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MYTH #117
"Palestinian terrorists only attack Israelis; they never
assault Americans."
FACT
The PLO has a long history of brutal violence against
innocent civilians of many nations, including the United
States. Palestinian Muslim terrorist groups are a more
recent phenomenon, but they have not spared Americans
either. Here are a few examples of Palestinian terrorist
incidents involving American citizens:
*More than three dozen Americans were among the
passengers who were held hostage when the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked four jets
in September 1970.
*In 1972, the PLO attempted to mail letter bombs to
President Nixon, former Secretary of State William Rogers
and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird.
*On March 2, 1973, members of the PLO murdered U.S.
Ambassador to the Sudan Cleo Noel and chargé d'affaires
George Moore. The killers were captured by Sudan and
admitted they had gotten orders directly from the PLO.
U.S. intelligence officials were believed to also have
evidence directly tying Yasser Arafat to the killings, but
for unknown reasons suppressed. All the terrorists were
released (Neil Livingstone and David Halevy. Inside the
PLO, Readers Digest Press, 1990, pp. 276-288).
*On March 11, 1978, PLO terrorists landed on
Israel's coast and murdered an American photographer
walking along the beach. The terrorists then commandeered
a bus along the coastal road, shooting and lobbing
grenades from the bus window at passersby. When Israeli
troops stopped their deadly ride, 34 civilians were dead
and another 82 wounded.
*In October 1985, a PLF terror squad commanded by
Abul Abbas hijacked the ocean liner Achille Lauro. Leon
Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound American passenger was
murdered.
* On April 9, 1995, a Hamas suicide bomber blew up an
Israeli bus killing eight people, including 20-year-old
Brandeis University student Alisa Flatow.
*August 9, 2001, Shoshana Yehudit Greenbaum, 31, was
among 15 people killed in a suicide bombing at the Sbarro
pizzeria in downtown Jerusalem. Hamas and the Islamic
Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
*July 31, 2002, a bomb exploded at the Hebrew
University cafeteria killing seven and wounding 80. Five
Americans were among the dead.
*June 11, 2003, a bus bombing in Jerusalem killed
one American and inured the daughter of New Jersey State
Senator Robert Singer.
*June 20, 2003, a shooting attack on a car driving
through the West Bank killed Tzvi Goldstein, 47 and
injured his father, mother, and wife.
*August 19, 2003, suicide bombing on a bus in
Jerusalem killed five Americans, including children aged
9, 3, and 3 months, an 11-year-old American was injured.
*October 15, 2003, Palestinian terrorists ambushed
an American convoy in the Gaza Strip killing three U.S.
citizens on contract to the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv.
Source: Myths & Facts Online -- A Guide to the
Arab-Israeli Conflict by Mitchell G. Bard,
http://www.JewishVirtualLibrary.org. To order a copy of
the paperback edition of Myths and Facts, click HERE.
Dr. Bard is available for speaking engagements and
interviews on this and other topics.
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