STAY INFORMED – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS TO CONSIDER – VOICES – STORIES | |
Never Believe Hamas, Except When It Comes to Murdering Jews
| |
Twenty-five years ago, at Jerusalem’s Sbarro pizzeria, 8-year-old Chaya stood in line to order beside her father, sister and brother on a family outing when an explosion ripped through the packed restaurant. Chaya and her sister survived but lost their parents and three siblings – including a two-year-old in the Hamas suicide bombing. Fifteen people were murdered that day – including three Americans – on Aug. 9, 2001.
Years later, Chaya recalls every detail: “Everything went up in flames. There were screams and chaos. The second I got out, medics poured water on me. I was completely burned.” In the ambulance she saw her four-year-old brother lying bandaged beside her, and she kept calling his name, but he never responded. Nurses pulled away the clothing that had melted onto her and she begged them not to amputate her legs.
She is still living with her injuries, and Oct. 7, 2023, brought those traumas screaming back into the present. The sirens from Iran’s missile attacks also reminded her that Israel is a country that never gets to live in constant peace. In the decades since the Sbarro attack, ongoing attacks from Hamas have been responsible for the deaths of more than 1,500 innocent civilians in Israel.
Hamas, along with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for the bombing – and the motive has never been hidden. A Hamas official recently declared on Iranian TV that the group will “never” lay down its weapons and intends to “eradicate Israel as a cancerous growth.” That is what Hamas published in its 1988 charter – long before Sbarro and before the Oct. 7 atrocities – and is still its belief. The world still argues over whether it can be persuaded to disarm.
| |
Nothing Has Changed Since 1988
Hamas declared its position in its 1988 charter, which states that there is no solution to the Palestinian question except to destroy the Jewish state. Hamas might accept a hudna – a temporary truce – while a Palestinian state is established in Gaza and the West Bank, then use that state’s army to continue fighting Israel. Hamas also is dedicated to murdering all Jews, describing its “struggle against the Jews as very great and very serious.” The charter cites an Islamic source in which the stones and the trees call out, “O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”
Recently, the Israeli government rejected the Board of Peace’s Gaza disarmament plan that allows all of Hamas’s weapons to remain in Gaza. Hamas has said it agreed only to storing its weapons – not to hand them over. Hamas has proven that it can acquire new weapons from outside Gaza and violently seize power, as it did from the Palestinian Authority in 2007. U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer explained that “Hamas has a long record of lying, and they’ve broken their word before, over and over.”
The Hamas terror group had dug hundreds of miles of tunnels before Oct. 7 – but built no shelters for civilians. When asked, a senior Hamas leader said the tunnels were for Hamas terrorists and that protecting the population was the UN’s responsibility. Gazans who defy Hamas are imprisoned, maimed or executed. Hamas has even perpetrated sexual violence against its own citizens.
| |
Jewish Memory and Remembrance
American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other Israelis were brutally murdered in Hamas captivity. This August 10 was the second anniversary of their deaths. The Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, remembered their lives by lighting six candles alongside Shabbat candles: “We light candles in their memory and carry their light forward. May their memories forever be a blessing, and may their light continue to shine.”
On Oct. 7, 2023, the two young red-headed Bibas children and their mother gained worldwide attention following their abduction. With their bare hands, Palestinian terrorists murdered Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 10-months old. The terrorists also killed their mother while their father survived 484 days in captivity. Their bodies were held for ransom until Israel released hundreds of terrorists and prisoners in exchange for their return.
Ariel Bibas would have turned seven on Aug. 5. Yarden remembers his son: “I can’t lift you up in your birthday chair, and I also don’t get to see you excitedly open all the presents you would have received. But I hope that up in heaven they’re lifting you up and celebrating your birthday! I’m sure Mom arranged the most beautiful birthday she could for you, just like we did for you at the kibbutz every year.”
In a healing response to the horrific Sbarro bombing, now 25 years ago, the Malki Foundation was established – named after American Israeli Malki Roth and dedicated to her passion for volunteering with disabled children. Her sister is blind, brain-damaged and has never spoken a word. The foundation lends equipment, funds in-home care and therapy for families. One-third of the families are Israeli Arabs.
Chaya Schijveschuurder lost five family members in the Sbarro attack. Each of her three children were named after a family member she lost: Rafael for her father, Tzira for her mother and Hemda for her sister.
| | |
1. When terrorists say they want to kill Jews, they mean it
The Hamas charter published in 1988 is clear: the terror group seeks to kill all Jews, everywhere. Ahlam Tamimi pleaded guilty to organizing the Sbarro attack and received 16 consecutive life sentences. She was released in a 2011 prisoner exchange for soldier Gilad Shalit – one of 1,027 terrorist prisoners freed for a single Israeli hostage. Yahya Sinwar – the architect of the Oct. 7 attack – walked out in the same deal. Tamimi has since said she would do it again and that her only regret is not having murdered more ‘Zionists’ – eight were children.
