Deaths 15 Israeli civilians Date 4 July 1975 Attack type Bomb | Non-fatal injuries 77 Israeli civilians Location Jerusalem, Israel | |
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Perpetrators One Palestinian assailant (Ahmed Jabara). The Palestine Liberation Organization claimed responsibility. | ||
The Zion Square refrigerator bombing was a terrorist attack in downtown Jerusalem, Israel on Friday, July 4, 1975 in which 15 civilians were killed and 77 wounded.
Contents
The attack
A Palestinian terrorist exploded a booby-trapped refrigerator which contained five kilograms of explosives in Zion Square in the center of Jerusalem, killing 15 people and wounding 77. A Jewish passerby, Shabtai Levi, helped the terrorist hoist the refrigerator onto the sidewalk. The refrigerator aroused the suspicions of Esther Landner and Yehuda Warshovsky, who worked near Zion Square. Landner called the police but as she was answering their questions, the refrigerator blew up.
Fatalities
Among the dead were Rivka (née Soifer) Ben-Yitzhak, 35, an American citizen, and her husband, Michael, who left behind two small children. The Ben-Yitzhak Award, presented annually to an outstanding children's book illustrator by the Israel Museum, was established in their memory. Daoud Khoury, an Arab accountant at the King David Hotel, was also killed in the attack.
Perpetrators
Palestinian militant group PLO claimed responsibility for the attack. Later on it was revealed that the attack was executed by the Arab-American Ahmed Jabara, aka Abu Sukar, whom originated from Turmus Ayya. Jabara was assisted by Bassem Tabila of Nablus, who fled to Jordan before he could be arrested.
Following an investigation by Shin Bet and the Israel Police, Jabara was arrested and put on trial before a military court in June 1977. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison and an additional 30 years.
In 2003, Ahmed Jabara was released from prison after having served 27 years, after the Israeli government freed him as a gesture to Yasser Arafat. Shortly after his release, Jabara called for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers at a rally in Bethlehem that was widely covered by the Palestinian media. Arafat subsequently appointed him adviser on prisoner affairs. Jabara died of a heart attack in Ramallah on July 17, 2013, at age 78.