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Ma'alot massacre
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2024) |
| Ma'alot massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon | |
 | |
  The attack site | |
| Location | Ma'alot, Israel |
| Coordinates | 33°01′00″N 35°17′09″E / 33.01667°N 35.28583°E |
| Date | 15 May 1974 |
| Target | Netiv Meir elementary school |
Attack type | Spree killing, hostage taking, school shooting |
| Deaths | 34 (31 Israelis, and 3 attackers) |
| Injured | 70 Israelis |
| Perpetrators | 3 DFLP gunmen |
The Ma'alot massacre[1] was a Palestinian terrorist attack that occurred on 14–15 May 1974 and involved the hostage-taking of 115 Israelis, chiefly school children, which ended in the murder of 25 hostages and six other civilians. It began when three armed members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)[2] infiltrated Israel from Lebanon. Soon afterwards they attacked a van, killing two Israeli Arab women while injuring a third, and entered an apartment building in the town of Ma'alot, where they killed a couple and their four-year-old son.[3] From there, they headed for the Netiv Meir Elementary School in Ma'alot, where in the early hours of 15 May 1974 they took hostage more than 115 people including 105 children. Most of the hostages were 14- to 16-years-old students[4] from a high school in Safad on a pre-military Gadna field trip spending the night in Ma'alot.
The hostage-takers soon issued demands for the release of 23 Palestinian militants and 3 others from Israeli prisons, or else they would kill the students. The Israeli side agreed, but the hostage-takers failed to get an expected coded message from Damascus. On 15 May, minutes before the 18:00 deadline set by the DFLP for killing the hostages, the Sayeret Matkal commandoes stormed the building. During the takeover, the hostage-takers killed children with grenades and automatic weapons. Ultimately, 25 hostages, including 22 children, were killed and 68 more were injured.
- ^ Sources describing the event as a "massacre":
- Gervasi, Frank (1975). Thunder Over the Mediterranean. McKay. p. 443.
The day after the Ma'alot massacre, condemned by Pope Paul VI and most Western leaders as 'an evil outrage…'
- Viorst, Milton (1987). Sands of Sorrow: Israel's Journey from Independence. I.B. Tauris. p. 192.
Faced with a public outcry over the Ma'alot massacre, they demanded of Syria a pledge to forbid terrorist to cross the Golan into Israel.
- Gilbert, Martin (2001). The Jews in the Twentieth Century: An Illustrated History. Schocken Books. p. 327.
On 22 November 1974, six months after the Ma'alot massacre, the United Nations General Assembly voted to accept the Palestine Liberation Organisation as an...
- Quandt, William B. (2001). Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Since 1967. Brookings Institution Press. p. 432.
The previous day Israel had been traumatized by the Ma'alot massacre, which had resulted in the deaths of numerous schoolchildren.
- Chasdi, Richard J. (2002). Tapestry of Terror: A Portrait of Middle East Terrorism, 1994–1999. Lexington Books. p. 6.
...Organization (PLO) crimes, like the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 and the Ma'alot massacre of children in 1974.
- Schmid, Alex Peter; Jongman, A. J.; Stohl, Michael (2005). Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, & Literature. Transaction Publishers. p. 639.
The PFLP was responsible for the Ma'alot massacre on May 15, 1974 during which 22 Israeli children were killed.
- Khoury, Jack (7 March 2007). "U.S. filmmakers plan documentary on Ma'alot massacre". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 9 March 2007.
- Gervasi, Frank (1975). Thunder Over the Mediterranean. McKay. p. 443.
- ^ Khoury, Jack (7 March 2007). "U.S. filmmakers plan documentary on Ma'alot massacre". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 9 March 2007.
- ^ "Bullets, Bombs and a Sign of Hope". MIDDLE EAST. TIME. 27 May 1974. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- ^ "1974: Dozens die as Israel retaliates for Ma'alot". On this day: 16 May 1974. BBC News. 16 May 1974. Retrieved 11 December 2008.
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