Israel Matzav: Concert at Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv marks five years since Dolphinarium terror attack

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Concert at Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv marks five years since Dolphinarium terror attack

The Jerusalem Post reports this morning on a concert last night at the Mann Auditorium that marked five years since the Dolphinarium terror attack in which twenty-one teenagers - mostly Russian immigrants - were murdered. The attack took place on June 1, 2001 and had one of the highest death tolls of any attack in the Oslo War.

Because the attack took place on a Friday night, I did not post anything about it until Saturday night when the Sabbath ended. Here is some of what I posted that night. In a lot of ways, it seems that not much has changed since then:

The big news in Israel tonight is something about which many of you knew before Shabbos, but which I only heard about after Shabbos. I speak of course of the suicide bombing attack outside a Tel Aviv discotheque late last night Israel time. Another of the wounded died today R"L, raising the death toll to eighteen, and there are at least four more wounded, all of whom are young people, who are R"L "pzuyim anushot" (critical condition). Hashem yerachem.

This afternoon, Arafat YMS"H, under enormous pressure from the United States and the European Union (do they finally get it?) called for a cease fire. This time, for the first time, he did so in Arabic. The government does not put much credence in Arafat's call, and apparently has already decided on military measures, but they are giving Arafat several more hours to see if the cease fire is really implemented. There were already stories on the news tonight that Arafat is claiming that he cannot implement the cease fire because of the closure around the Palestinian territories, and there has been shooting tonight at Israeli positions in Azza.

But perhaps this story, posted to the Jerusalem Post web site this morning, sums up why many of us in Israel have had it with the "Palestinians."

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/06/02/LatestNews/LatestNews.27354.html

(11:30 Saturday) Palestinians celebrating Tel Aviv bombing By Arieh O'Sullivan

Upon hearing of the Tel Aviv suicide bombing, scores of Palestinians reportedly took the streets of the West Bank town of Ramallah in celebration. Some armed men fired wildly into the air.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leaders have warned of an expected Israeli retaliation to the bombing, which killed 17 Israelis, mostly young women.

According to reports, Palestinian security forces have evacuated headquarters and other buildings they suspect Israel may target.

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Here's another example (from the Associated Press, no less, which is not exactly known for being sympathetic to Israel):

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/06/02/LatestNews/LatestNews.27364.html

(23:00 Saturday) Arab League does not condemn bombing
By The Associated Press

All civilians should be protected and spared the Israeli-Palestinian violence, the head of the Arab League said today, a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Tel Aviv disco, killing 18 Israelis and wounding 90.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, however, stopped short of condemning the suicide bombing, the bloodiest in five years. Foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, two Arab nations that have peace treaties with Israel, condemned civilian killings, while radical Palestinian groups hailed the bombing as a show of Palestinian determination.

In a statement, Moussa said Israel's heavy hand dealing with the Palestinians only leads to stronger Palestinian resistance.

Moussa said civilians are paying the price for the collapse of the peace process. He called for peace talks to resume with US mediation.

In Jordan, Foreign Minister Abdul-Illah Khatib more directly condemned the disco bombing and urged Israel to "resort to the language of sanity and reason and refrain from being carried away in reactions that would only lead to escalating the crisis."

"Jordan condemns any action that targets innocent civilians no matter what the justification was and regrets that innocent civilians fell victim in the bombing attack in Tel Aviv," Khatib said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said he was in contact with US, Palestinian and Israeli officials to try to contain the situation.

"Egypt has confirmed in the past that it condemns any attacks on civilians whether Palestinians or Israelis, taking into consideration that the number of civilian victims of Israeli actions is much higher than the Israeli victims. This clearly shows who the source of violence is," Maher told reporters.

Maher said he asked of Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres that Israel avoid any violent reaction that would increase tension in the region. Israeli violence, he said, "increases the possibilities of counter-violence and the situation today should be handled with diplomacy and wisdom."

Syria's state-run Damascus radio said in a commentary that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised his people security but "came away with nothing but the death of any opportunity for peace, as expected, from a terrorist overburdened by crimes against Arabs."

