when she was killed by an Israeli tank shell a few days previously. That death was apologized for by Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
, who stressed that the "soldiers did not intend to kill her". A subsequent Jerusalem Post story, printed in 2008, suggested that the boys' killings might be attributable to "Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
shepherds".
Three books on terrorism that include compilations of terrorist attacks against Israel subsequently listed the murders as being attributable to Islamic Jihad
Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine known in the West as simply Palestinian Islamic Jihad , is a small Palestinian militant organization. The group has been labelled as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel...
and/or a "splinter group" of Hezbollah, called "Hizbullah-Palestine". Another source blames "a Palestinian mob". The Boston Globe reported that Israeli settlers, among other possible motives, suggested "a group of Palestinian youths had staked a claim on the cave during the seven months of violence, and that Israeli youths had been warned not to hike there." Most sources simply blame unidentified Palestinian terrorists. According to a 2004 U.S. Congressional report, there was never a "meaningful investigation or prosecution" of the case, and apparently, the perpetrators have yet to be apprehended.
Reactions
The Israeli government condemned the killings. Ariel SharonAriel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
blamed the murder on the Palestinian Authority. Sharon said that Palestinian security forces do nothing to stop terrorists from murdering innocent civilians. He said that Palestinian TV was promoting violence by "by broadcasting music videos filled with images of children throwing stones."
The Palestinian Authority condemned the killings. A spokesman for the Authority, Saeb Erekat
Saeb Erekat
Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat (also Erakat; Ṣāʼib ʻUrayqāt or ʻRēqāt, born April 28, 1955 in Jordanian controlled East Jerusalem was the Palestinian chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee until 12 February 2011...
said, "The Palestinian Authority regrets the loss of life of these two boys and all children, be it Israeli or Palestinian, Jewish, Muslim or Christian." He added, that killing civilians on either side of the ongoing conflict is a crime, and that "the short way for peace and stability is finishing the Israeli occupation."
Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
, President of the Palestinian National Authority, responded by blaming Israel for "victimizing Palestinian children". He cited the case of a three-month old Palestinian girl, Reema Ahmed, who was wounded by gunfire the previous Wednesday during an Israeli attack on a Palestinian refugee camp.
Shlomo Riskin
Shlomo Riskin
Shlomo Riskin is the founding rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on the Upper West Side of New York City, which he led for 12 years; founding chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the West Bank; dean of Manhattan Day School in New York City; and founder and dean of the Ohr Torah Stone...
, a rabbi from Efrat
Efrat
Efrat , or officially Efrata , is an Israeli settlement established in 1983 and a local council in the Judean Mountains of the West Bank. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this...
, saw "a profound distinction" between "Israel and its enemies":
[I]f a child is killed by Israel, it is in an act of defense directed at a building where shots were fired at soldiers. In the case of Kobi and Yossi and ShalhevetShalhevet PassThe murder of Shalhevet Pass was a shooting attack which was carried out on March 26, 2001 in Hebron, in which a Palestinian sniper killed the ten-month-old Israeli infant Shalhevet Pass...
, the enemy picked out innocent children to destroy them.
Ariel Sharon also characterized the boys' deaths as a "horrific murder" and ordered a missile strike on Yasser Arafat's Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
offices in Gaza City, in which 20 Palestinians were wounded.
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher
Richard Boucher
Richard A. Boucher is Deputy Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . He took up post on 5 November 2009. Prior to joining OECD, he was the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, a post he took up on February 21, 2006...
called the killings of the Israeli boys "horrible, brutal." Pope John Paul II, speaking in Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, said he was saddened by "news from the Holy Land of terrible violence even against innocent young people."
Koby Mandell Act
As a result of the murder, several legislators introduced the Koby Mandell Act, which reprimanded the State Department for, as it said, not doing enough about Palestinian terrorists who had harmed American citizens, and which would create an Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism in the Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
. The legislation was spearheaded by Morton Klein
Morton Klein
Morton A. Klein is currently president of ZOA, The Zionist Organization of America.- ZOA :In 1993, while serving as the organization’s Philadelphia chapter president, he was elected national president....
's Zionist Organization of America
Zionist Organization of America
The Zionist Organization of America , founded in 1897, was one of the first official Zionist organizations in the United States, and, especially early in the 20th century, the primary representative of Jewish Americans to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political Zionism.Today,...
but was not a priority of other Jewish groups, who said that it did more to reprimand the State Department rather than support counter-terrorism: by targeting only Palestinian terrorists, they said, it was too narrow in its scope and would not, for example, have been able to deal with
Extraterritorial jurisdiction
Extraterritorial jurisdiction is the legal ability of a government to exercise authority beyond its normal boundaries.Any authority can, of course, claim ETJ over any external territory they wish...
the murder of Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl was an American journalist who was kidnapped and killed by Al-Qaeda.At the time of his kidnapping, Pearl served as the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, and was based in Mumbai, India. He went to Pakistan as part of an investigation into the alleged links between...
. The provisions of the law which created the office were eventually incorporated into a 2004 omnibus spending bill.
The Koby Mandell Foundation and comedy shows
The mission of the Koby Mandell Foundation, set up by his parents Seth and Sherri Mandell, is to "work to bridge the isolation that bereaved children and adults are struck with after the loss of a loved one." Leonard A. ColeLeonard A. Cole
Leonard Cole, an expert on bioterrorism and terror medicine, is an adjunct professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark, New Jersey, where he teaches on terrorism issues in the Division of Global Affairs...
, in his book Terror: how Israel has coped and what America can learn, writes that Koby's parents are determined "to take the cruelty of Koby's murder and transform it into kindness."
Both Seth and Sherri Mandell reject responding to violence with violence. Seth Mandell says that "Throwing stones at Arab houses makes us as bad as the Arabs, and is not an intelligent response." Urging against the violence he says: "There’s plenty of stuff that can be done that is non-violent and makes a point."
Sherri Mandell says that "Revenge, to her, means they have won".
Koby's parents also organized comedy shows to commemorate the memory of their son, who they say loved jokes.
External links
- Young victims fall in Israel With killing of two teens, rage escalates in the Middle East - published on USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
on May 10, 2001 - Israeli Boys Slain Near Settlement; U.S. Citizen and Friend, Both 14, Found Battered In a Cave in West Bank - published on The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
on May 10, 2001 - Boys' deaths renew focus on old Mideast hatreds - published on The Boston GlobeThe Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
on May 10, 2001 - 2 Jewish Boys Stoned To Death - published on The Post and CourierThe Post and CourierCharleston's The Post and Courier is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the South and the eighth oldest newspaper still in publication in the United States. It is published in Charleston, South Carolina. It traces its ancestry to three newspapers, the Charleston Courier, founded in 1803, the...
on May 10, 2001 - Joyful transformations amidst pain - published on mfa.gov.il
- Archived web page of the Israeli settlement of Tekoa that documents the deaths of residents.