2. Disarmament is not a concession Hamas is willing to make
Hamas weapons are not a bargaining chip – they are what help Hamas enforce its rule over Gaza and support its goal of murdering Jews. Requiring Hamas to give them up is not a concession – it demands Hamas to stop being Hamas. It will not. A leading Israeli security official has warned that the terror group reads the current proposed disarmament plan as a “political Oct. 7.” Any plan that leaves weapons inside Gaza only postpones the next round of violence.
3. Jewish resilience and shared purpose are reasons for optimism
Israeli Michal Belzberg was 12 years old and hours away from her bat mitzvah party in the U.S. when the Sbarro bombing was reported. Her family flew back to Israel, went to the hospitals to sit with the wounded and used the money set aside for her party to found OneFamily. One of the injured children they met that week was eight-year-old Chaya Schijveschuurder – and 25 years later, the families remain close. The threat has not receded, but Jewish communities keep responding by building closer connections to each other.
| | |
25 years ago, my daughter was killed in the Sbarro bombing. Why is her killer still free?
The father of Malki Roth calls for pressure on the Jordanian government.
Losing our daughter Malki felt like a horror movie unfolding in real time.
Around 2 p.m., my wife called my office. Instead of her usual update, she was screaming: “There’s been a terror attack. I can’t reach the children.” It marked the end of the first chapter of our lives.
Malki, 15, was gentle and loving by nature. She adored her blind, non-verbal little sister Haya and helped with every medical emergency and hospital stay. Her empathy came naturally; her smile lit up rooms. That pure, sweet life was ripped away in an instant.
The memories never fade: the funeral, sitting shiva on the floor of our suddenly crowded home, the stream of friends and strangers offering comfort.
Twenty-five years later, the pain returns sharper than ever – layered now with the knowledge that the woman who orchestrated the massacre walks free, defiant, unrepentant and celebrated. Her name is Ahlam Tamimi. She calls the Sbarro pizzeria bombing “my operation,” says she would do it again exactly the same way and lives openly in Jordan under Jordanian protection. A $5 million U.S. State Dept. reward on her head has been in effect since 2018. She is the sole woman on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list.
Born, raised and educated in Jordan, Tamimi crossed into the West Bank in 2000 at age 20 to study journalism. She worked nights as a news presenter. Within her first year she moved from Fatah to Hamas, becoming the first woman the group accepted for terror operations. She planted one bomb in a Jerusalem supermarket that failed to detonate. A week later she succeeded.
Tamimi escorted the man I call her human bomb – a religious zealot carrying a guitar case packed with explosives and nails – to the entrance of the crowded Sbarro pizzeria. There were no security guards in those innocent days.
She recounts in a now-viral video how she left ahead of the carnage and in a taxi back to Ramallah listened to radio reports as the casualty count climbed. She recalls her disappointment at hearing “only three dead” – and the rising elation as the toll mounted. Fellow passengers applauded. The final count: 15 dead, including eight children, and dozens wounded. (A 16th victim, a young mother left unconscious, died of her injuries in 2023.)
Click here to continue reading Arnold Roth in full, in JTA.
| | |
Stories of Resilience
Stories Impacting American Jews
Stories Impacting the U.S. and Israel
Stories from Around the World
| | TCLICK BELOW TO ACCESS ADDITIONAL FOCUS PROJECT RESOURCES: | |
Want to Read More of Our Talking Points? | Did you miss a recent edition of The Focus Project? No need to search your inbox. Our most recently published editions are available on our website. Click below to continue reading. | | | | |
The Focus Project develops and distributes news, background, history and weekly talking points on timely issues to inform individuals and organizations about issues affecting the American Jewish community and Israel, and help readers speak with more consistency and clarity. The editions also provide potential responses for addressing incidents of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. With input from a spectrum of major American Jewish organizations, we focus on that which unites us, rising above political and individual agendas.
Recognizing that hatred of Jews comes in many forms and directions, we strive to address all sources as they arise, and educate our growing audience on topics ranging from inter-religious relations to relevant international developments. From week to week, we may focus on issues arising from the political left, university campuses, from the political right and from institutions, government, and corporations. We don’t try to address all issues in each edition. We hope you will find this information useful in your writing and/or speaking. We are always open to your feedback: info@focus-project.org.
| | | | |
