25 years ago today, the Sbarro bombing opened a wound in Israel that still hasn’t healed
Ben Sales is a news editor at The Times of IsraelAt the time, the catastrophe was unimaginable.The numbers themselves told a horror story: 16 killed, 130 injured. Eight children among the dead. Five members of a single family. Another of the victims was a woman pregnant with her first child, visiting from New Jersey.And yet, somehow, while those gruesome figures conveyed the worst of the nightmare that was the Sbarro terror attack, they didn’t convey its entirety.Sbarro was the center of Jerusalem, the expansive curved storefront dominating one of the capital’s busiest intersections. For Israelis, it was a place to meet up. For tourists, especially religious ones, it was an enticing example of an American fast food chain made kosher in the Jewish state.Twenty-five years ago, the crowded pizzeria became a hellscape.If you’re old enough, you remember the photos: A bombed-out storefront. Debris everywhere. Medics and first responders scrambling in…
The article commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Sbarro pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem, a terror attack on August 9, 2001, that killed 16 people, including eight children and a pregnant American woman, and injured 130. The attack, orchestrated by Hamas, involved a bomber who packed explosives with nuts and bolts for maximum casualties.
“The only reason I’m involved in this is because my daughter was murdered and the murderer has been free all these years,”
said Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki was killed. Roth and his wife have spent 15 years seeking the extradition of co-conspirator Ahlam Tamimi, who was released in a 2011 prisoner exchange and lives freely in Jordan, despite being on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. The Roths’ ongoing fight for justice is complicated by diplomatic considerations between the US and Jordan, and has been further impacted by the recent loss of their son-in-law in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
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