What if Belgium made 1140 suicide attacks in France.
What would the mood be like in any of those countries, had they experienced such an assault ?
The first Palestinian suicide bombing occurred in April 1994 in the Israeli town of Afula. This took place at the height of the Oslo process, just as Israel was withdrawing from the Gaza Strip.Over 120 suicide bombings since then
Since 1994, over 120 suicide attacks have taken place against Israel. Equivalents in other countries
This total of 120 suicide attacks would equate (by reference to total population) to the above totals (approximately)
Palestinian targets range across the spectrum of Israeli society
Civilian targets inside Israel which have been attacked include:-
restaurants and pizzerias
bars and coffee houses
passenger buses
the entrance to a synagogue
a hotel Passover feast
a discotheque
university bus stops, buses and a cafeteria
shopping centres
open-air markets
pedestrian precincts
railway and bus stations
gas storage terminal
a snooker hall
an ice-cream parlor
a barmitzvah party
Five Palestinian groups have been involved in suicide bombings:-
Hamas
Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade (linked to Yasser Afafat’s Fatah)
Islamic Jihad
PFLP – the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Fatah Tanzim
They frequently claim joint responsibility for attacks, or even compete to claim “credit” for the same attack.
Involvement of Palestinian women and children
Palestinian women have carried out several suicide bombings; and children have been exploited to smuggle bomb belts or even to attempt to carry out attacks themselves.
Suicide bombings started 7 years before Ariel Sharon became Prime Minister:
Suicide bombings cannot be condoned as a legitimate response to a grievance:
Suicide bombings are not caused by despair, but by the manipulation of despair by fanatical terror groups:
Suicide bombing methods are designed to inflict maximum suffering
Bombs have routinely been filled with nails, or ball-bearings or pieces of metal or screws to maximise the suffering of the victims Occasionally, the bomb fragments have been coated with rat poison, to infect surviving victims.
Rescuers are themselves attacked
On numerous occasions a second bomb has been detonated to catch those rescuing victims of the first.
The survivors suffer horrific injuries, and trauma
Thousands of surviving Israelis have been horrifically maimed and traumatised. Many are in long-term rehabilitation. Thousands of families have been shattered.
Suicide bombing is just one Palestinian method of committing mass murder: others include machine-gun attacks, grenade attacks on bus passengers or worshippers, stabbings, Qassam rocket attacks, driving a hijacked bus into passengers waiting at a bus-stop, drive-by shootings, gunmen running amok, car-bombs, land-mines and booby-trapped vehicles.