terrorist attack Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

was carried out by the Jewish paramilitary group

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the I ...

on the Christian-owned Semiramis Hotel in the

Katamon , settlement_type = Neighborhood of Jerusalem , image_skyline = בית רה"מ לוי אשכול ברחוב בוסתנאי 3 בשכנות קטמון בירושלים.jpg , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = House ...

neighborhood of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

during the

1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine The 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine was the first phase of the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It broke out after the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption of the Pa ...

. After suspecting that the Semiramis hotel was one of two Arab headquarters in Katamon, the Haganah planted a bomb there on the night of 5–6 January 1948. The mission was carried out by a team consisting of four men supported by ten riflemen.Lapierre and Collins, 1972, pp. 128–133. The explosion killed 24 or 26 civilians including at least one child. Among the dead were seven members of the Aboussouan family and Hubert Lorenzo, the 23-year-old son of the proprietor. The Spanish vice-consul, Manuel Allende Salazar, was also killed in the attack. Semiramis Hotel

According to

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

reports at the time a Haganah spokesman said that the Jerusalem hotel attack was executed because "the building was an important meeting place of Arab gangs, where arms were distributed to villages in the Jerusalem area." He continued, "Unfortunately, we cannot hit at the Arab band's (main) headquarters as it is secreted in a mosque." The attack was harshly condemned by the British authorities,Benny Morris (2003) ''The Birth Of The Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited'', Cambridge University Press, p. 103 and

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the nam ...

sacked Mishael Shaham, the Haganah officer responsible for the Jerusalem sector, replacing him with David Shaltiel. According to John B. Quigley, the hotel was not a military headquarters and the British authorities denounced the attack as the "wholesale murder of innocent people."Quigley, 2005, p. 43. Ilan Pappé and

J. Bowyer Bell J. Bowyer Bell (November 15, 1931 – August 23, 2003) was an American historian, artist and art critic. He was best known as a terrorism expert. Background and early life Bell was born into an Episcopalian family in 1931 in New York City. ...

attribute the bombing to the

Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...

.Pappe, 2007, p. 60. Prior to the bombing, the distinctive white jeep of

Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni ( ar, عبد القادر الحسيني), also spelled Abd al-Qader al-Husseini (1907 – 8 April 1948) was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and fighter who in late 1933 founded the secret militant group known as the Orga ...

, commander of Jerusalem's Arab forces, had been seen in the hotel driveway. In

O Jerusalem! ''O Jerusalem!'' is a history book published in 1971 by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins that seeks to capture the events and mishaps surrounding the creation of Israel, and the subsequent mass expulsion of Palestinians. Introduction The ...

, Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins write that Mishael Shaham, the Haganah leader who organised the bombing, had been sent to Jerusalem to stop the flow of beleaguered Jews retreating from mixed areas of Jerusalem to the Jewish areas. It was thought that 'a major blow in Arab Katamon ... might force the Arabs out of the quarter and change the psychological climate in the city'. Shaham asked "Where is the main Arab headquarters?".

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{coord, 31.7625, N, 35.2081, E, source:wikidata, display=title Mass murder in 1948 Explosions in 1948 Haganah Massacres in Mandatory Palestine Terrorist incidents in Jerusalem Zionist terrorism 1948 in Mandatory Palestine 20th century in Jerusalem Attacks on hotels in Asia Hotel bombings January 1948 events in Asia 1940s in Jerusalem Katamon