Zion Square refrigerator bombing
Encyclopedia
The Zion Square refrigerator bombing was a terrorist attack in downtown Jerusalem, Israel
on Friday, July 4, 1975 in which 15 civilians were killed and 77 wounded.
An Arab terrorist exploded a booby-trapped refrigerator contained five kilograms of explosives in Zion Square
in the center of Jerusalem, killing 15 people and wounding 77. A Jewish passerby, Shabtai Levi, helped the terrorist hoist the refrigerator onto the sidewalk. The refrigerator aroused the suspicions of Esther Landner and Yehuda Warshovsky, who worked near Zion Square. Landner called the police but as she was answering their questions, the refrigerator blew up.
, was established in their memory.Daoud Khoury, an Arab accountant at the King David Hotel
, was also killed in the attack.
Israel freed Ahmed Jabara from prison in 2003 as a gesture to Yasser Arafat
.Shortly after his release, Jabara called for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers at a rally in Bethlehem
that was widely covered by the Palestinian media.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
on Friday, July 4, 1975 in which 15 civilians were killed and 77 wounded.
The attack
Zion Square
Zion Square is a public square at the east end of the Ben Yehuda Street Pedestrian Mall in downtown Jerusalem. It abuts Jaffa Road, Herbert Samuel Street and Yoel Moshe Salomon Street as well....
in the center of Jerusalem, killing 15 people and wounding 77. A Jewish passerby, Shabtai Levi, helped the terrorist hoist the refrigerator onto the sidewalk. The refrigerator aroused the suspicions of Esther Landner and Yehuda Warshovsky, who worked near Zion Square. Landner called the police but as she was answering their questions, the refrigerator blew up.
Fatalities
Among the dead were Rivka (nee Soifer) Ben-Yitzhak, 35, an American citizen, and her husband, Michael, who left behind two small children.The Ben-Yitzhak Award, presented annually to an outstanding children's book illustrator by the Israel MuseumIsrael Museum
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
, was established in their memory.Daoud Khoury, an Arab accountant at the King David Hotel
King David Hotel
The King David Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Jerusalem, Israel. Opened in 1931, the hotel was built with locally quarried pink limestone and was founded by Ezra Mosseri, a wealthy Egyptian Jewish Banker. To this day the hotel remains one of the most prominent and prestigious hotels in Israel, and...
, was also killed in the attack.
Perpetrators
Palestinian militant group PLO claimed responsibility for the attack, which was executed by Ahmed Jabara (Abu Sukar).Israel freed Ahmed Jabara from prison in 2003 as a gesture to 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...
.Shortly after his release, Jabara called for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers at a rally in Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
that was widely covered by the Palestinian media.
External links
- 13 killed by bomb in Israel - published on The Baltimore SunThe Baltimore SunThe Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
on July 5, 1975 - 13 Die, Scores Hurt in Jerusalem Blast - published on the New York Times on July 5, 1975
- 13 Die in Jerusalem Bombing - published on the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
on July 5, 1975