Israel Strikes at Terrorist Training Camp in Syria After Another Bloody Massacre Inside Israel

Medics rush a wounded youth away from the site of a homicide bombing in a restaurant in the northern Israeli city of Haifa Saturday Oct. 4, 2003. A female Palestinian homicide bomber blew herself up in the Arab-owned Maxim beach restaurant Saturday, killing at least 19 people and wounding about 40 in one of the deadliest attacks in the past three years and raising the possibility Israel might take action against Yasser Arafat. Alon Israel / AP Photo

A 29-year-old Arab-Palestinian woman from Jenin (and a member of Islamic Jihad) managed to get past the Arab security guard at Maxim’s, a popular seaside family restaurant in Haifa, Israel wearing high explosives around her chest area. After gaining entrance to the restaurant, she detonated the explosives, murdering 19 innocent people, of which many were young children and their parents, and wounded over 60 other patrons who had gathered for lunch. The bomb did extensive damage, mostly due to the shrapnel (screws and nails) fired from it. So bloody was the attack that Israeli officials had to scrape body parts off the ceiling of the restaurant. Two small children, their parents and their grandmother were among the victims, effectively destroying 3 generations, which was their entire family. This attack also hit during a time where families spend time together in quiet eating and prayer together, during a special day known as the Holy Sabbath.

Reportedly, the restaurant is both an Arab and Jewish owned business, where Arabs, Jews and Christians peacefully gather together. Three employees of Maxims were also killed in the attack, including two waiters, and a cook. Police investigators speculate that the Arab guard let the terrorist enter the restaurant freely because he may have felt uncomfortable about a security check on an Arab woman. The bomber reportedly was also a lawyer. The Haaretz reported that the terrorist’ family said that she had left for her law office in Jenin at about 9:00am; at 2:15p.m. she struck in a murderous attack inside the Maxim restaurant.

Armed Palestinian terrorists of Islamic Jihad group march during a rally. Israel said its air force launched a raid on an Islamic Jihad training camp in Syria, in an attempt to stop attacks against Israel. A terrorist killed 19 and wounded 60 at a restaurant on Saturday. Photo by Mohammed Abed / AFP

Medics spoke of the grim scene that included bloodied, wounded children and the corpses of patrons who died while sitting in their chairs. There were many severe head injuries, which police say was a result of the murderer positioning the bombs around the upper part of her body. Rescue workers were visibly shaken by the brutality of the massacre–one policeman fainted and was taken away by an ambulance for treatment.

After months and years of pleading with bordering Arab countries to put a stop to the waves of terrorist attacks against Israel by terror groups inside Syria, Palestinian areas, Iraq and Iran, etc., at 3:00am on the 6th, the Israeli Defense Forces, struck back against a specific terrorist camp inside the border country Syria. The camp inside Syria reportedly is the closest to the Haifa restaurant.

Israel told the UN last month that dismantling terrorist groups is important for saving innocent lives around the world. Israel, like other nations, only wants security and peace for its people. FM Silvan Shalom said, "Israel will not compromise on the safety of its citizens. But we will go the extra mile - as we have proven before - to bring peace and security to both our peoples.

"We are ready to work with the Palestinians and the international community to make this vision a reality. For this to happen, the Palestinian leadership must take the moral and strategic decision to abandon terrorism once and for all, and make peacemaking possible." Shalom also said that Arafat has proven to be an obstacle to peace, concerned only with his own power and gain.

Shalom said that the leadership "must guide their people to build their own society, rather than seeking to destroy ours.... Israel stands ready to complete the circle of peace with all its neighbors. Real peace. Not just peace for the headlines, but peace which brings an end to violence and hostility, and positive change for the citizens of our region.

"From this great podium - a podium shared by all humanity - I call on the leaders of Syria and Lebanon, of Iran and of the Palestinian people - to abandon once and for all their hostility towards us, and join us in building a better future for our children."