August 02, 2002

WHY IS THIS ATTACK DIFFERENT

WHY IS THIS ATTACK DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER ATTACKS?: Yesterday's explosion at Jerusalem's Hebrew University that killed seven people was different from the usual garden-variety Hamas mass murder for several reasons: for one, it was not a suicide bombing, as the attack was in actuality caused by a bomb that had been left behind. But more importantly, it killed three Americans who were students at the University. Now I haven't seen it brought up much in the media since, but this may represent a bad omen for the conflict. Because even after all of the recent attacks (which, with a few tragic exceptions, have not killed Americans) there are nevertheless always a great many Americans, most of them young, in Israel at any given time. As anyone who's American and Jewish can tell you, tons of Americans go and study at Hebrew U every year, including in the summer. Until now Hamas and the other terrorist goons have generally avoided areas (such as Hebrew U and the high school I spent two months at in 1995) in which large concentrations of Americans are known to congregate. Now that that taboo has been broken, we've got a problem. Because if Hamas and Islamic Jihad decide to kill a whole bunch of Americans in attempting to draw the U.S. into a full-scale war, we could have a situation that makes the last two years look like nothing.

Posted by Stephen Silver at August 2, 2002 12:57 AM
Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?