Terror Attacks in Mombasa, Kenya -

[HBendor]

Terror Attacks in Mombasa, Kenya -

Press Conference by Foreign Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu

Jerusalem, November 28, 2002 [Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

We've had a terrorist attack against Israelis in Africa, in Kenya. We know

at the moment of two dead children, others that are hurt. We are taking

emergency action to provide medical assistance to the wounded and to bring

back the rest of the Israelis to Israel.

There was in addition to this terrorist attack another attempted downing of

an Israeli civilian aircraft in Kenya by shoulder-fired missiles. This is a

very serious escalation of international terrorism.

I want to remind you that, in the 1970s, in the late '60s, the rash of

hijackings that came from Arafat's PLO was first directed against Israel and

then spread as a worldwide epidemic. The fact that the forces of terror -

terror organizations and the regimes that back them - have shoulder-fired

missiles that can down civilian aircraft is known. The fact is that they are

using them, and the weapons that they are using against us are growing in

their ferocity and their ability to murder us.

This could have resulted today in the death of 150 Israelis. Today this is

directed against Israeli planes in Mombasa, tomorrow they could be directed

at Israeli planes from a Palestinian state, from Tel Aviv, and may I say

that if the forces of terror and the terrorist states are not dismantled,

they will be directed at the planes of states and countries and

nationalities worldwide. This has to be brought down today. The terror

network has to be stripped, the terror regimes have to be dismantled, the

terror organizations destroyed. If we don't destroy them, they'll destroy

us.

Q: Mr. Netanyahu, who do you believe is behind this? Do you have any

information?

A: We have our suspicions. We don't yet have concrete information. There are

several possibilities, but I don't want to make a definitive statement,

because we don't know yet. We will know. I'm being told right now that the

number of dead has gone up to three.

Q: Is the assumption that the Palestinians are involved in this?

A: No, I don't know who specifically is involved in this, but yes,

Palestinian organizations have been trying to get shoulder-fired missiles to

direct at Israeli aircraft for quite some time. Hizbullah has been very

active in this effort. When you have regimes like Iran and Syria and others,

and Iraq, that are supporting these terrorists, they have shoulder-fired

missiles. So as long as this network is around, it's just a question of time

before they'll get these weapons. It's just a question of time before

they'll down civilian aircraft. And may I say it always begins with Israel;

it never ends with Israel. So this is not just our battle: it's a common

battle against this global terror network, that President Bush set out to

unite the civilized forces against. We're merely at the cutting edge. We

have to bring down this terror network before it brings us down, brings our

planes down.

Q: What measures should be adopted by the Israeli government in response to

this morning's attack and by the international community?

A: There are defensive measures that can be taken to protect our aircraft.

There are obviously warnings that we can give to the terrorists. But I have

to say that whatever defensive measures we can have, we cannot put an armed

guard next to every tourist. We cannot protect every plane that takes off or

lands in every airfield in the world. It's simply impossible. There are

defensive measures that are and will be intensified, but at the end of the

day to win this battle you have to defeat the forces of terror. And

defeating them means that you have to take on not only the organizations,

but the regimes that make the organizations' work possible. This is the most

important part of defeating international terror.

Q: Have you been in contact with the Americans, and what did they say?

A: We've been in contact first with the Kenyan government and we've been in

close consultation with them about medical assistance and logistics. We're

in contact with other governments as well. Of course we're talking with the

American government and many other friendly governments, but at the moment

our efforts are primary launched at getting immediate medical assistance to

the wounded, because there are different degrees of injury there, and we're

trying to save lives. This is the most important thing.

... We're talking about the future of Israel and we're talking also about

the future of our battle against international terrorism, and I think this

is what is at stake right now. Because you have to understand that unless we

defeat terror, it will defeat us. These are people who have no limitation,

no inhibitions, no moral compunctions. They will use any weapons they have.

If we give them the political and military power to be independent, to be

not under our control, they will use those powers to kill as many of our

citizens as they can. Not only the citizens of Israel, but the citizens of

many many lands. There is no compromise; no possibility of compromise with

the forces of terror. They either destroy us, or we destroy them. It's about

time that we woke up to this simple reality.

Thank you very much.

--------------------------------------------

IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis

Website: www.imra.org.il

[Star]

An article from Ha'aretz:

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen....stSrc=Y

3 Israelis dead in Kenya blast; Arkia plane attacked

By Yossi Melman and Zohar Blumenkrantz, Ha'aretz Correspondents, Ha'aretz Service and Agencies

Three Israelis, including two children, were among 11 people killed Thursday morning when a booby-trapped car went off in the lobby of a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya. At least 18 Israelis were injured in the blast.

Kenyan police said a car packed with explosives crashed through a barrier and into the lobby at the Paradise Hotel at Kikambala beach, about 40 kilometres north of Mombasa. Six Kenyans and the suspected suicide bombers in the car died in the attack, a Kenyan police spokesman said.

Around the same time as the hotel blast, two shoulder-fired anti-aircraft Strella missiles were fired at an Israeli passenger plane, belonging to the Arkia charter company, that had just taken off from Mombasa airport. The missiles missed the plane, which was carrying 140 passengers, but it was unclear whether some shrapnel might have hit the aircraft.

