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{{Short description|Killing of an Israeli baby by a Palestinian sniper in Hebron}}
{{pp-30-500|small=yes}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox terrorist attack {{Infobox terrorist attack
|title=Murder of Shalhevet Pass | title = Murder of Shalhevet Pass
|partof=the ] militancy campaign | partof = the ] militancy campaign
| image =
|map=<div style="width:250px; float:none; clear:none;"><div style="position:relative; padding:0; width:250px;">]
| map = {{location map|Israel south wb|caption=The attack site}}
<br /><div style="position: absolute; z-index: 2; top: 49.5%; left: 57.4%; height: 0; width: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"><div style="position: relative; text-align: center; left: -3px; top: -3px; width: 6px; font-size: 6px;">]</div><div style="font-size:90%; line-height: 110%; z-index:90; position: relative; top: -1.5em; width: 6em; left: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="padding: 1px;">'''The attack site'''</span></div></div></div></div>
| native_name = רצח שלהבת תחיה פס
|caption=
| caption =
|location=Avraham Avinu neighborhood in ]
| location = Avraham Avinu neighborhood, ], ]
|target=
| target =
|date=March 26, 2001<br>4:00 pm (]+2)
| date = {{start date and age|2001|3|26|df=y}}
|time-begin=
| native_name_lang = he
|time-end=
| coordinates = {{coord|31|31|25|N|35|06|25|E|display=inline,title}}
|timezone=
| time = {{circa}} 4:00 pm
|type=Shooting attack
| time-begin =
|fatalities=a ten-month-old Israeli infant (Shalhevet Pass)
| time-end =
|injuries=
| timezone = ]+2
|perps = Lone Palestinian assailant (Mahmud Amru), member of the ] militant group<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9M8vAQAAIAAJ&q=Shalhevet+Pass&dq=Shalhevet+Pass&hl=en&ei=i0OBTbTdApSksQO0ubD_AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAzge |title=Palestinian secular terrorism: profiles of Fatah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine |publisher= |author=Yonah Alexander |year=2003 |accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref>
| type = Shooting attack
|weapons=]
| fatalities = A ten-month-old Israeli infant (Shalhevet Pass)
| injuries =
| perps =
| perpetrator = ] militant group<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9M8vAQAAIAAJ&q=Shalhevet+Pass |title=Palestinian secular terrorism: profiles of Fatah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine|author=Yonah Alexander|year=2003|publisher=Transnational Publishers |isbn=9781571053077|access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref>
| assailant = Mahmud Amru
| weapon = ]
| weapons =
}} }}

]
The '''murder of Shalhevet Pass''' was a shooting attack which was carried out on March 26, 2001 in Hebron, in which a ] ] killed the ten-month-old ]i ] Shalhevet Pass. The event shocked the Israeli public, partly because an investigation ruled that the sniper had deliberately aimed for the baby.<ref name="google1"/> The murder became a "potent Israeli symbol as an innocent victim of the raging violence".<ref name=funeral>Deborah Sontag, , at ], April 2, 2001.</ref> The '''murder of Shalhevet Pass''' was a shooting attack carried out in Hebron, ], on 26 March 2001, in which a ] ] killed 10-month-old ]i ] Shalhevet Pass. The event shocked the Israeli public, partly because an investigation ruled that the sniper had deliberately aimed for the baby.<ref name="google1"/> According to Deborah Sontag of the '']'', the murder became a "potent Israeli symbol as an innocent victim of the raging violence."<ref name="funeral">Sontag, Deborah. 2 April 2001. ." '']''.</ref>


