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1969 Israeli embassies and El Al attacks

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1969 Israeli embassies and El Al attacks
LocationBonn, West Germany
Brussels, Belgium
The Hague, the Netherlands
Date8 September 1969
Attack type
Grenade attacks, bombs
Deaths0
Injured4
PerpetratorsPopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

On 8 September 1969, three Israeli linked sites in Europe were attacked by Palestinians with grenades and bombs within minutes of each other.[1][2] The attacks targeted two Israeli embassies, in Bonn, West Germany and in The Hague, the Netherlands, and El Al airline offices in Brussels, Belgium.[3] Three El Al employees and one customer were wounded in the Brussels attack, while none were hurt in the other attacks.[1][2]

Aftermath

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In response to the attack, Dutch police guarded the El Al office in Amsterdam, while police reinforcements were sent to Schiphol Airport where passengers boarding El Al and KLM flights for Tel Aviv were searched for weapons to avert a possible new aerial hijacking. The Netherlands' Chief of Protocol also phoned the Israeli Ambassador Shimshon Arad to convey Foreign Minister Joseph Luns' message of shock and outrage over the bombing of the Israeli Embassy.[4]

The attackers were three adult Palestinians accompanied by three Palestinian youths aged 14 to 15 years old.[3] A spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Amman, Jordan claimed responsibility for the attacks, stating that the attackers were among its "Tiger Cubs".[5] Following the attacks, the PFLP also announced that it now planned an "all-out terrorist campaign against Israeli business organizations abroad."[6]

While the adults fled to Syria via Budapest and East Berlin, the youths took refuge respectively in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Bonn, the Tunisian embassy in Brussels, and the Algerian embassy in The Hague.[3] The adult in Brussels was sentenced to 5 years in prison in absentia, charged with giving hand grenades to two youths, aged 12 and 16 years old, with instructions to throw them into the El Al office. While one of the youths escaped, the other was caught and would be tried behind closed doors at the Brussels Children’s Court.[7] The 15-year-old in The Hague was sentenced to three months in a reformatory school.[8] The youth in Brussels who escaped was reported to have flown to Baghdad with the aid of the Iraqi embassy in Paris.[9]

The attacks have been cited as the first example of the militant use of children for the Palestinian cause, and investigations later found that the youths had been recruited by Fatah.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Terrorist Incidents against Jewish Communities and Israeli Citizens Abroad, 1968-2003". International Institute for Counter-Terrorism. 20 December 2003. Archived from the original on 26 March 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Major Terror Attacks against Israeli Embassies and Representatives Abroad". Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1 February 2012.
  3. ^ a b c Cooley, John K. (2015). Green March, Black September (RLE Israel and Palestine): The Story of the Palestinian Arabs. Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 9781317444510.
  4. ^ "Young Arab Terrorists Hurl Bombs and Grenades at Israeli Installations in 3 Cities". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 9 September 1969.
  5. ^ "BELGIUM/HOLLAND/WEST GERMANY: TEENAGE ARABS BOMB ISRAELI BUILDINGS (1969)". British Paté. 8 September 1969.
  6. ^ "Popular Front Announces Terrorist Campaign Against Israeli Business Around World". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 10 September 1969.
  7. ^ "Arab Involved in Grenade Attack on El Al Office Sentenced to 5-year Prison Term". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1 July 1970.
  8. ^ "HOLLAND: JORDANIAN YOUTH ON TRIAL FOR GRENADE ATTACK ON ISRAELI EMBASSY. (1969)". British Paté. 11 November 1969.
  9. ^ "Belgian Newspaper Implicates Arab Embassies in Grenade Attack on El Al Office". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 17 October 1969.
  10. ^ Rosen, David M. (2005). Armies of the Young: Child Soldiers in War and Terrorism. Rutgers University. p. 92. ISBN 9780813537832.
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