On February 25, the Globe and Mail published a brief “Moment in Time” by its Mideast correspondent Patrick Martin which was featured on the backside of the front page. It was entitled the “Mass Killing of Palestinians at Prayer in Hebron” and it can be read in full immediately below:
In this report, the Globe’s journalist erroneously claimed that Hamas’ first suicide bombing occurred 40 days after the Goldstein massacre and was carried out in retaliation for that attack. In reality, Hamas started suicide bombings as early as 1993, such as an April 16 suicide bombing at a west bank café as reported by Time magazine. To wit, the terrorist group had already adopted suicide bombings as a tactic prior to Goldstein’s violent act.
CAMERA (the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) features the following list of suicide bombing attacks carried out by Hamas in 1993:
- On April 16, 1993, at a roadside café at Mehola Junction, Hamas operative Tamam Nabulsi drove a van into a parked bus and detonated it. Two passengers on the bus were killed and five were injured. This was the first suicide terrorist attack in Israel by a Palestinian terrorist group.” ( Who are the Palestinian Suicide Terrorists?, Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Sept. 2003). The Jerusalem Post reported the attack on April 18, 1993. The article noted that this was the first suicide bombing in Israeli territory. Hamas took credit for the attack.
- An abortive suicide attack was reported in Gaza on September 13, 1993.
- Sept. 26, 1993: Hamas member Ashraf Mahadi , died in the Gaza Strip, when his explosive-ridden car blew up (botched attempt). “9/26/93 Hamas member Ashraf Mahadi died when his explosive-ridden car blew up while he was driving in the Gaza strip. The car had been packed with two pipe bombs and canisters of bottled gas. Earlier, Mahadi had bid his father farewell saying he had “some difficult work to do” and asking him not to be angry if he is killed or died. Mahadi had told his father that he was “one of God’s soldiers.””
- Oct. 4, 1993: Kamal Bani Ohed, rammed explosive-laden car in Israeli bus near Ramallah and Beit El, 29 Israelis injured. Hamas claimed responsibility.
- Nov. 2, 1993: A botched car-bomb attack near Sinjil; Hamas claimed credit
- Dec. 13, 1993: Anwar Aziz, drove bomb-laden ambulance into a jeep-load of Israeli soldiers in Gaza Strip, wounding three.
- Dec. 14, 1993: Ossama Hamid, Hamas member, Israelis killed him before he detonated the bomb. According to the Jerusalem Post, he was driving an ambulance.
- The Jerusalem Post on Dec. 24, 1993: “About a dozen suicide bombings have been attempted since the PLO-Israel accord was signed in September.”
The Agenda also notes the following in a reference to an interview with Globe reporter Patrick Martin: “I was 10 years old when Hamas began suicide bombing operations in 1993 in the West Bank.”
On February 28, we asked the Globe to correct Martin’s erroneous claim. On March 4, the following clarification was issued:
Again, the Globe missed another opportunity to tell its readers that Hamas’ decision to carry out suicide attacks preceded the Goldstein Attack in 1994. Regrettably, Globe readers continue to be mislead into thinking that the Goldstein attack caused Hamas to adopt the terror tactic of suicide bombing.
