| Jaffa Road bus bombings | |
| Location: | Jerusalem |
| Coordinates: | 31.7889°N 35.2056°W |
| Type: | Suicide bomber |
| Fatalities: | 17 Israeli civilians 9 Israeli soldiers (+1 attacker) |
| Injuries: | 48 mostly civilians |
| Perps: | Palestinian assailant, trained, armed, and supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran.[1] Hamas claimed responsibility. |
Terrorist attacks were carried out on two No. 18 buses on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, in 1996. Hamas suicide bombers killed 45 people in the attacks,[2] which were masterminded by Mohammed Deif, using explosives prepared by Adnan Awul.[3] These two bombings, within a few days of each other, occurred during a Hamas offensive launched after the killing of Yahya Ayyash, which also included the French Hill neighborhood attack, a suicide bombing in Ashkelon, and a terrorist attack near Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv.
On the morning of February 25, 1996, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a No.18 bus traveling down Jaffa Road near the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. 17 civilians and 9 Israeli soldiers were killed and 48, mostly civilians, injured.
In 2014 journalist Mike Kelly published The Bus on Jaffa Road; A Story of Middle East Terrorism and the Search for Justice. Kirkus Reviews praised it as, "a spiral of horror and reckoning".[4]
Sarah Duker, 23, who was studying science at Hebrew University, and her boyfriend, Matthew Eisenfeld, 25, a seminary student from West Hartford, Conn., were killed in the attack. The two were described as sympathetic to the peace process and committed to Mideast peace.[5] [6] Ms. Duker was the second New Jersey woman to lose her life in a terrorist attack in less than a year. Alisa Flatow, 20, of West Orange was killed in April by a suicide bomber in the Gaza Strip Kfar Darom bus attack. Both Ms. Flatow and Ms. Duker attended the same high school in Paramus.[7]
According to Kelly, Yassir Arafat was aware of these planned bombings.[8]
Hamas operative Hassan Salameh was captured by Israel in Hebron in May, 1996.[9] Israel, which has only once imposed a death penalty, sentenced Salameh to 46 consecutive life sentences for directing 3 mass-casualty attacks.[10] Salameh, a devout Muslim, has continued to maintain that he acted in a righteous manner in bombing civilian buses, saying, "I believe what I did is a legitimate right my religion and all of the world gave me..." in 1997,[11] and in an interview almost 2 decades later. According to Mike Kelly, Salameh was trained in Iran.
On the morning of March 3, 1996, a suicide bomber boarded another No. 18 bus, detonating an explosive belt that killed 16 civilians and three Israeli soldiers and wounded 7.
| Jaffa Road bus bombing (March 3, 1996) | |
| Location: | Jerusalem |
| Type: | Suicide bomber |
| Fatalities: | 16 Israeli civilians 3 Israeli soldiers (+1 attacker) |
| Injuries: | 7 civilians |
| Perpetrator: | Hamas claimed responsibility |
| Assailant: | Mohammed Abdo[12] |
| Numpart: | 1 |
The families of United States victims Matthew Eisenfeld and Sarah Duker sued Iran for backing the attack, and won a US$327 million judgment in 2000. The Clinton Administration then blocked the families' efforts to seize certain Iranian assets in the United States. As of 2006 collection efforts continue through legal processes. The families, together with the family of another United States citizen killed in the same attack, now seek as much as US$900 million from Iran. In 2006 an Italian court domesticated the US court ruling, and temporarily froze Iranian assets. The plaintiffs have stated that they intend to pursue Iran through other European Union courts.[13]
In 2020, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-NJ, introduced a House of Representatives resolution to condemn payments to Hassan Salameh, a high-ranking Hamas leader who orchestrated the plot that killed Duker.[14]