Sicarii (1989)

Last updated
Sicarii
סיקריים
Formation1989
TypeTerrorist group
PurposeProtesting the outlawing of Kach Party in 1988, and opposition to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process
Location
MethodsGraffiti, Arson, Death Threats, Murder

Sicarii (Daggermen) was a Jewish terrorist group active in Israel [1] [2] that took responsibility for a series of terrorist attacks between 1989 and 1990 on Palestinians and Jewish political and media figures sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians. They named themselves after the ancient Sicarii rebels, a group of Jewish zealots who opposed the Roman occupation of Judaea. [3] [4]

Contents

It is unknown whether the Sicarii were an organized group or a loose alliance of isolated extremists. [3] [5]

In March 1989, The Jerusalem Post described the Sicarii as "the most sought-after under group in Israel today". In one telephone call, a member claimed they "identified" with the Kach political party of Rabbi Meir Kahane, which was outlawed as racist in 1988. [3] [6] Investigation failed to identify the members of the group or to identify the culprits in the attacks that the group claimed responsibility for. [7]

Activities

Sicarii claimed responsibility for multiple attacks on leftist Jews and Palestinians. These included committing arson of apartments and cars owned by left-wing public figures; setting off a bomb near the home of a surgeon who had transplanted the heart of an IDF soldier into an East Jerusalem Arab; and the uprooting of trees along the Avenue of Righteous Gentiles at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. [8]

Some targets of the Sicarii' dummy grenades included Gershon Shaked, Hayim Be'er, Hareetz publisher Amos Schoken, and Hebrew University of Jerusalem rector Yoram Ben-Porat. [9] [10] Some victims of their arson attacks include Dan Almagor, Sesame Street TV actress Sarai Tsuriel and pollster Mina Zemach, who had published a survey saying that 54% of Israelis were in favor of peace talks with the PLO. [6]

They also sent a number of threatening letters to public media figures, judges, moderate right and left-wing parties as well as ultra-Orthodox leaders. [4]

They claimed responsibility for the shooting by a lone gunman of Palestinians outside Jerusalem's walled old city on April 10, 1989. The gunman was wearing an Israeli army uniform and shot down four Palestinian men with an Uzi machine gun. Sicarii claimed that the incident, which became known as the Jaffa Gate shooting, was an act of retaliation for the previous week's stoning attack on Jews at the Western Wall. [3] [11] [12]

In early January 1990, Sicarii claimed responsibility for planting a dummy grenade under the car of the wife of deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres. They also threatened to attack other members of the Knesset from the Labor Party and Ratz because they supported Palestinian peace demonstrations, and to execute a dozen activists of the Peace Now movement. [13] [14] [10] In a phone call, a Sicarii member said "we know that Peace Now is funded by Shimon Peres and functions under his direct instructions. We have information on all leftist organizations in Israel. We have the means to get to every single traitor." [10]

Goals and strategy

Sicarii's goal was to send a message to Israeli politicians that there would be opposition to any process of rapprochement with the Palestine Liberation Organization. [3] They were also protesting the exclusion of the Kach Party list in the 1988 Israeli legislative election. [4] A Sicarii caller also said that the groups were planning attacks "to improve the situation of Jews". [6]

They attacked Jewish targets predominantly to draw more attention to their cause as attacks on Arabs would have a smaller effect. Their targets were mostly left-wing politicians, but not exclusively. [3] One of their members claimed that the arson attacks were not meant to kill, but to intimidate, suggesting that some of their attacks may have been designed to fail. [5]

Police investigation

In March 1989, the Israeli Police began an investigation into the Sicarii attacks after the group claimed responsibility for setting fire to the door of Petah Tikva mayor Dov Tavori. This incident motivated president Chaim Herzog to call for the authorities to eradicate the group. [6]

The Israeli police claimed that the group was a "clumsy, loose knit but dangerous band of amateur terrorists". [6] During the early stages of the investigations, some members of the Israeli police said that Sicarii might not be a terrorist group at all, but rather that their actions were isolated extremists' work. They said they felt this way because of the poor execution of all the group's attacks, in contrast with the professionalism of the devices laid by ultra-Orthodox terrorists in the same period. [15]

