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The Bat Mitzvah massacre was a suicide attack carried out in January 2002 by al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in which a Palestinian gunman hurling grenades killed six and wounded 33 in a Bat Mitzvah celebration, a traditional Jewish celebration held for a 12-year-old girl, in Hadera, Israel.

The attack happened at 9:45 p.m. as guests were departing. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades said it was vengeance for the killing of one of its leaders. An Israeli police spokesman said the man, apparently on a suicide mission, had detonated explosives on him and thrown several grenades into the Armon David wedding hall, where the Bat Mitzvah celebration took place. A belt filled with explosives was found on the attacker.

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

Media coverage

U.S. networks showed amateur video of the bat mitzvah massacre, and also a video made earlier by the killer, who is seen declaring: "I am doing this to avenge all the Palestinian martyrs."

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 Israeli accusations about how many people Raed Karmi had killed when covering his assassination several days earlier, which would have provided a context for the story.

International response

In Washington, the Bush administration condemned the Hadera attack "in the strongest possible terms," calling it a "horrific act of terrorism."

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

References

2. ^ Bat mitzvah massacre in Israel leaves seven dead, By Phil Reeves, 18 January 2002
3. ^ Gunman kills 6 Israelis; jets fire missiles in response, January 18, 2002. CNN
4. ^ Perspectives on war. By Hickey, Neil, Columbia Journalism Review, March 1 2002

• Israeli casualties in the Second Intifada
• Suicide bombing in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
• Terrorist incidents in 2002
• 2002 in Israel
• Massacres in Israel
• Massacres in Israel during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
• Terrorist attacks attributed to Palestinian militant groups
• Fatah