Kenyan police said two missiles were fired from a four-wheel-drive vehicle two kilometres north of Mombasa international airport shortly after the plane took off at 8:30 A.M. Three people of what police said were "Arab origin" were seen in the vehicle.

Five minutes later a white Peugeot car carrying three men crashed into the hotel and exploded, said police spokesman Kimori Mwangi.

"This was a terrorist attack," Mwangi told a local radio station. He said dozens of hotel guests were in the lobby checking in or checking out at the time of the blast.

Kenyan police said that two suspects were arrested Thursday afternoon in connection with the terror attacks, but their identity was not disclosed.

A senior Kenyan official said he was convinced that the al Qaida terror group of Osama bin Laden was behind the attack.

The plane, a Boeing 757, had initially prepared for an emergency landing in Nairobi, but then decided to continue to Israel when it became clear there was no serious damage. It landed safely at Ben Gurion airport.

EL Al suspended all flights for two hours as a safety precaution.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered an Israeli Aif Force plane be dispatched to Mombasa to help in providing medical care to those injured in the explosion in the hotel.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will convene a security consultation to be attended by Mofaz at 2:00 P.M. to discuss the Kenya attacks. The Mossad branch in Nairobi will be in charge of the attack investigation.

The explosion went off in the lobby of the Paradise Hotel in Mombasa at about 7 A.M. (0500 GMT). The hotel is Israeli-owned and is frequented by Israelis, many of them on a week-long charter package to the east African country. Israel Radio reported that three of the dead were suicide bombers.

"I heard a loud explosion," one Israeli hotel guest, identified only as Rami, told Channel Two television. Another guest, Osnat, said the wounded included a number of children. Some of the injured were taken to a nearby small hospital.

A woman, who gave her name as Neima, said she had just arrived at the Paradise Hotel with a group of tourists from Israel when the lobby was shaken by the blast. "People were hit in the legs, arms, all over their bodies. Everything was burning up," she told Israel Radio by telephone. "Almost all the guests are Israelis. A few Kenyans were also hurt, but it was mostly Israelis."

The Kenyah ambassador to Israel, John Malan Sawe, told Army Radio that he had no doubt that the Al Qaida organization was behind the attacks.

"There is no doubt in my mind that al Qaida is behind this attack, because we have no domestic problems, no terrorism in our country, and we have no problem with our neighbours, no problem whatsoever," Sawe said. "So I have no doubt whatsoever that these people were connected to al Qaeda," he told Reuters Television in an interview at the embassy in Tel Aviv.

The United States blamed bin Laden for two 1998 truck bomb attacks on U.S. embassies in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and the Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam, in which 224 people were killed and thousands injured.

Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the targeting of Israelis in Kenya marked a "dangerous escalation of terror." Netanyahu said Israel had no information on who was responsible for the dual attack.

"This shows that terror organizations and the regimes behind them are able to arm themselves with weapons which can cause mass casualties anywhere and everywhere," the foreign minister said. "Today, they're firing the missiles at Israeli planes, tomorrow they'll fire missiles at American planes, British planes, every country's aircraft. This shows there can be no compromise with terror."

Emergency hotline for Kenya attack: 03-6903333

[Guest alias]

Hi,

Yea I woke up to the radio telling me of the news that happened yesterday (Thursday), northern hemisphere time. It is just an incredibly sad thing. I guess I feel like, well, yea...I will say Kaddish (prayer for the dead) tonight before I go to bed. I am so glad that plane did not get shot down. How awful would that have been. I am glad that it made it safely back to Ben-Gurion airport.

In all things I know that the God of Israel will protect His people. He shall not let their foot slide. Despite the fact that there are plenty of secular Jews in Israel, and pretty much the entire government of Israel is run by secular Jews...I know that the Lord God will awaken His people. The thing is that it is going to take a major miracle to save Israel this time round, and I can not wait for the God of Israel to again prove **as has been stated in the bible over and over again** His love for the apple of His eye.

In response to this tragedy I think to myself that the Palestinians **arabs** can attack all they want. If they choose death, then death it shall be upon them and theirs. It is sad that lives have to be taken, and that blood is shed...but I know that throughout it all the God of Israel will return with a vengeance, because he has stated this in His word. Those who touch the apple of His eye will earn His wrath. So I say to the Palestinians come, come and attack Israel if you want, because all you are doing is hastening the wrath of the God of Israel.

[JohnS]

Amen Alias!

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth! Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, Stir up Your strength, And come and save us! Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved! O Lord God of hosts, How long will You be angry Against the prayer of Your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears, And given them tears to drink in great measure. You have made us a strife to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, O God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved! You have brought a vine out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations, and planted it. You prepared room for it, And caused it to take deep root, And it filled the land. The hills were covered with its shadow, And the mighty cedars with its boughs. She sent out her boughs to the Sea, And her branches to the River. Why have You broken down her hedges, So that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit? The boar out of the woods uproots it, And the wild beast of the field devours it. Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; Look down from heaven and see, And visit this vine And the vineyard which Your right hand has planted, And the branch that You made strong for Yourself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down; They perish at the rebuke of Your countenance. Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we will not turn back from You; Revive us, and we will call upon Your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!