Israel questioned suicide bombers

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While ruling out any involvement by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network in the suicide attack against a popular Tel Aviv pub, Israeli police sources said the two British terrorists responsible were questioned by Shin Beth, the Israeli internal security service, 17 days prior to the April 30 attack.

The operation marked the first time a foreign-born Arab has been involved in a suicide bomb attack.

The attack was carried out by British-born Assif Mohammed Khanif, who blew himself up as he was stopped by a security guard at the entrance to Mike’s Place. Three Israelis were killed in the attack and dozens wounded. The body of a second terrorist, Omar Khan Sharif, also a British subject, was discovered floating in the Mediterranean.

Mike’s Place before the bomb attack

A Shin Beth source said they entered Israel through the Allenby Bridge from Jordan.

It is now clear the two arrived in Jordan from Syria, where they received their orders from a Hamas handler, according to Israeli sources. An Israeli policewoman alerted Shin Beth after she interviewed the two. The interrogators couldn’t find any incriminating or legal grounds to prevent the two British subjects from entering the country.

A Tel Aviv court removed the gag order on the affair. Its documents reveal that a month before the attack the Israeli intelligence had information of a Hamas plan to conduct an attack by recruiting two carriers of European passports. But, the information did not include further details on the identity of those foreigners.

The two booked a room in the Tel Aviv Aviva Hostel located close to the nightclub. They asked the hostel workers to recommend a “nice night club,” then left Tel Aviv for Gaza, where they apparently received the sophisticated explosives pressed and shaped like paper. They then returned to Israel in a car of an Italian journalist whom they had accompanied in her visits to the West Bank and meetings with Palestinian and European “peace activists.”

All that time the two carried copies of the Quran, which were actually bound explosives looking like papers. On April 29, the two returned to the Tel Aviv hostel. After checking in, they asked for a good place to spend the night. One of the employees pointed out the ad “Tonight in Mike’s Place, a Jazz Evening,” which turned out to become the selected target.

While Khanif managed to blow himself up, his colleague failed and escaped only to be found dead two weeks later. The authorities suspect he was killed by Palestinians who acted as a “shadow.”

As a result of the investigation, Israeli law enforcement agencies changed some of their regulations and the government has banned a number of accredited journalists representing small pro-Palestinian and left-wing magazines or net newspapers. One of those was Italian Francesca Cerrello, who befriended the two and helped them by providing transportation. Cerrello maintains she did not know the two Muslim Britains were actually terrorists.

According to the head of the government press office, Daniel Seaman, the Italian journalist was interrogated by police and expelled from Israel.

The Shin Beth also repeated its accusations against the International Solidarity Movement, accusing the organization of foreign peace activists of wittingly sheltering Palestinian militants.

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