Moussa, apparently referring to the likelihood of Israeli retaliation for the suicide bombing, said further reactions would only add to a vicious circle of violence. He also warned against pointing fingers of blame.

The Islamic Jihad representative in Lebanon said Saturday that Israel "will not dare to widen the scale of the conflict."

"Any comprehensive military response against the Palestinian Authority or against our people in Palestine will push the entire region into a (united) front to confront the Zionist entity," Abu Imad Al-Rifai told the privately owned Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation-International TV station.

In Syria, Damascus-based radical Palestinian groups blamed Israel.

Israel is responsible "because it has spared no weapon to repress the Palestinian people and to kill innocent civilians," said Ali Badwan, spokesman for the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in a statement.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, member of Hamas' political bureau said, "It's the right of the Palestinian people, who are languishing under the Israeli occupation, to resist this occupation by all available means." He predicted further attacks.

Other groups echoed similar sentiments.

"Resistance in all its forms is legitimate according to the principles of international law and the Palestinian people would never surrender or accept occupation," Maher Taher of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told reporters in Damascus.

He added that the United States shares the responsibility with Israel for the latest flare-up because of its silence over Israeli practices.

Lebanon's Hizbullah, which led a guerrilla war against Israeli forces in Lebanon, praised the attack in a statement issued after a meeting involving Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and Sheik Faisal Moulawi, secretary-general of the Islamic Grouping, a Lebanese Sunni Muslim fundamentalist group.

"Participants offer congratulations and blessing over the victorious suicide operation," the statement said, adding that the blast shows Palestinians' determination to "break the enemy's security and military measures."

This came from (now) fellow blogger Steven Plaut:

The Wages of Appeasement

Kastaniada Arias, 15, of Ramat Gan is dead. She was killed by Shimon Peres.

Irena Asatsif, 18, of Holon is dead. She was killed by Yitzhak Rabin. Bill Clinton was an accessory.

Roman Dezanshvili, 21, of Bat Yam is dead. He was killed by Bibi Netanyahu.

Eliya Gutman, 14, of Bat Yam is dead. She was killed by Yossi Beilin.

Anya Kachkova, 16, of Holon is dead. She was killed by Yossi Sarid.

Aleksei Lupalu, 16, a Ukrainian tourist staying in Bnei Brak, is dead. He was killed by Yael Dayan.

Mariana Madbaneko, 16, of Tel Aviv is dead. She was killed by Shulamit Aloni.

Irena Nafmaniashtsy, 16, of Bat Yam is dead. She was killed by Ron Cohen.

Yelena Nelimov, 18, of Tel Aviv is dead. She was killed by Tsahi Hanegbi.

Yulia Nelimov, 16, of Tel Aviv is dead. She was killed by Ehud Barak. She was sister of Yelena.

Raisa Nimrovsky, 15, of Netanya is dead. She was killed by Ofer Pines.

Simona Rodin, 18, of Holon is dead. She was killed by Ezer Weizmann.

Ori Shahar, 32, of Ramat Gan is dead. He was killed by Dalia Itzik.

Liana Skian, 16, of Tel Aviv is dead. She was killed by the Peace Now organization.

Maria Taglichev, 14, of Netanya is dead. She was killed by the "Four Mothers" organization.

Marina Zokovska, 17, of Tel Aviv is dead. She was killed by the Sharon government. So were the four other people mortally wounded and expected to die.

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Last week, the PLO appointed Mufti of the Temple Mount, the man Israel allows to issue calls for murdering Jews each week from Judaism's holiest site, announced that Islam favors suicide bombing and he encourages suicide bombings of Jews. His
salary is paid by the Israeli taxpayer. He is an Israeli public servant.

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The murderer of the children Friday night might as well have been driven to the site of the mass murder by Shimon Peres and the rest of the Israeli political establishment. They might as well have hung signs next to the wide-open "border" through which the PLO murderers pass each day: "Welcome All Nazis. Murder Jewish Children and Win a Nobel Prize."

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Appeasement always produces atrocities. Last week the Sharon government decided to appease the PLO by accepting the "Mitchell Commission Report", which rewarded 8 months of PLO atrocities by ordering a frezze on "settlements". The result of this
appeasement appears in the above list.