==The murder== ==The murder==
On March 26, 2001, at 4:00 pm, Shalhevet was shot in her ] while her parents were accompanying her from a parking lot by the Avraham Avinu neighborhood in ], where she and her family lived.<ref name="google1">{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=6aLsz14aKJsC&pg=PA64&dq=Shalhevet+Pass&hl=en&ei=szqBTaOZBpKqsAOj0fHpAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Shalhevet%20Pass&f=false |title=Center of the storm: a case study of human rights abuses in Hebron District|publisher= ]|ISBN=1-56432-260-2|year= 2001 |author= Peter Bouckaert|accessdate=March 16, 2011|pages=64–65}}</ref><ref name=education>{{cite web|url=http://www.education.gov.il/children/page_23.htm|quote=In the afternoon,Yitzhak and Orya Pass took a walk with their daughter Shalhevet from their home in the Beit Hadassah neighborhood to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood where Orya’s parents lived. They heard shots when they reached the entrance to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. Yitzhak fell. |title=Target: Israeli Children |work=|publisher=]}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=69IFhGwrwAAC&pg=PR13&dq=Shalhevet+Pass&hl=en&ei=JUCBTejXGJK8sAPv3tmDAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=Shalhevet%20Pass&f=false |title=Where's My Miracle? |author=Morey Schwartz |publisher= |date=March 26, 2001 |accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref> A Palestinian sniper resumed firing, after a ten minute lull, from the Abu Sneinah neighborhood on the hill opposite.<ref name="google1"/><ref name="google2"/> Shalhevet was killed instantly.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=U9boAAAAIAAJ&q=Shalhevet+Pass&dq=Shalhevet+Pass&hl=en&ei=GEWBTcaYCYfksQO43YHmAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwADgo |title=Israel: Life In The Shadow Of Terror |publisher= |author=Nechemia Coopersmith, Shraga Simmons |date= |accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref> The baby's mother grabbed her and ran with her, only to find that blood was running down her hands.<ref name="google3">{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gqMVfx6dCJkC&pg=PA125&dq=shalhevet+pass+became&hl=en&ei=NDKETaCyMZPWtQOkuJDICg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=shalhevet%20pass%20became&f=false |title=A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism |publisher= |author=Giulio Meotti |year= 2010|accessdate=March 19, 2011}}</ref> One of the sniper's bullets penetrated the baby's head, passing through her skull, and hit her father as well.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9FTxoncXDwwC&pg=PA443&dq=Shalhevet+Pass&hl=en&ei=JUCBTejXGJK8sAPv3tmDAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=Shalhevet%20Pass&f=false |title=Protection of children during armed political conflict: a multidisciplinary perspective|publisher= |author=Charles W. Greenbaum, Philip E. Veerman, Naomi Bacon-Shnoor |year=2006 |accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=y7glZcS7mMgC&pg=PA190&dq=Shalhevet+Pass&hl=en&ei=JUCBTejXGJK8sAPv3tmDAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q=Shalhevet%20Pass&f=false |title=Home to Stay: One American Family's Chronicle of Miracles and Struggles in Contemporary Israel |publisher= Random House|author=Daniel Gordis |year=2003 |accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref> Shalhevet's young father Yitzchak Pass, a student, who had been pushing the stroller, was also seriously wounded minutes later by two bullets.<ref name=google1/><ref name=education/><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Dxno8wNLIXEC&pg=PA171&dq=Shalhevet+Pass&hl=en&ei=szqBTaOZBpKqsAOj0fHpAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=Shalhevet%20Pass&f=false |title=Jerusalem diaries: in tense times |publisher=|year=2001 |author=Judy Lash Balint |accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=0LdyAAAAMAAJ&q=Shalhevet+Pass&dq=Shalhevet+Pass&hl=en&ei=i0OBTbTdApSksQO0ubD_AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwADge |title=Lost years: Bush, Sharon, and failure in the Middle East |publisher= |year=2007 |author=Mark Matthews |accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=N8b9FGJ-WfkC&pg=PA9&dq=Shalhevet+Pass&hl=en&ei=zEWBTbPQMpPmsQOki93_AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEYQ6AEwCDgy#v=onepage&q=Shalhevet%20Pass&f=false |title=The Link |publisher= |author=Nachman Seltzer |year=2006 |accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref> At 4:00 pm on 26 March 2001, Shalhevet was shot in her ] while accompanied by her parents from a parking lot by ]'s Avraham Avinu neighborhood, where the family lived.<ref name="google1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6aLsz14aKJsC&q=Shalhevet+Pass&pg=PA64|title=Center of the storm: a case study of human rights abuses in Hebron District|publisher=]|isbn=1-56432-260-2|year= 2001|author=Peter Bouckaert|access-date=16 March 2011|pages=64–65}}</ref><ref name="education">{{cite web|url=http://www.education.gov.il/children/page_23.htm|quote=In the afternoon, Yitzhak and Orya Pass took a walk with their daughter Shalhevet from their home in the Beit Hadassah neighborhood to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood where Orya's parents lived. They heard shots when they reached the entrance to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. Yitzhak fell.|title=Target: Israeli Children|publisher=]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023202452/http://www.education.gov.il/children/page_23.htm|archive-date=2013-10-23}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=69IFhGwrwAAC&q=Shalhevet+Pass&pg=PR13|title=Where's My Miracle?|author=Morey Schwartz|date=26 March 2001|publisher=Gefen Publishing House |isbn=9789652294845|access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref>


