Bat Mitzvah massacre

The Bat Mitzvah massacre was a terrorist attack in Hadera, Israel on Thursday January 17, 2002, in which a Palestinian gunman, 24-year-old Abdul Salaam Sadek Hassouneh, killed six people and wounded 33 at a Bat Mitzvah celebration, a traditional Jewish celebration held for a 12-year-old girl.

The attack
The attack took place at 9:45 pm (GMT+2) as guests were departing. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades assumed responsibility for the attack, claiming it was vengeance for the killing of its leader Raed Karmi. An Israeli police spokesman said the man, apparently on a suicide mission, had thrown several grenades into the Armon David wedding hall, where the Bat Mitzvah celebration had taken place, and detonated explosives on himself. A belt filled with explosives was found on the attacker.

Fatalities

 * Boris Melikhov, 56, of Sderot
 * Aharon Ellis, 32, of Ra'anana
 * Anatoly Bakshiev, 62, of Or Akiva
 * Avi Yazdi, 24, of Or Akiva
 * Edward Bakshayev, 48, of Or Akiva
 * Dina Binayev, 48, of Ashkelon

Media coverage
The Al Jazeera television network was criticized for bias in coverage of the massacre, failing to note that the victims were attending a bat mitzvah and that the gunman crashed the event at a crowded banquet hall, and failing to mention the number of people killed by Raed Karmi when covering his assassination several days earlier, which would have provided context for the story.

The perpetrators
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said the attacker, 24-year-old Abdel Salam Hassouna, was from a village near Nablus and launched the attack to avenge the death of Raed Karmi.

After the attack a video made earlier by the attacker was released, in which he is seen declaring: "I am doing this to avenge all the Palestinian martyrs."

Official reactions

 * Involved parties


 * The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack but blamed Israel for provoking it.
 * The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack but blamed Israel for provoking it.


 * International
 * : the US government condemned the Hadera attack "in the strongest possible terms," calling it a "horrific act of terrorism."