Café Moment bombing

Café Moment bombing
Part of the Second Intifada militancy campaign
Café Moment in 2009
The attack site
Location	Jerusalem, Israel
Coordinates
Date	March 9, 2002 22:33 pm (GMT+2)
Attack type	suicide bombing
Deaths	11 Israeli civilians (+ 1 bomber)
Injured	54 Israeli civilians
Perpetrators	Hamas claimed responsibility

The Café Moment bombing was a Palestinian terrorist attack in a coffee shop in downtown Jerusalem, Israel, which was carried out on March 9, 2002, during the Second Intifada in which 11 Israeli civilians were killed and 54 wounded.

The attack

On Saturday, March 9, 2002 shortly before 22:30, a Palestinian suicide bomber entered the "Café Moment" coffee shop in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem at the corner of Gaza Street and Ben-Maimon Street, situated about 100 meters from the residence of the Prime Minister of Israel. At the time this was considered one of Jerusalem's most popular centers of recreation. At 22:30 pm, immediately after entering the building, the suicide bomber detonated the powerful explosive device hidden underneath his clothes. The force of the blast, which completely destroyed the shop, instantly killed 11 Israeli civilians and injured 54 people, 10 of them in severe condition.

Fatalities

Limor Ben-Shoham, 27, of Jerusalem Nir Rahamim Borochov, 22, of Givat Ze'ev Danit Dagan, 25, of Tel Aviv Livnat Dvash, 28, of Jerusalem Tali Eliyahu, 26, of Jerusalem Uri Felix, 25, of Givat Ze'ev

Dan Imani, 23, of Jerusalem Natanel Kochavi, 31, of Kiryat Ata Baruch Lerner-Naor, 28, of Eli Orit Ozarov, 28, of Jerusalem Avraham Haim Rahamim, 29, of Jerusalem

Perpetrators

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist political organization Hamas, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Investigation

On August 17, 2002 the Israeli security forces arrested the Hamas cell members whom carried out the attack. the militants were residents of East Jerusalem. Due to their status as permanent residents in Israel, they carried Israeli blue identity cards, which allowed them to work in Israel and to easily travel in Israel without being suspected. While the Israeli security forces investigated the incident they found out that the cell members, who were referred to in the media as "The Silwan cell", were responsible for a series of attacks against Israeli civilians, including the attack at Café Moment, which all resulted in the total deaths of 35 Israeli civilians and injuring of 200 others. According to the Israeli security forces the cell operated in accordance with the instructions they received from the Hamas headquarters in Ramallah, which instructed them to locate a crowded public space in order to carry out a mass-casualty suicide attack.

Eventually, in October 2011 the Silwan cell members were all released from prison as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.

Lawsuit

A lawsuit has been filed against the Arab Bank for financing the attack.

Aftermath

Main article: Operation Defensive Shield

The attack took place during March 2002, in which Israel suffered the highest fatalities rate during the entire period of the second intifada – 111 Israeli soldiers and civilians were killed during that month in over a dozen militant attacks carried out throughout the country. These attacks reached their peak on March 27, 2002, with the event known as the "Passover Massacre" which led to the Israeli government's decision to launch a major military campaign aimed at the Palestinian militancy infrastructure in the West Bank.

External links

• Suicide bombing at Cafe Moment in Jerusalem, March 9, 2002 - published at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• No Man's Land, Ari Shavit, The New Yorker