After a ten-minute lull, the Palestinian sniper resumed firing from the Abu Sneinah neighborhood on the hill opposite.<ref name="google1"/><ref name="google2"/> Shalhevet was killed instantly;<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U9boAAAAIAAJ&q=Shalhevet+Pass|title=Israel: Life In The Shadow Of Terror|author1=Nechemia Coopersmith |author2=Shraga Simmons |year=2003|publisher=Targum |isbn=9781568712376|access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref> her mother grabbed her when she heard the gunshots, only to discover that the baby was already dead.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} One of the sniper's bullets penetrated the baby's head, passing through her skull, and hit her father as well.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9FTxoncXDwwC&q=Shalhevet+Pass&pg=PA443 |title=Protection of children during armed political conflict: a multidisciplinary perspective|author1=Charles W. Greenbaum |author2=Philip E. Veerman |author3=Naomi Bacon-Shnoor |year=2006|publisher=Intersentia nv |isbn=9789050953412|access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7glZcS7mMgC&q=Shalhevet+Pass&pg=PA190|title=Home to Stay: One American Family's Chronicle of Miracles and Struggles in Contemporary Israel|publisher= Random House|author=Daniel Gordis|year=2003|isbn=9780307530905|access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref> Shalhevet's father, Yitzchak Pass, a student, who had been pushing the stroller, was also seriously wounded minutes later by two bullets.<ref name=google1/><ref name="education" /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/jerusalemdiaries00bali|url-access=registration|page=|quote=Shalhevet Pass.|title=Jerusalem diaries: in tense times|publisher=Gefen Publishing House Ltd|year=2001|author=Judy Lash Balint|isbn=9789652292711|access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0LdyAAAAMAAJ&q=Shalhevet+Pass|title=Lost years: Bush, Sharon, and failure in the Middle East|year=2007|author=Mark Matthews|publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=9781568583327|access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N8b9FGJ-WfkC&q=Shalhevet+Pass&pg=PA9|title=The Link|author=Nachman Seltzer|year=2006|publisher=Targum Press |isbn=9781568714011|access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref>
Press accounts indicated that at the time of the shooting: "The ... playground was swarming with children because new sand had been delivered to the sandbox."<ref name="google1"/> According to settler accounts, another girl playing in the sandbox nearby had a bullets pass through her clothing and narrowly escaped injury, while a third had her finger grazed by a bullet.<ref name="google1"/>


Press accounts indicated that the playground was very busy at the time, because a load of new sand had recently been delivered.<ref name="google1"/> According to unconfirmed accounts, another child was grazed by a bullet and two more had bullets pass through their clothing.<ref name="google1"/>
== Aftermath ==
The murder of Shalhevet Pass, which came relatively early in the ], produced vocal outrage in Israel and abroad. The nation mourned the killing of the baby.<ref name="google3"/>


==Aftermath==
Prime Minister ] condemned the attack and sent his condolences to the Pass family. Sharon also stated that he saw the Palestinian Authority responsible for the attack.
]
The murder, which occurred during the ], produced vocal outrage in Israel and abroad. The nation mourned the killing of the baby.{{Clarify|date=February 2022}}


The Jewish community in Hebron demanded that the Israeli army reoccupy the Abu Sneineh neighborhood in Hebron, and the Pass family even stated that they would not bury their baby until the IDF would reoccupy the Abu Sneineh neighborhood.<ref name="google1"/> Prime Minister ] condemned the attack and sent his condolences to the Pass family. Sharon also stated that he saw the ] as responsible for the attack. The Jewish community in Hebron demanded that the ] (IDF) reoccupy the Abu Sneineh neighborhood, and the Pass family even stated that they would not bury their baby until the IDF did so.<ref name="google1"/>

After the murder of Shalhevet Pass, the Jewish community in Hebron looted and burned shops at the western area of Hebron as well as buildings of the ]. During the two months that followed the murder of Shalhevet Pass three shooting attacks were carried out against Palestinians vehicles in which one Palestinian was killed and seven were wounded. An unknown body named "Gilad Shalhevet" took responsibility for the attacks and stated that they were carried out in revenge for the murder of Shalhevet Pass.