Immediately after the 1989 Jaffa gate shooting, Chief Superintendent of the national police force Adi Gonen said that "there still is no concrete evidence that the Sicarii exist", and he refused to rule out that the shooting was a criminal rather than a political act. [16] Jerusalem Police Chief Josef Yehudai said that the prime suspect was an "army reservist... with nationalist motives". [6]

In May 1989, the General Security Service arrested 8 Kach party activists over the Sicarii attacks, interrogated them for an hour, and then released them on bail. [17]

Arrest and release of a suspect

On June 26, 1990, a man was arrested by Israeli police on suspicion that he was the individual behind the series of vandalism incidents on Palestinians and left-wing Israelis claimed by Sicarii, committed since January 1989, and of the killing of an Arab. Police initially suspected him of being the leader of Sicarii. [18]

The case of this suspect attracted a lot of media attention. The man was eventually released on bail on 29 June 1990 after the police failed to find evidence against him. Following his release, he accused newspapers of character assassination, saying, "Whoever did (the Sicarii acts) should be put in jail. But I am innocent. Nothing in the newspapers is right." [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Defense League</span> Jewish far-right organization

The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a far-right religious and political organization in the United States and Canada. Its stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary"; it has been classified as "right-wing terrorist group" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 2001, and is also designated as hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. According to the FBI, the JDL has been involved in plotting and executing acts of terrorism within the United States. Most terrorist watch groups classify the group as inactive as of 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eden Natan-Zada</span> Israeli soldier and mass-murderer (1986–2005)

Eden Natan-Zada was an Israeli deserter soldier who opened fire in a bus in Shefa-Amr in northern Israel on 4 August 2005, killing four Arab citizens of Israel and wounding twelve others. He was restrained, disarmed and cuffed when he tried to reload to prepare for another round of shooting. After he was restrained and handcuffed, he was beaten to death by the crowd, as recorded on video. It has been inferred that the shooting was a personal protest against the Israeli government's disengagement plan, since an orange ribbon was found attached to Natan-Zada's pocket.

Jewish extremist terrorism is terrorism, including religious terrorism, committed by extremists within Judaism.

The history of terrorism involves significant individuals, entities, and incidents associated with terrorism. Scholars often agree that terrorism is a disputed term, and very few of those who are labeled terrorists describe themselves as such. It is common for opponents in a violent conflict to describe the opposing side as terrorists or as practicing terrorism.

Terror Against Terror was a radical Jewish militant organization active in Israel that openly espoused the ideology of perpetrating terrorism and committed several violent attacks directed at Palestinians, ranging from vandalism to mass shooting to murder. The group consisted of many Jewish-American settlers living in Hebron who considered themselves acolytes of Rabbi Meir Kahane, leader of the Kach organization which had established the group. Kahane had publicly advocated since 1974 that Arab terrorism should be met with Jewish terrorism, hence TNT. The group began committing violent acts against Arabs in 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Rabbi Meir Hai</span> 2009 killing of Israeli settler by Palestinian militants in the West Bank, Palestine

On 24 December 2009, three Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a vehicle near Shavei Shomron in the West Bank, killing an Israeli settler. The Imad Mughniyeh Group, a little-known affiliate of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah party, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Events in the year 1989 in Israel.

The August 2010 West Bank shooting attack was an attack near the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, carried out by Hamas militants. Four Israeli settlers from the settlements of Beit Hagai and Efrat were killed after militants attacked their vehicle. It was the deadliest Palestinian attack on Israelis in over two years.

The 2010 Palestinian militancy campaign was a coordinated effort by 13 Palestinian militant groups, led by Islamist group Hamas, to derail peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The campaign consisted of attacks against Israelis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel in which, according to a Hamas declaration in early September, "all options are open". The participating groups also included Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees and an unnamed splinter group of Fatah. Some Israeli and Palestinian officials and analysts familiar with Hamas believe that the true target of the campaign is the Palestinian Authority, which is led by Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.

