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Arab/Muslim States

After Taba, Israel mourns, Egypt acrimonious


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
October 19, 2004

More than a week after the deadly Sinai bombings, Israelis try to cope with the enormity of their loss, while Egypt’s state-run media parades claims Jerusalem was behind the attacks.

Meanwhile, a leading Egyptian politician says attacks on US soldiers and the kidnapping of civilians in Iraq are legitimate actions, and that the American offensive against insurgents in Fallujah justifies a terrorist assault on Los Angeles.

‘I want to go home, but I am afraid’

Zohar Niv is one of the many Israelis whose lives have been forever altered by the anti-Jewish Islamic terrorism that continues to plague the nation of Israel.

On October 7, Arab terrorists reportedly affiliated with Al Qaeda attacked the Hilton Hotel in the beachside Sinai resort town of Taba, where Niv was vacationing - along with hundreds of other Israelis - with his wife and four children.

A car bomb driven into the hotel’s lobby resulted in the collapse of an entire wing of the building, killing Niv’s wife, Tzila, as well as their two young sons, Gilad, 11, and Lior, 3. Nine other Israelis lost their lives in the attack.

Niv himself was seriously wounded after falling nine floors. His 18-year-old twin daughters survived unharmed.

On Sunday, he spoke to Israel’s Ma’ariv daily from his hospital bed in Tel Aviv.

“The thing I will miss most is falling asleep with Liori in bed, when his head lay on Tzila and his legs on me,” the tearful father said. “Even if I go around the world, I will never find such a thing.”

Niv recalls how immediately following the blast and his nine-floor fall, a Tel Aviv doctor who had also been staying at the Hilton found him amid the rubble and worked to save his life.

“I didn’t ask where my family was since I was certain they had perished,” he said.

“I want to go home, but I am afraid. There are still many tough moments ahead. But I will come back to life; there is no other way.”

Niv continues to receive treatment for light to moderate wounds, and is expected to be released in two weeks.

Egyptian conspiracy theories

But while Niv and many other Israelis mourn the loss of loved ones, Egyptians are spending their time discussing the latest theories about how Israel perpetrated the Taba bombing in order to deflect attention from its anti-terror operations in Gaza.

Al Ahram , the Arab world’s largest daily, and a newspaper fully controlled by the Mubarak regime, has led the charge.

"I don't accuse Israel because I don't like it, but because the facts prove it," The Jerusalem Post quoted Dia Rashwan, deputy director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, as saying.

According to Rashwan, “this is not the first time to see Israelis die by the hands of Israelis.” He claims Jerusalem was also behind the Jewish community center bombing in Argentina, among several other deadly attacks.

To refute such conspiracy theories, “which dominate [Egypt’s] state-controlled media,” is an exercise in futility, however, noted Dr. Hisham Kassem of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.

Blaming Israel has always been a convenient way of detracting from “more important issues like adequate security measures and our ability to defend tourists in that area,” said Kassem.

And don’t expect Israel to be given a chance to counter the claims. Egypt’s journalist union has banned its members from speaking to Israeli officials, the Post reported.

One Egyptian reporter who dared to interview and Israeli filmmaker recently was fired for “normalizing relations with Israel.”

Egypt is a nation ostensibly at peace with Israel.

‘Moderate’ Arab state

Cairo’s malice has not been saved for the Jewish state alone.

Magdi Ahmad Hussein, the Secretary-General of the Egyptian Labor Party, recently appeared on Al Jazeera and gave full backing to the ongoing campaign of violence against American troops and foreign civilians in Iraq.

He said that the terrorist abductions and grisly decapitations receiving so much press are fully sanctioned by Islam.

“Both the Koran and the Prophet's biography permit the killing of prisoners. This exists in our Islamic law and in the laws of all nations,” Hussein explained, refusing to accept the view that those abducted were civilian hostages.

Hussein said more Arabs throughout the Middle East should converge on Iraq to help in the campaign violence against foreigners there, instead of sitting in their homes and offices and commenting on the issue.

The leading Egyptian politician also said that the US-led military offensive against insurgent forces in Fallujah justified attacks on American cities.

“Those who bomb Fallujah cannot prevent me from bombing Los Angeles… If we had missiles we should have bombed Los Angeles or any other city until they stopped bombing Fallujah, Samarra, and Ramadi.”

Translation of the interview was provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

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