In 2003, Yitzhak Pass was captured along with his brother, Matityahu Shabu, while they had explosives in their possession. As a result, Yitzhak was convicted of possession of weapons and was sentenced to two years in prison. The court noted that it was not proven that Yitzhak and Matityahu's true intention was ideologically motivated and designed to avenge his daughter by harming Arabs, but because the defendants did not provide an explanation for their actions the court concluded that they possessed the explosives for an illegal purpose.


===Capture and trial of killer=== ===Capture and trial of killer===
The Palestinian Authority initially arrested the sniper but released him after a short while. On December 9, 2002 the ] managed to capture the sniper – the ] member Mahmud Amru. The Palestinian Authority initially arrested the sniper, but released him after a short while. On 9 December 2002 the ] managed to capture the sniper—] member Mahmud Amru. In December 2004, a military court convicted the killer and sentenced him to three ]s.<ref>BBC Monitoring Newsfile, 16 December 2004, quoting Ma'ariv web site, Tel Aviv, in English. Retrieved 12 August 2015.</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Baby's murderer gets three life sentences|publisher=Jerusalem Post|date=16 December 2004|author=Margot Dudkevitch|page=2}}</ref>


According to the Israeli government, an investigation concluded that the sniper had intentionally targeted the baby.<ref name="google1"/><ref name="education2">{{cite web|url=http://www.education.gov.il/children/page_23.htm|quote=On Monday, 26 March 2001, a Palestinian sniper aimed his rifle and opened fire at 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass in Hebron, while she was lying in her stroller. Shalhevet was killed by a bullet to the head.|title=Target: Israeli Children|publisher=]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023202452/http://www.education.gov.il/children/page_23.htm|archive-date=23 October 2013}}</ref> A spokesperson for Prime Minister ] said: <blockquote>The fact that they could pick off the baby and then the father makes this a hideous, deliberate, cold-blooded murder. Snipers are not just gun-toting youth.... If Arafat had wanted, the sniper would not have been there.<ref name="google1"/></blockquote>
In December 2004 a military court convicted the killer and sentenced him to three life terms.<ref>BBC Monitoring Newsfile, Dec 16, 2004, quoting Ma'ariv web site, Tel Aviv, in English 16 Dec 04</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Baby's murderer gets three life sentences | publisher = Jerusalem Post | date = 16 Dec 2004 | author =Margot Dudkevitch | page = 2}}</ref>


In the verdict the judges expressed their shock of the brutality of the murder:<blockquote>It was enough for one bullet, fired from a sniper rifle, to end the life of the infant Shalhevet Pass, who up to that event was unknown to the wide public, and just lived her life as all other children, until one day as the evening came she was hit in her head, and she died, and Shalhevet whom was still small and in her infant stage, was sentenced to death by a vile killer whom intentionally, using a ], pulled the trigger. The picture of the shot baby is on our table, is engraved in our minds and does not give peace to our souls. We cannot understand and we cannot accept the unbearable ease with which the killer decided to harm a helpless person.... We the judges are only humans and we cannot see anything else but the image which emerges in our senses, an image full of hate, blood and bereavement. We must not accept this image and we need to do everything we can to condemn it.</blockquote>
According to the Israeli government, an investigation concluded that the professional snipers had intentionally targeted the baby.<ref name="google1"/><ref name=education>{{cite web|url=http://www.education.gov.il/children/page_23.htm|quote=On Monday, March 26, 2001 a Palestinian sniper aimed his rifle and opened fire at 10-month old Shalhevet Pass in Hebron, while she was lying in her stroller. Shalhevet was killed by a bullet to the head. |title=Target: Israeli Children |work=|publisher=]}}</ref> A spokesperson for Prime Minister ] said: <blockquote>The fact that they could pick off the baby and then the father makes this a hideous, deliberate, cold-blooded murder. Snipers are not just gun-toting youth... If Arafat had wanted, the sniper would not have been there.<ref name="google1"/></blockquote>
]


