Today , 46 years ago on may 15th 1974 the Ma’alot massacre occurred during which 3 #Palestine’ian terrorists ( which are hailed as heroes by the Palestinians) murdered 27 Israelis including Arabs , Jews , children and elerdely
This is what happened : (long thread)
This is what happened : (long thread)
As the terrorists noticed the vehicle they opened fire, instantly killing one woman, and wounding both the driver and other women, one of whom later succumbed to her wounds.
The driver turned off the lights of the vehicle and drove towards moshav Elkosh...
#Israel
The driver turned off the lights of the vehicle and drove towards moshav Elkosh...
#Israel
After reaching Tzuriel , the driver saw Mussa Abu Ayoun the man in charge of the security in the near by moshav Elkosh , and alerted him about the incident. Abu Ayoun alerted the IDF and the #Israel’i police which began searching operations but had no success .
The terrorists continued to march towards Ma’alot , reaching the city in May 15th in the middle of the night . They’ve entered the first apartment building they saw and then knocked on the door of one of the apartments, which belonged to the Cohen family of 5 ....
Joseph and Fortuna Cohen opened the door after the terrorists mislead the couple to believe that they were IDF forces looking for the terrorists that were seen in the area...
After opening the door the terrorists shot and killed Joseph , Fortuna , which was 7 months pregnant, run into the apartment grabbed her 16 month old child Itzhak (which was deaf and mute) and hid him under her bed while he was asleep
After a brief search the terrorists shot and murdered pregnant Fortuna, her 4 year old son Eliyahu and then shot and critically wounded her 5 year old daughter Miriam.
Miriam survived despite being shot number of times by an AK 47, Itzhak survived unharmed.
Miriam survived despite being shot number of times by an AK 47, Itzhak survived unharmed.
Pictured from right to left : Joseph , Fortuna and their 4 year old son Eli (Eliyahu) Cohen 
After the gruesome murder of the Cohen family the terrorists continued their path towards the near by Netiv Meir elementary school (which was the main target of the attack) On their way, they met Yaakov Kadosh, a maintenance worker, they asked for directions to the school...
After he told them directions to the school , the terrorists mercilessly beat Yaakov and shoot him critically wounding him and leaving him to die...
At 04:00 the terrorists reach Netiv Meir elementary school.
Unbeknownst to the terrorists, the school if packed with 102 sleeping students and teachers from Tzfat (Safed) which were on a school trip in Ma’alot...
Unbeknownst to the terrorists, the school if packed with 102 sleeping students and teachers from Tzfat (Safed) which were on a school trip in Ma’alot...
In order to enter the school the terrorists take their first hostage , a person that was guarding the , at first he showed them the weapon cache (which was supposed to secure the trip from any possible attacks) and afterwards he led them inside the school.
After entering the school ,the terrorists started rounding up the students in 1 room , the teachers (that slept on another floor) that accompanied the trip saw what is happening and began jumping out of the windows...
Three out of 4 managed to escape leaving the terrified children behind. Meantime, the students were forced to sit on the floor at gunpoint, with explosives between them.
Soon the shear extend of the tragedy was understood by the IDF and police and the school was surrounded
Soon the shear extend of the tragedy was understood by the IDF and police and the school was surrounded
In the morning , the terrorists released 1 student to deliver their ultimatum : the release from Israeli prisons of 23 Arab and 3 other prisoners, including Kozo Okamoto – a #Japanese national involved in the 1972 Lod Airport Massacre.
The deadline was set for 18:00 the same day
The deadline was set for 18:00 the same day
Approximately at 10:00 the terrorists shot and killed 27 year old Sylvan Zerach which climbed a water tower near by to try and look what is going on in the besieged school.
A nurse that accompanied the school trip was also released by the terrorists , she delivered some more names of terrorists to release and a demand that the ambassadors of France and Romania will be involved in the negotiations.
At an emergency session of the Knesset, a decision was reached to negotiate with the terrorists but they’ve turned down a request for more time.After which the Knesset and PM Golda Meir decides to accept the demands in order to buy time but also to be ready to storm the school.
After the decision , defense minister Moshe Dayan arrives to the besieged school and instructs all forces to get ready for a possible takeover of the school as the goverment buys time by telling everyone that they’ve accepted the terrorists requests.
All radio stations and the (then) single Israeli TV channel all announce that Israel accepts the demands and is ready to fulfill them but needs more time. The terrorists do not listen to those announcements and grow more and more irritated.
The same afternoon , the terrorists form a live shield of children around them in order to prevent any sniper fire.
Feeling more bold they also begin to fire in open classrooms, tell all children to stay near the windows and plead for help.
Feeling more bold they also begin to fire in open classrooms, tell all children to stay near the windows and plead for help.
Approximately at 17:00 , as the terrorist become visibly more irritated and impatient, a decision is being made to storm the school, the decision is not being deleivered properly and some forces are unaware of what’s going on.
At 17:25 , 3 snipers simultaneously fire towards the 3 terrorists, for some reason only 1 of them is lightly wounded. The terrorists understand what is going on immediately and begin violently massacring the children in the room AK47 fire and grenades.
Due to the huge chaos it takes approximately a minute for IDF forces to exterminate the terrorists but the unbelievable damage was already done : 22 innocent students ,18 girls and 4 boys (girls were all seated in the center and the boys near the walls) were mercilessly murdered.
The situation outside the school was shear chaos at that point , dozens of locals , parents of the kidnapped children ,IDF forces and police forces started pouring into the school grounds .
Many wounded children were jumping out of the school window wounded , parents were grabbing them instead of letting first responders help . The amount of emergency personnel was not enough for the amount of wounded and the severity of the injuries
Pictured : wounded Tzippi Buchris (then 16) being carried by her brother Galil that was coincidentally part of the emergency forces that helped the wounded .
This photo became a symbol of the Ma’alot massacre
This photo became a symbol of the Ma’alot massacre
Pictured : Netiv Meir elementary as it was being bombed by the terrorists
Pictured : Pinchas Gil’ad a golani soldier rescuing Shula Peretz (on the right) and another student from the school grounds
Pictured : students being rushed to safety after the massacre
The attack shook all of Israeli society to its core.
At least 10,000 people , Jews, Muslims ,Christians and Druze alike attended the mass funeral of the 22 schoolchildren and other victims of the attack.
The Ma’alot massacre was also 1 of the reasons to operation Litani in 1978
At least 10,000 people , Jews, Muslims ,Christians and Druze alike attended the mass funeral of the 22 schoolchildren and other victims of the attack.
The Ma’alot massacre was also 1 of the reasons to operation Litani in 1978
