THE DEATH TOLL IN THE TEL AVIV BOMBINGS AS REPORTED BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THIS EVENING:
03:57p AP Bomb Goes Off in Tel Aviv, Six Die
04:59p AP Suicide Attack in Tel Aviv Kills 7
05:06p AP Suicide Attack in Tel Aviv Kills 5
05:20p AP Suicide Attack in Tel Aviv Kills 3
I am confused. Were there four bombs or two? Is there any confirmation of four attacks besides Drudge?
I don't know but its looking better every hour. All of which goes to show the Israeli military needs to stay exactly where it is. Its not that R&D isn't working, its that it hasn't given enough time to fully work yet. Right now Israel needs to finish the job by dismantling the P.A, arresting Arafat and his top honchos and putting them on trial for war crimes and having them executed, and instituting a program to rigorously denazify the Palestinian population. Would it be democratic? No of course not. But neither was the Allied Occupation of Germany and Japan after World War II and neither the Germans nor the Japanese were allowed to decide the form of government they wished to live under. If there's going to ever be peace in the Middle East, the Palestinians must undergo a similar metamorphosis.
Normally, they do not include the dead bombers in the body count.
That's not necessarily true. I think there is no standard and whoever writes the headline and/or story decides how to count the dead.
AP very often reports the death toll at the end of middle east articles, often by saying something like "1600 Palestinians and 600 Israelis have been killed since the fighting broke out in Sept 2000". But they don't tell you that 80 of the Palestinians killed themselves in suicide bombings, 150 were killed by other Palestinians, dozens were killed in work accidents, and 800 were actively engaged in shooting/stabbing/bombing (not rock throwing) at the time they died. Meanwhile, well over 400 of the Israelis (69% in fact) were non-uniformed non-combatants (civilians), usually deliberately targeted for murder simply because they are Israelis (mostly Jews).
Stating numbers with no detail gives an inference that should not be. It is an immoral inference because it gives the same moral weight to the children intentionally murdered while sleeping as it does to the people shot dead in the act of those murders. Not all deaths are equal.
3 DEAD IN DUAL SUICIDE ATTACK IN SOUTH TEL AVIV
By Haim Shadmi, Ha'aretz Correspondent, Ha'aretz Service and Agencies
Three people were killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up shortly after 10 P.M. Wednesday night near the old central bus station in south Tel Aviv. Two of the dead were foreign workers, while the third was an Israeli citizen.
Magen David Adom first aid officials said at least 30 people were wounded and that they had all been evacuated to hospitals. Six of the wounded were in serious condition, while the remainder suffered moderate and light injuries.
The attack took place in an area where many foreign workers live, and Police Chief Shlomo Aharonisky said that most of the injured were foreign workers.
Tel Aviv Police Chief Yossi Sedbon said the two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a distance of 15-20 meters apart on the busy Neve Sha'anan street at 10:10 P.M. The bombs, which were strapped to the waists of the bombers, he said, contained nails and metal shards.
The Hezbollah television station Al-Manar in Beirut said it had received a claim of responsibility on behalf of Islamic Jihad, but no further confirmation was available.
Thirty-two people were injured on January 25 in a suicide attack in a cafe in the same area.
Dutu Raduian, a worker from Romania, said he heard an explosion, and the lights in his nearby apartment went out.
"Moments later we heard the second explosion. I went down" to the street, he said. "It was horrible, dead people were everywhere and the injured were screaming. I've never seen such a thing in my life." Shaken, he said he would take his family back to Romania.
U.S. condemns suicide bombings; Israel blames PA
The United States condemned the latest terror attack. "This is a despicable act of terrorism which we strongly condemn," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Israel blamed the Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat. "The Palestinian Authority continues to do nothing to stop the murderous attacks launched from its territory," said David Baker, an official in the Prime Minister's Office.
"This attack in Tel Aviv proves that Palestinian terrorists are determined to murder, maim and terrorize as many Israelis as they can, thinking that by doing so they can pressure Israel into concessions," Baker told The Associated Press.
Public Security Minister Uzi Landau referred to the latest terror attack as "a systematic, intentional massacre."
"We are witnessing the massacre of entire families (as happened in Tuesday's shooting attack near the Immanuel settlement)," he told Israel Radio. "These are war crimes, crimes against humanity, as Amnesty International called them."
The Likud minister called for continuing the military campaign against the Palestinian Authority. "We will enter (PA-controlled areas)...and break up the entire Palestinian security apparatus...to bring about the complete collapse of the Palestinian Authority."
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/
Emergency numbers
Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer - 1255131
Ichilov Hospital, Tel Aviv - 1255133
Beilinson Hospital, Petah Tikva - 1255134
Wolfson Medical Center, Holon - 1255135
Tel Aviv Municipality - 1255036666