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On May 8, 2001, the boys skipped school and went hiking in the ] surrounding their village.<ref name=Guardian/> At first, their parents did not worry about the boys. They believed that they had gone to ], but when the boys did not come home by midnight, their parents informed the authorities.<ref name=JPost/><ref name=USA/> On May 8, 2001, the boys skipped school and went hiking in the ] surrounding their village.<ref name=Guardian/> At first, their parents did not worry about the boys. They believed that they had gone to ], but when the boys did not come home by midnight, their parents informed the authorities.<ref name=JPost/><ref name=USA/>


The bodies of two boys were discovered the next day in a cave near the ] settlement where they lived. '']'' reported that, according to the police, both boys had "been bound, stabbed and beaten to death with rocks". ''USA Today'' continued, "The walls of the cave in the Judean Desert were covered with the boys' blood, reportedly smeared there by the killers"<ref name=USA/> "who dipped their hands in the blood of the victims."<ref name=aish/> There were also "] screeds on the cave's wall".<ref name=Aliya/> Those "screeds" were written with the boys' blood.<ref name=Aliya/> The bodies of two boys were discovered the next day in a cave near the ] settlement where they lived. '']'' reported that, according to the police, both boys had "been bound, stabbed and beaten to death with rocks". ''USA Today'' continued, "The walls of the cave in the Judean Desert were covered with the boys' blood, reportedly smeared there by the killers"<ref name=USA/> "who dipped their hands in the blood of the victims."<ref name=aish/>


Miro Cohen, a sheep farmer described the scene to '']'' magazine reporter: "A rock the size of a computer rested on Kobi's smashed skull. Both bodies were covered with stones. Blood smeared the walls, and the dirt floor was muddy with it. When the searchers rolled the rocks away, they didn't see faces but unrecognizable pulp."<ref name=Time/> Miro Cohen, a sheep farmer described the scene to '']'' magazine reporter: "A rock the size of a computer rested on Kobi's smashed skull. Both bodies were covered with stones. Blood smeared the walls, and the dirt floor was muddy with it. When the searchers rolled the rocks away, they didn't see faces but unrecognizable pulp."<ref name=Time/>
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<ref name=Dilemmas>{{cite web|title= Dilemmas Of Weak States: Africa And Transnational Terrorism In The Twenty-First Century (Contemporary Perspectives on Developing Societies) |date=Oct 30, 2004|ISBN=978-0754642008|publisher=]|author = Tatah Mentan|page = 90-91 |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=nLvQklv5690C&pg=PA90&dq=murder+of+%22Kobi+Mandell%22&hl=en&ei=8IWOTZmYJ8y2twemgp2vDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-preview-link&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQuwUwAQ#v=onepage&q=%20%22Kobi%20Mandell%22&f=false|accessdate=11 March 2011}}</ref> <ref name=Dilemmas>{{cite web|title= Dilemmas Of Weak States: Africa And Transnational Terrorism In The Twenty-First Century (Contemporary Perspectives on Developing Societies) |date=Oct 30, 2004|ISBN=978-0754642008|publisher=]|author = Tatah Mentan|page = 90-91 |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=nLvQklv5690C&pg=PA90&dq=murder+of+%22Kobi+Mandell%22&hl=en&ei=8IWOTZmYJ8y2twemgp2vDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-preview-link&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQuwUwAQ#v=onepage&q=%20%22Kobi%20Mandell%22&f=false|accessdate=11 March 2011}}</ref>


<ref name=Aliya>{{cite web|title= Aliya: Three Generations of American-Jewish Immigration to Israel|date=August 7, 2007|ISBN=0312315163|publisher=]|author = Liel Leibovitz|page = xi |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=SxPM2C2Oo14C&pg=PR11&dq=%22kobi+mandell%22+may+2001&hl=en&ei=VHmFTeDtO4iisAOjlrjzAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-preview-link&resnum=1&ved=0CC0QuwUwAA#v=onepage&q=%22kobi%20mandell%22%20may%202001&f=false|accessdate=11 March 2011}}</ref>


<ref name=Rubin>{{cite web|title= Chronologies of modern terrorism <ref name=Rubin>{{cite web|title= Chronologies of modern terrorism

Revision as of 15:09, 28 March 2011

The Murder of Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran was a terror attack which occurred on May 8, 2001, in which Palestinian terrorists killed two Israeli-American teenagers, Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran, in the outskirts of the Israeli settlement of Tekoa in the West Bank, where the two lived.

