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Lessons From The Sbarro Bombing

(New York Jewish Week) Frimet Roth - On Aug. 9, 2001, the Hamas terror organization dispatched a suicide bomber to the Sbarro restaurant in the center of Jerusalem, killing 15 innocents and wounding 150. My precious 15-year-old daughter, Malki, was one of the dead. Conventional wisdom holds that terrorists are deprived individuals, desperate and with nothing to lose. But my daughter's murderer was a privileged university student, the son of a prosperous, land-owning restaurateur, and a newly religious Muslim who lacked for nothing. Members of terror organizations are depicted frequently as fringe elements unsupported by the establishment, but the father of my daughter's murderer freely admitted to NBC that he has been receiving compensation payments since the massacre. The channeling of government money to institutions that support terrorism is illegal under U.S. law, but enforcement has been strikingly lax. In September 2001, a replica of the bombed Sbarro premises was constructed on the grounds of Al-Najah University in Nablus. Streams of Palestinians, including children, visited the display paying homage to the perpetrators of the atrocity. The U.S. Agency for International Development has been funding Palestinian universities, including Al-Najah, to the tune of $41 million. Five of these, Al-Najah included, have on-campus Hamas and Islamic Jihad chapters, though they are deemed terror organizations.
2005-08-12 00:00:00
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