Yitzchak Pass, the child's father, later joined the ] terrorist group which planned to blow up a Palestinian girls' school in ]. He was eventually arrested and convicted for possession of 10 pounds of explosive, consequently serving a two-year prison sentence.<ref>"." '']''. Retrieved 12 August 2015.</ref>
In the verdict the judges expressed their shock of the brutality of the murder:
<blockquote>"It was enough for one bullet, fired from a sniper rifle, to end the life of the infant Shalhevet Pass, who up to that event was unknown to the wide public, and just lived her life as all other children, until one day as the evening came she was hit in her head, and her she died, and Shalhevet whom was still small and and in her infant stage, was sentenced to death by a vile killer whom intentionally, using a ], pulled the trigger. The picture of the shot baby is on our table, is engraved in our minds and does not give peace to our souls. We can not understand and we can not accept the unbearable ease in which the killer decided to harm a helpless person... We the judges are only humans and we can not see anything else but image which emerges is our senses, an image full of hate, blood and bereavement. We must not accept this image and we need to do everything we can to condemn it."</blockquote>


== Reactions == ===Media reaction===
The ] ran the story with the headline "Jewish toddler dies in West Bank",<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-42968508.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105185927/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-42968508.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 November 2012|title=Jewish Toddler Dies in West Bank|agency=Associated Press|date=26 March 2001|access-date=19 March 2011}}</ref> and was criticized by Joshua Levy in his book ''The Agony of the Promised Land'' for downplaying the murder.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NDFVo91gN8MC&q=shalhevet+pass+associated+press&pg=PA165|title=The Agony of the Promised Land|author=Joshua Levy|publisher=iUniverse|year=2004|isbn=9780595321339|access-date=8 January 2013}}</ref>
===Official reactions===
{{Expand section|date=September 2011}}
]


The '']'', the ]'s official radio station, reported that the report of the girl's shooting death was a lie, and that the girl's mother had murdered her own baby.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/terrornewantisem00fiam|url-access=registration|quote=Shalhevet Pass.|title=Terror: the new anti-semitism and the war against the West|author=Fiamma Nirenstein|publisher=Smith and Kraus|year=2005|access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8O4sAQAAIAAJ&q=Shalhevet+Pass |title=AMIT magazine|year=2001|access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/15406/palestinian-radio-reports-israeli-mother-killed-baby|title=Palestinian radio reports Israeli mother killed baby|publisher=Jweekly|date=6 April 2001|access-date=19 March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/010615/media.shtml|title=Media spawns anti-Semitic propaganda|publisher=Jewish News of Greater Phoenix|date=15 June 2001|author=Michael Chabin|access-date=19 March 2011|archive-date=18 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318075207/http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/010615/media.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-79386942.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105185943/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-79386942.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 November 2012|title=News at a Glance|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date=4 April 2001|access-date=19 March 2011}}</ref>
== Reactions in the media ==
The ] ran the story with the headline "Jewish toddler dies in West Bank".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-42968508.html |title=Jewish Toddler Dies in West Bank |agency=Associated Press |author= |date=March 26, 2001 |accessdate=March 19, 2011}}</ref>


==In popular culture==
The ], the ]'s official radio station, reported that the report of the girl's shooting death was a lie, and that instead the girl's mother had murdered her own baby.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=D_UvAQAAIAAJ&q=Shalhevet+Pass&dq=Shalhevet+Pass&hl=en&ei=i0OBTbTdApSksQO0ubD_AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEwQ6AEwCDge |title=Terror: the new anti-semitism and the war against the West|author=Fiamma Nirenstein |publisher=Smith and Kraus |year= 2005|accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=8O4sAQAAIAAJ&q=Shalhevet+Pass&dq=Shalhevet+Pass&hl=en&ei=GEWBTcaYCYfksQO43YHmAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAjgo |title=AMIT magazine |publisher= |author= |year=2001 |accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/15406/palestinian-radio-reports-israeli-mother-killed-baby/ |title=Palestinian radio reports Israeli mother killed baby |publisher=Jweekly |date=April 6, 2001 |author= |accessdate=March 19, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/010615/media.shtml |title=Media spawns anti-Semitic propaganda|publisher=Jewish News of Greater Phoenix|date=June 15, 2001 |author= Michael Chabin|accessdate=March 19, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-79386942.html |title=News at a Glance|author= |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=April 4, 2001 |accessdate=March 19, 2011}}</ref>
A song was dedicated to the memory of "Baby Shalhevet", sung by ] at a concert in Hebron. The song was written by Fried's brother, Rabbi ].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.col.org.il/pics/inbox/.146023_0631634.wma|title=Baby Shalhevet|access-date=16 March 2011|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923205442/http://www.col.org.il/pics/inbox/.146023_0631634.wma|url-status=dead}}</ref>


