The six Jewish victims of last week's double bombing attack
at beit knesset Neveh Shalom and beit knesset Beit Yisrael,
located three miles apart, were buried Tuesday morning in the
same section of the cemetery where the 22 Jewish victims of a
similar bombing attack on beit knesset Neveh Shalom 17 years
ago lie buried.
The mass funeral was attended by members of the Turkish
government, members of the Israeli Knesset and government and
many local residents. It was conducted with honors reserved
for prominent citizens, to indicate that the government of
Turkey and all its citizens mourn the terror victims.
ZAKA volunteers arrived in Turkey late motzei Shabbos to
assist in gathering remains at the attack scenes, identify
the victims and provide halachic answers to questions.
Turkish police asked ZAKA volunteers to assist searching for
an elderly woman whose granddaughter was killed in the
attack. Her body was found Monday in the wreckage of the Beit
Yisrael shul.
ZAKA volunteers guarded the bodies and recited Tehillim
until the levayos were held Tuesday morning at the
cemetery in Istanbul's Holos Quarter. The Jewish community
in Turkey lacked burial shrouds, which were flown in on
Sunday, along with soil from Eretz Yisroel.
The Bombings
Police investigators said the 300-400 kg (660-880 lb) bombs
were made of ammonium sulfate and nitrate mixed with fuel
oil. The vehicles used were small trucks which drove up near
the shuls and exploded with a huge blast. In contrast, bombs
used to attack tanks are around 60 kg, and a typical suicide
bomber carries an explosive belt of around 15 kg.
Security video tapes showed men driving slowly by the places
of worship shortly before their vehicles exploded. The
attacks took place about a minute apart.
Though the attacks were clearly directed against Jews, a
majority of the victims were Moslem. The bombers -- there may
have been as many as four -- were among the 23 dead and more
than 300 were wounded. Of the casualties, six of the dead
were Jewish and about 80 of the wounded. The rest were
Moslems who live and work in the areas of the attacks.
Witnesses told police that a red pickup truck parked in front
of a shop across from Neveh Shalom on a narrow street in the
Beyoglu neighborhood of the Kuledibi district. A shop staffer
approached the driver and told him he could not park there.
The driver had gotten out of the car to talk to the employee
when it detonated, carving a 2 meter (7 feet) deep crater in
the street. The explosions cut off electricity for blocks
around the two synagogues, shrouding both areas in darkness.
About 400 were believed to have been in Neveh Shalom when the
attack took place, and about 300 in Beit Yisrael.
The attacks, at around 9:30 on Shabbos morning, were timed
for when the services usually end, according to Knesset
Speaker Rivlin who went for the funeral. Most weeks, there
would have been hundreds coming outside after davening
at that time. Bechasdei Hashem the services at both
shuls were longer than usual, and thus a much greater
tragedy was averted. At Neveh Shalom a bar mitzvah lengthened
the services, and at Beit Yisrael it was the dedication of
the new shul and kollel at the back that took
the full brunt of the attack, that prolonged the prayers.
The stone and wrought-iron facade of the Neveh Shalom
synagogue was completely destroyed. It is located on a narrow
street filled with small shops selling lamps and chandeliers.
The explosion devastated the entire length of the street.
Neveh Shalom is set off from the street, so the number of
injured was relatively low and the damage was limited to the
entrance.
Security at Neveh Shalom has been high since 1986, when
gunmen burst into the synagogue and sprayed the congregation
with gunfire during Sabbath services, killing 22 people. That
attack was blamed on Abu Nidal's Palestinian group. Hizbullah
is suspected in a bomb attack against the synagogue in 1992.
No one was injured then.
Synagogues throughout Europe have been heavily fortified. At
Istanbul's synagogues there is 24/7 police protection
augmented by a private security force hired by the Turkish
Jewish community. Security guards protected by bulletproof
glass check the identification of anyone entering.
The second car bomb detonated near Istanbul's Bet Yisrael
Synagogue, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) away in the Sisli
district. The bombing at the rear of the building caused
structural damage and started fires, which were soon
extinguished.
Most of the injured were in the Beit Israel synagogue, which
was filled with an estimated 300 people. The force of the
explosion carried through the synagogue, blowing out a large
window in the building's front.
Turkey's Jewish community numbers about 25,000. Turkey, a
predominantly Muslim country of whose government is secular,
has 68 million residents. Much of Turkey's Jewish community
traces its roots to 1492, when Jews expelled from Spain were
welcomed to the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey was the first Muslim state to recognize Israel, in
1949. Israel describes current relations with Turkey as
"excellent." The United States has supported the growing
Israeli-Turkish alliance, as both countries are among
America's closest friends in the region.
The Bombers
The suspects named so far were past activists in local
extremist Islamic organizations in Turkey. Someone called the
Anatolian news service to take responsibility in the name of
the "Front of Simple Muslims in the Greater East" shortly
after the attack. However, Turkish authorities do not believe
the local groups could have built such large bombs and
conducted such a coordinated attack.