Disappearance and discovery of the bodies

Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran were two Israeli teens, 13 and 14 years old. Koby was a citizen of both United States and Israel. The boys lived and attended school in Tekoa, Gush Etzion.

On May 8, 2001, the boys skipped school and went hiking in the Judean Desert surrounding their village. At first, their parents did not worry about the boys. They believed that they had gone to Jerusalem, but when the boys did not come home by midnight, their parents informed the authorities.

The bodies of two boys were discovered the next day in a cave near the West Bank settlement where they lived. USA Today reported that, according to the police, both boys had "been bound, stabbed and beaten to death with rocks". USA Today continued, "The walls of the cave in the Judean Desert were covered with the boys' blood, reportedly smeared there by the killers" "who dipped their hands in the blood of the victims."

Miro Cohen, a sheep farmer described the scene to Time magazine reporter: "A rock the size of a computer rested on Kobi's smashed skull. Both bodies were covered with stones. Blood smeared the walls, and the dirt floor was muddy with it. When the searchers rolled the rocks away, they didn't see faces but unrecognizable pulp."

The police tried to figure out if the boys were lured to the cave, or if their bodies were deposited in the cave after the murders. After forensic examination, the bodies, which were mutilated beyond recognition, together with blood-stained rocks were taken out of the cave.

The boys' funeral was attended by thousands of people.

Claiming responsibility and Israeli and Palestinian reaction

A few news agencies were called anonymously. The caller claimed the attack had been carried out by "a group called Hizbullah-Palestine." The caller said the boys were killed as revenge for the death of a four-month-old Palestinian baby, Iman Hiju, who had become the youngest victim of violence when an Israeli tank fired at the home in which the baby lived. Ariel Sharon had issued an apology for the accidental killing, stressing that the "soldiers did not intend to kill her."

In his 2007 book Chronologies of Modern Terrorism, Barry Rubin named Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine as the terrorist group responsible. In his 2002 book Encyclopedia of Terrorism Harvey W. Kushner names Islamic Jihad and a Palestinian splinter group of Hezbollah as the terrorist group responsible.

In his book Dilemmas of Weak States: Africa And Transnational Terrorism In The Twenty-First Century (Contemporary Perspectives on Developing Societies) Tatah Mentan writes "Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah-Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack."

The murder is listed in Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism since September 2000 published by Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)

RAND Corporation that is nonprofit global policy think tank first organisation formed to offer research and analysis to the United States armed forces by Douglas Aircraft Company states in its report: "On May 8, 2001, two Palestinian terrorists stoned 13-year-old Koby to death in a cave where he had been playing near his home in Tekoa, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank".

Ariel Sharon blamed the murder on the Palestinian Authority. Sharon said that Palestinian security forces do nothing to stop the terrorists from murdering innocent civilians. He said that Palestinian TV was promoting the violence by "by broadcasting music videos filled with images of children throwing stones." Yasser Arafat responded by blaming Israel for "victimizing Palestinian children". "He cited a 3-month-old Palestinian girl, Reema Ahmed, who was wounded Wednesday during an Israeli shooting attack on a Gaza refugee camp."

Shlomo Riskin, a rabbi from Efrat, said:

The profound distinction between Israel and its enemies is that if a child is killed by Israel, it is in an act of defense directed at a building where shots were fired at soldiers. In the case of Kobi and Yossi and Shalhevet, the enemy picked out innocent children to destroy them.

The spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, Saeb Erekat said, "The Palestinian Authority regrets the loss of life of these two boys and all children, be it Israeli or Palestinian, Jewish, Muslim or Christian." He added, "the short way for peace and stability is finishing the Israeli occupation."

Reactions

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2011)
  • State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the killings of the Israeli boys "horrible, brutal."
  • Pope John Paul II, speaking in Malta, said he was saddened by "news from the Holy Land of terrible violence even against innocent young people."
  • Journalist Caroline Glick said "The details of the butchery are unspeakable."

Koby Mandell Act

As a result of the murder, several legislators introduced the Koby Mandell Act, which reprimanded the State Department for, as it said, not doing enough about Palestinian terrorists who had harmed American citizens, and which would create an Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism in the Department of Justice. The legislation was spearheaded by Morton Klein's Zionist Organization of America but was not a priority of other Jewish groups, who said that it did more to reprimand the State Department rather than support counter-terrorism: by targeting only Palestinian terrorists, they said, it was too narrow in its scope and would not, for example, have been able to deal with the murder of Daniel Pearl. The provisions of the law which created the office were eventually incorporated into a 2004 omnibus spending bill.