==See also==
== In popular culture ==
* ]
A song was dedicated to the memory of "Baby Shalhevet", sung by ] at a concert in Hebron, and was written by his brother Rabbi ].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.col.org.il/pics/inbox/.146023_0631634.wma |title=. |publisher= |date= |author= |accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref>
* ]

== See also ==
* ] * ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ]


==References== ==References==
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==External links== ==External links==
* - published on ] on March 27, 2001‎ * – published on ] on March 27, 2001
* - published on ] on April 2, 2001‎ * – published on ] on April 2, 2001
* - published on ] on March 28, 2001‎ * – published on ] on March 28, 2001
* *
* - published on education.gov.il * - published on education.gov.il
* - published on aish.com * {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060529230557/http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/mediaobjectivity/Media_Critique_20_-_Toddler_Dies.asp |date=29 May 2006 }} - published on aish.com


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Latest revision as of 13:08, 8 October 2024

Killing of an Israeli baby by a Palestinian sniper in Hebron

Murder of Shalhevet Pass
Part of the Second Intifada militancy campaign
Murder of Shalhevet Pass is located in the Southern West BankMurder of Shalhevet Passclass=notpageimage| The attack site
Native nameרצח שלהבת תחיה פס
LocationAvraham Avinu neighborhood, Hebron, West Bank
Coordinates31°31′25″N 35°06′25″E / 31.52361°N 35.10694°E / 31.52361; 35.10694
Date26 March 2001; 23 years ago (2001-03-26)
c. 4:00 pm (GMT+2)
Attack typeShooting attack
WeaponSniper rifle
DeathsA ten-month-old Israeli infant (Shalhevet Pass)
PerpetratorTanzim militant group
AssailantMahmud Amru

The murder of Shalhevet Pass was a shooting attack carried out in Hebron, West Bank, on 26 March 2001, in which a Palestinian sniper killed 10-month-old Israeli infant Shalhevet Pass. The event shocked the Israeli public, partly because an investigation ruled that the sniper had deliberately aimed for the baby. According to Deborah Sontag of the New York Times, the murder became a "potent Israeli symbol as an innocent victim of the raging violence."

The murder

At 4:00 pm on 26 March 2001, Shalhevet was shot in her stroller while accompanied by her parents from a parking lot by Hebron's Avraham Avinu neighborhood, where the family lived.

After a ten-minute lull, the Palestinian sniper resumed firing from the Abu Sneinah neighborhood on the hill opposite. Shalhevet was killed instantly; her mother grabbed her when she heard the gunshots, only to discover that the baby was already dead. One of the sniper's bullets penetrated the baby's head, passing through her skull, and hit her father as well. Shalhevet's father, Yitzchak Pass, a student, who had been pushing the stroller, was also seriously wounded minutes later by two bullets.

Press accounts indicated that the playground was very busy at the time, because a load of new sand had recently been delivered. According to unconfirmed accounts, another child was grazed by a bullet and two more had bullets pass through their clothing.

Aftermath

Tombstone of Shalhevet Pass

The murder, which occurred during the Second Intifada, produced vocal outrage in Israel and abroad. The nation mourned the killing of the baby.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon condemned the attack and sent his condolences to the Pass family. Sharon also stated that he saw the Palestinian Authority as responsible for the attack. The Jewish community in Hebron demanded that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reoccupy the Abu Sneineh neighborhood, and the Pass family even stated that they would not bury their baby until the IDF did so.

Capture and trial of killer

The Palestinian Authority initially arrested the sniper, but released him after a short while. On 9 December 2002 the Shin Bet managed to capture the sniper—Tanzim member Mahmud Amru. In December 2004, a military court convicted the killer and sentenced him to three life terms.

According to the Israeli government, an investigation concluded that the sniper had intentionally targeted the baby. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said:

The fact that they could pick off the baby and then the father makes this a hideous, deliberate, cold-blooded murder. Snipers are not just gun-toting youth.... If Arafat had wanted, the sniper would not have been there.

In the verdict the judges expressed their shock of the brutality of the murder:

It was enough for one bullet, fired from a sniper rifle, to end the life of the infant Shalhevet Pass, who up to that event was unknown to the wide public, and just lived her life as all other children, until one day as the evening came she was hit in her head, and she died, and Shalhevet whom was still small and in her infant stage, was sentenced to death by a vile killer whom intentionally, using a Telescopic sight, pulled the trigger. The picture of the shot baby is on our table, is engraved in our minds and does not give peace to our souls. We cannot understand and we cannot accept the unbearable ease with which the killer decided to harm a helpless person.... We the judges are only humans and we cannot see anything else but the image which emerges in our senses, an image full of hate, blood and bereavement. We must not accept this image and we need to do everything we can to condemn it.