Two Arabic-language newspapers received separate statements
Sunday claiming that Osama bin Laden's al Qaida was
responsible for the bombings. The statements said that read
the attacks were carried out by "the Abu Hafez Masri
Brigades." Abu Hafez Masri was a close associate of bin Laden
and one of his senior aides who was killed in Afghanistan
some two years ago. The same group claimed responsibility for
the attacks on an Arkia jet and the Paradise Hotel in
Mombasa, Kenya, a year ago, as well as the strike on the
Marriott Hotel in Jakarta a few months ago.
An Israeli official said that both Israel and Turkey had
received intelligence warnings of plans by terror groups to
carry out attacks against Jewish targets in Turkey. However
the warnings were general and had no information that could
be used to indicate those specific attacks.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who was in Turkey on Sunday,
said, "there are warnings all the time regarding various
Jewish targets around the world."
Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Ariel Sharon, called the
bombings "not an attack against Israel, against Jews, or even
against Turks " but a "crime against humanity." He also
linked the attacks to antisemitism that he said was disguised
as opposition to Israel. But, he warned, "Once you give the
terrorists an opening, the target may be not a synagogue in
Istanbul on the holy day of the Sabbath, but a cathedral in
Paris."
The Jewish victims: Yoel Cohen Ulcer, 19, a guard, Anita
Rubinstein 8, her grandmother Anna Rubinstein 85, Avraham
Idinvarol 40, Berta Ozdogan 35 (and her Moslem husband
Ahmed), Yonah Romano 60 (who died of a heart attack after the
blast).
World Reaction
Washington called the attacks "horrific." US President George
W. Bush condemned the bombings "in the strongest possible
terms."
"The focus of these attacks on Turkey's Jewish community, in
Istanbul's synagogues where men, women, and children gathered
to worship G-d, remind us that our enemy in the war against
terror is without conscience or faith," he said in a
statement.
"Javier Solana, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and
Security Policy, expressed his horror after the two terrorist
attacks that killed many innocents and injured many others in
Istanbul," read a statement by the EU.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw expressed "contempt" for
the perpetrators of the attacks. "I utterly deplore and
condemn this act of terrorism," said Straw. "Those
responsible deserve nothing less than the contempt and
condemnation of the entire international community."
Straw said he was "particularly appalled that these attacks
were carried out against ordinary people engaged in peaceful
worship."
Germany, the Vatican, Italy and France condemned the attacks,
as did the Arab League. The Arab League blamed Israel's
actions for eliciting the response.
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He Started Singing Shabbos Songs in the Hospital
by M. Halevy
Yosef Halivah, son of Turkish Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Halivah,
was at Beit Knesset Beit Yisrael at the time of the attack
together with his father, his brothers and the rest of his
family. After sustaining severe injuries to his head and eyes
in the blast he was brought to the hospital by his brother
Mordechai.
Mordechai describes what took place and what astonished the
doctors at the American Hospital in Istanbul: "Right after
the Torah reading we heard a tremendous boom. It was a
powerful explosion that frightened all of us. The window
panes burst and the ceiling collapsed. Everything around us
was covered with dust and remains of the building. I didn't
see anything at first. After a few seconds I called out to my
father and my brothers and then I caught sight of my brother
Yosef lying on the ground covered with blood. I talked to him
and he told me he couldn't open his eyes. He had lost a lot
of blood. I went outside and looked for an ambulance to take
him to the hospital, but when I saw he was losing
consciousness and the ambulance had yet to arrive I stopped a
taxi and raced to the hospital."
At the hospital the staff was afraid he had sustained a major
head injury, including brain damage. "I could not accept that
and I started to talk to my brother. `Say something,' I
called out to him. Suddenly he astounded everybody and began
to sing Shabbat songs . . . and parts of the tefillah
that had been interrupted in the beit knesset. He sang
Mizmor LeDavid and other songs."
The doctors, who believed it was an extremely grave injury
with irreversible brain damage, were amazed at the sight
before their eyes, and turned their attention to saving the
victim's eyesight.
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Conference Of European Rabbis Condemns the Attack
by R' Aba Dunner
The CER condemned the recent horrific attacks perpetrated in
Istanbul against the Jewish community during prayer services
on Shabbos morning causing death and injury to both Jews and
Muslims.
The CER sent condolence wishes to the families of the Jewish
and Muslim communities killed and injured in the two bomb
outrages in Istanbul. Mention was made of the son of the
Chief Rabbi Halivah who was also injured in his synagogue
where he serves as its rabbi. Chief Rabbi Halivah is a member
of the CER board.
The CER has also sent an appeal to the Turkish Ambassador in
London, asking him to convey to his government the urgent
need for immediate steps be taken to track down the
perpetrators of these dastardly acts. Furthermore in light of
the recent rise in antisemitic incidents throughout Europe,
the CER requests that adequate steps be taken to protect the
Turkish Jewish community from further attacks in the
future.
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