The Koby Mandell Foundation and comedy show

The mission of the Koby Mandell Foundation, set up by his parents Seth and Sherri Mandell, is to "work to bridge the isolation that bereaved children and adults are struck with after the loss of a loved one." Leonard A. Cole, in his book Terror: how Israel has coped and what America can learn, writes that Koby's parents are determined "to take the cruelty of Koby's murder and transform it into kindness." Both Seth and Sherri Mandell reject responding to violence with violence. Seth Mandell says that "Throwing stones at Arab houses makes us as bad as the Arabs, and is not an intelligent response." Urging against the violence he says: "There’s plenty of stuff that can be done that is non-violent and makes a point." Sherri Mandell says that "Revenge, to her, means they have won".

Koby's parents also organized comedy shows to commemorate the memory of their son, who they say loved jokes.

External links

References

  1. ^ MARGOT DUDKEVITCH, HERB KEINON, Janine Zacharia,Itim (May 10, 2001). "Terrorists murder teens near Tekoa. Sharon demands PA halt terror". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 11 March 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Matthew Kalman (6/20/2001). "Two Israeli teenagers stoned to death". USA Today. Retrieved 24 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. "Two Israeli boys found bludgeoned to death". guardian.co.uk. May 9, 2001. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  4. ^ Seth and Sherri Mandell (May 10, 2001). "The 'Good' Terrorist. When a man sprays machine-gun fire at a busload of schoolchildren, is that activism, militancy -- or just plain terror?". aish.com. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  5. Matt Rees With Reporting By Aharon Klein/Tekoa (21 May, 2001). "The Terrible Tide Of Blood". Time (magazine). Retrieved 11 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Matthew Kalman (6/20/2001). "Stoning to Death' of Israeli Youths Fuels Tension". ABC News. Retrieved 11 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. Barry M. Rubin and Judith Colp Rubin (December 31, 2007). "Chronologies of modern terrorism". M.E. Sharpe. p. 219. ISBN 978-0765620477. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  8. Harvey W. Kushner (December 4, 2002). "Encyclopedia of terrorism". SAGE Publications. p. 467. ISBN 978-0761924081. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  9. Tatah Mentan (Oct 30, 2004). "Dilemmas Of Weak States: Africa And Transnational Terrorism In The Twenty-First Century (Contemporary Perspectives on Developing Societies)". Ashgate Publishing. p. 90-91. ISBN 978-0754642008. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  10. "Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism since September 2000". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel). Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  11. Bruce Hoffman, Anna-Britt Kasupski. "The Victims of Terrorism An Assessment of Their Influence and Growing Role in Policy, Legislation, and the Private Sector" (PDF). RAND Corporation. p. 46. Retrieved 11 March 2011. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |title= at position 25 (help)
  12. ^ JOEL GREENBERG (10 May, 2001). "2 Jewish Teenagers Are Beaten to Death in the West Bank". New York Times. Retrieved 11 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |authors= (help)
  13. "Israeli teenagers 'stoned to death'". BBC. 9 May, 2001. Retrieved 11 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Israeli teenagers stoned to death". Daily Mail. 9 May, 2001. Retrieved 11 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |authors= (help)
  15. Caroline Glick (12/31/2010). "Column One: Hizbullah and the info war". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 11 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. Berger, Matthew E. (December 16, 2004). "Bill Cracks Down on Killers of Americans". Jewish Journal.
  17. . gpo.gov. SEPTEMBER 15, 2004. p. 184 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-108srpt344/pdf/CRPT-108srpt344.pdf. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. ^ DAVID HOROVITZ (12/14/2010). "The funny business of remembering Koby Mandell". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 11 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ "The Koby Mandell Foundation". kobymandell.org.
  20. Leonard A. Cole (June 2007). "Terror: how Israel has coped and what America can". Indiana University Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0253349187. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  21. MELANIE LIDMAN (3/4/2011). "'They won't understand how the world can continue'". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 11 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. Marnie Winston-Macauley (March 1, 2007). "Yiddishe Mamas: The Truth About the Jewish Mother". Andrews McMeel Publishing . p. 307. ISBN 978-0740763762. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
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