Judaism's doctrines and texts have sometimes been associated with violence or anti-violence. Laws requiring the eradication of evil, sometimes using violent means, exist in the Jewish tradition. However, Judaism also contains peaceful texts and doctrines. There is often a juxtaposition of Judaic law and theology to violence and nonviolence by groups and individuals. Attitudes and laws towards both peace and violence exist within the Jewish tradition. Throughout history, Judaism's religious texts or precepts have been used to promote as well as oppose violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehava</span> Jewish far-right organization in Israel

Lehava is a far-right and Jewish supremacist organization based in Israel that strictly opposes Jewish assimilation, objecting to most personal relationships between Jews and non-Jews. It is opposed to the Christian presence in Israel. It has an anti-miscegenation focus, denouncing marriages between Jews and non-Jews forbidden by Orthodox Jewish law. The group has over 10,000 members. In 2024, the United States placed Lehava and its leader, Bentzi Gopstein, on a sanctions list for their role in fomenting violence in the West Bank, labeling Lehava "the largest violent extremist organization in Israel."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Price tag attack policy</span> Acts of vandalism and violence committed by extremist Israeli settler youths

The price tag attack policy, also sometimes referred to as "mutual responsibility", is the name originally given to the attacks and acts of vandalism committed primarily in the occupied West Bank by extremist Israeli settler youths against Palestinian Arabs, and to a lesser extent, against left-wing Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, Christians, and Israeli security forces. The youths officially claim that the acts are committed to "exact a price from local Palestinians or from the Israeli security forces for any action taken against their settlement enterprise".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kahanism</span> Far-right political ideology

Kahanism is a religious Zionist ideology based on the views of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League and the Kach party in Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kach (political party)</span> Former ultranationalist political party in Israel (1971–94)

Kach was a radical Orthodox Jewish, religious Zionist political party in Israel, existing from 1971 to 1994. Founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1971, based on his Jewish-Orthodox-nationalist ideology, the party earned a single seat in the Knesset in the 1984 election, after several electoral failures. However, it was barred from participating in the next election in 1988 under the revised Knesset Elections Law banning parties that incited racism. After Kahane's assassination in 1990, the party split, with Kahane Chai breaking away from the main Kach faction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bentzi Gopstein</span> Israeli political activist

Ben-Zion "Bentzi" Gophstein is a political activist affiliated with the far-right in Israel, a student of Meir Kahane, and founder and director of Lehava, an Israeli Jewish anti-assimilation organization. He was a member of the Council of Kiryat Arba, 2010–2013. In November 2019, he was indicted on charges of incitement to terrorism, violence, and racism. He was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury and the European Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli settler violence</span> Attacks targeting Palestinians in the West Bank

Palestinians are the target of violence by Israeli settlers and their supporters, predominantly in the West Bank. In November 2021, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz discussed the steep rise in the number of incidents between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank, many of which result from attacks by residents of illegal settler outposts on Palestinians from neighboring villages. Settler violence also includes acts known as price tag attacks that are in response to actions by the Israeli government, usually against Palestinian targets and occasionally against Israeli security forces in the West Bank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duma arson attack</span> Firebombing of a Palestinian home in 2015

On 31 July 2015, Israeli settlers firebombed a Palestinian family home in late July 2015 in the village of Duma, killing three people; 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh was burned alive in the fire, while both his parents died from their injuries within weeks. On 3 January 2016, 21 year old Israeli settler Amiram Ben-Uliel was indicted for the murder, along with an Israeli minor, for participation in planning the murder. In addition, along with two others, they were both charged with one count of membership in a terrorist organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015–2016 wave of violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict</span> Notable increase of violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

An increase of violence occurred in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict starting in the autumn of 2015 and lasting into the first half of 2016. It was called the "Intifada of the Individuals" by Israeli sources, the Knife Intifada, Stabbing Intifada or Jerusalem Intifada by international sources because of the many stabbings in Jerusalem, or Habba by Palestinian sources. 38 Israelis and 235 Palestinians were killed in the violence. 558 Israelis and thousands of Palestinians were injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Itamar Ben-Gvir</span> Israeli lawyer and far-right politician (born 1976)

Itamar Ben-Gvir is an Israeli far-right politician and lawyer who has served as the Minister of National Security since 2022. He is the leader of Otzma Yehudit, a Kahanist and anti-Arab party that won six seats in the 2022 Israeli legislative election, and is part of what is widely regarded as the most right-wing government in Israel's history.