Memorial to Shalhevet Pass, Hebron

Yitzchak Pass, the child's father, later joined the Bat Ayin Underground terrorist group which planned to blow up a Palestinian girls' school in East Jerusalem. He was eventually arrested and convicted for possession of 10 pounds of explosive, consequently serving a two-year prison sentence.

Media reaction

The Associated Press ran the story with the headline "Jewish toddler dies in West Bank", and was criticized by Joshua Levy in his book The Agony of the Promised Land for downplaying the murder.

The Voice of Palestine, the Palestinian Authority's official radio station, reported that the report of the girl's shooting death was a lie, and that the girl's mother had murdered her own baby.

In popular culture

A song was dedicated to the memory of "Baby Shalhevet", sung by Avraham Fried at a concert in Hebron. The song was written by Fried's brother, Rabbi Manis Friedman.

See also

References

  1. Yonah Alexander (2003). Palestinian secular terrorism: profiles of Fatah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Transnational Publishers. ISBN 9781571053077. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  2. ^ Peter Bouckaert (2001). Center of the storm: a case study of human rights abuses in Hebron District. Human Rights Watch. pp. 64–65. ISBN 1-56432-260-2. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  3. Sontag, Deborah. 2 April 2001. Israeli Baby's Funeral Becomes Focus of Settler Militancy." The New York Times.
  4. ^ "Target: Israeli Children". Israeli Ministry of Education. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. In the afternoon, Yitzhak and Orya Pass took a walk with their daughter Shalhevet from their home in the Beit Hadassah neighborhood to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood where Orya's parents lived. They heard shots when they reached the entrance to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. Yitzhak fell.
  5. ^ Morey Schwartz (26 March 2001). Where's My Miracle?. Gefen Publishing House. ISBN 9789652294845. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  6. Nechemia Coopersmith; Shraga Simmons (2003). Israel: Life In The Shadow Of Terror. Targum. ISBN 9781568712376. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  7. Charles W. Greenbaum; Philip E. Veerman; Naomi Bacon-Shnoor (2006). Protection of children during armed political conflict: a multidisciplinary perspective. Intersentia nv. ISBN 9789050953412. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  8. Daniel Gordis (2003). Home to Stay: One American Family's Chronicle of Miracles and Struggles in Contemporary Israel. Random House. ISBN 9780307530905. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  9. Judy Lash Balint (2001). Jerusalem diaries: in tense times. Gefen Publishing House Ltd. p. 171. ISBN 9789652292711. Retrieved 16 March 2011. Shalhevet Pass.
  10. Mark Matthews (2007). Lost years: Bush, Sharon, and failure in the Middle East. PublicAffairs. ISBN 9781568583327. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  11. Nachman Seltzer (2006). The Link. Targum Press. ISBN 9781568714011. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  12. BBC Monitoring Newsfile, 16 December 2004, quoting Ma'ariv web site, Tel Aviv, in English. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  13. Margot Dudkevitch (16 December 2004). "Baby's murderer gets three life sentences". Jerusalem Post. p. 2.
  14. "Target: Israeli Children". Israeli Ministry of Education. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. On Monday, 26 March 2001, a Palestinian sniper aimed his rifle and opened fire at 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass in Hebron, while she was lying in her stroller. Shalhevet was killed by a bullet to the head.
  15. "Pass released from prison." Israel National News. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  16. "Jewish Toddler Dies in West Bank". Associated Press. 26 March 2001. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  17. Joshua Levy (2004). The Agony of the Promised Land. iUniverse. ISBN 9780595321339. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  18. Fiamma Nirenstein (2005). Terror: the new anti-semitism and the war against the West. Smith and Kraus. Retrieved 16 March 2011. Shalhevet Pass.
  19. AMIT magazine. 2001. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  20. "Palestinian radio reports Israeli mother killed baby". Jweekly. 6 April 2001. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  21. Michael Chabin (15 June 2001). "Media spawns anti-Semitic propaganda". Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  22. "News at a Glance". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 4 April 2001. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  23. Baby Shalhevet. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2011.

External links

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