Ma'alot massacre
The
Ma'alot massacre was a
school massacre in
Ma'alot,
Israel by
Palestinian members of the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, that occurred on
May 15,
1974, the 26th anniversary of
Israeli independence.
Palestinians based in
Lebanon, and subsequently identified as members of the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a faction affiliated with the
PLO, infiltrated into Israel dressed as Israeli soldiers, and stormed "Netiv Meir", an elementary school in Ma'alot, a community in northern
Israel, where a group of 100 14-16 year olds were sleeping on the floor after a day spent hiking.
The DFLP members first attacked a van bringing Arab women home from work, killing two women and wounding one. They then entered the town of Ma'alot, killed a family in their apartment and then took over a local school, immediately killing a security guard, a student, and one other person. Some students managed to escape by jumping out of a window, but 90 or so students and some teachers were held as hostages.
The hostage-takers presented their demands the next morning: release 23
Arab and three other political prisoners, including
Kozo Okamoto - a Japanese national involved in the
1972 Lod Airport Massacre, from Israeli prisons, or they would kill the students. The deadline was set at 6:00 p.m. the same day.
The
Knesset, the Israeli parliament, met in an emergency session, and by 3:00 p.m. a decision was reached to negotiate, but the DFLP members refused a request for more time.
At 5:45 p.m., a unit of the elite
Sayeret Matkal special forces group stormed the building. They managed to kill all the hostage takers, but not before they had used guns and explosives to kill some of their hostages. A total of 26 Israelis were killed and more than 60 people were wounded in what became known as the Maalot Massacre[
1].
The names of the 21 students who were killed during the assault: Ilana Turgeman, Rachel Aputa, Yocheved Mazoz, Sarah Ben-Shim'on, Yona Sabag, Yafa Cohen, Shoshana Cohen, Michal Sitrok, Malka Amrosy, Aviva Saada, Yocheved Diyi, Yaakov Levi, Yaakov Kabla, Rina Cohen, Ilana Ne'eman, Sarah Madar, Tamar Dahan, Sarah Sofer, Lili Morad, David Madar, Yehudit Madar.
The traumatic effect of the event on the Israeli public was a major contributor to the establishment of the
Civil Guard volunteer police unit, on
July 10,
1974.
The day after the massacre Israel retaliated by bombing seven Palestinian refugee camps and villages in southern Lebanon killing at least 27 people and leaving 138 injured.
*
Avivim school bus massacre*
Terrorism Knowledge Base description of the massacre*
Wall Street Journal article on the massacre by
Ehud Olmert, deputy prime-minister of Israel, who was a newly elected member of the Knesset at the time of the massacre
*
BBC report on the massacre and subsequent Israeli air strike*
IsraelInsider Story