Meir Ettinger is an Israeli Kahanist activist and extremist who is known for leading the Hilltop Youth, a group that pursues the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, conducts punitive price tag attacks on Palestinian villages, and targets Muslim and Christian sites. Ettinger has called for the demolition of the secular state of Israel, and its replacement by a religious society based on Biblical principles.

References

  1. United States Department of State (2005). "Patterns of Global Terrorism". National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT). Oklahoma City: 11 via United States Department of State 1989. There were also terrorist attacks by a Jewish extremist group, the Sicarii...on 10 April, the Sicarii killed two Palestinians and wounded two others near the Jaffe Gate in Jerusalem..on 7 December, Sicarii claimed responsibility for burning the car of a Hebrew University professor the second firebomb damaged his apartment.
  2. Ciment, James (2015-03-10). World Terrorism: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era. New York: Routledge. p. 288. ISBN   9781317451525. Sicarri and Kach. A further group that emerged during this period was the Sicarii (Daggermen), who named themselves after an extremist Jewish group from the time of Christ. A more influential group was The Kach movement led by Rabbi Meir Kahane. *note: Sicarii and Kach are two separate groups
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Roseberg, Carol (April 28, 1989). "Underground group targets Jewish leftists". The Globe and Mail . p. A8.
  4. 1 2 3 Ami Pedahzur; Arie Perliger (2011), Jewish Terrorism in Israel, Columbia University Press, p. 93, ISBN   978-0-231-15447-5
  5. 1 2 Rotem, Micheal (April 12, 1989). "POLICE PONDER THE EXISTENCE OF SICARII". The Jerusalem Times . p. 1.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Barthos, Gordon (April 12, 1989). "Right-wing Jewish terrorist group even brands Israeli PM 'a traitor'". The Toronto Star . p. A2.
  7. 1 2 Kreimerman, Jessica (29 June 1990). "Sicarii suspect released on bail, claims innocence". Jerusalem Post. ProQuest   320980017.
  8. Darfner, Larry (28 June 1990). "SICARII SUSPECT CALLED 'NUT' WHO DISRUPTED MEETINGS". Jerusalem Post. ProQuest   320981642.
  9. Lustick, Ian S. (2018-07-05). Unsettled States, Disputed Lands: Britain and Ireland, France and Algeria, Israel and the West Bank-Gaza. Cornell University Press. ISBN   9781501731945.
  10. 1 2 3 Barthos, Gordon (January 6, 1990). "Israeli terror group threatens to kill 12 peace activists". The Toronto Star. p. A2.
  11. Kelly, Robert J.; Maghan, Jess (1998). Hate Crime: The Global Politics of Polarization . SIU Press. p.  92. ISBN   9780809322107.
  12. "Jewish Underground Suspected in Shooting Near Jaffa Gate". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1989-04-12. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
  13. Martha Crenshaw; John Pimlott (22 April 2015), International Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Routledge, p. 369, ISBN   978-1-135-91966-5
  14. "1990 Global Terrorism: Middle East Overview (US Department of State)". Federation Of American Scientists. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  15. Rotem, Micheal (March 11, 1989). "New underground?". The Jerusalem Post . p. 8.
  16. Bushinsky, Jay (April 20, 1989). "Shootings spur Israeli probe of right wing". Chicago Sun-Times . p. 20.
  17. "Sicarii Hunt". The Jerusalem Times. May 12, 1989. p. 1.
  18. Kampeas, Ron (4 July 1990). "Suspected Sicarii leader admitted to mental hospital". Jerusalem Post. ProQuest   320989113.