Sheffield Club Bombing

During the Second Intifada, suicide terrorist attacks frequently targeted civilian gathering places. A government report covering September 2000 through December 2005 counted 147 suicide bombing attacks, 107 of them directed at civilians, and identified restaurants, cafés, clubs, and shopping malls among the principal categories of civilian targets.[1]

The Sheffield Club occupied the third floor of a building in Rishon Lezion's new industrial area. A federal civil complaint described it as an unlicensed social club and gambling parlor, while the government report identified it as a pool hall with slot machines.[1][2]

At approximately 11 p.m. on May 7, 2002, Muhammad Jamil Ahmad Mua'mar — identified as a 28-year-old resident of Nablus of Jordanian extraction and a Hamas affiliate — arrived in the Rishon Lezion industrial area carrying a suitcase. He entered the Sheffield Club, approached a crowd gathered near the slot machines, and detonated the device concealed in the suitcase.[1] The force of the blast propelled a number of victims through the club's windows and onto parked cars in the parking lot three floors below.[2]

The detailed government event entry reports 15 people killed and approximately 51 wounded, while the same report's overview describes the Rishon Lezion billiard-club attack as having killed 16.[1] A separate government publication records 16 killed and 55 wounded and states that the explosion caused part of the building to collapse.[3] The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs records 16 killed and 45 injured.[4] The sources do not explain the discrepancies.

Government records name 15 victims: Esther Bablar and Yitzhak Bablar of Bat Yam; Malka Regina Boslan, Pnina Hikri Azar, Rafael Haim, Nawa Hinawi, Anat Teremforush Almassi, and Shoshana Maguri of Tel Aviv; Avraham Bayaz of Nes Ziona; Nir Lovatin, Rahamim Kimhi, and Israel Shikar of Rishon Lezion; Edna Cohen Zevah and Rassan Sharouk of Holon; and Dalia Masa of Nahlat Yehuda.[1] The official list records victims ranging in age from 26 to 64 and notes that many left spouses, children, grandchildren, parents, or siblings.

Among the victims were Esther and Yitzhak Bablar. Esther was an American citizen who had returned to Israel after 30 years abroad to marry Yitzhak, her childhood sweetheart.[2] She died of her injuries the following morning and was survived by three children. Two of her daughters later became plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit arising from the attack.[2]

The attack was planned and carried out by Hamas's terrorist-operational infrastructure in Ramallah, working in cooperation with a Hamas cell in Jerusalem.[1] Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing.[3] The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs also listed the Rishon Lezion club bombing among attacks attributed to Muhammad Arman, whom it described as a Hamas recruiter and explosives engineer who built bombs and suicide vests with associates.[4]

Ibrahim Hamed, identified as the head of Hamas's military wing in the West Bank until his arrest in 2006, was convicted by the Judea Military Court of planning, organizing, assisting, and executing the May 2002 Sheffield Club bombing.[5] The reported conviction encompassed a series of attacks that collectively killed 46 people.[5]

The bombing entered both American civil litigation and Israeli military-court reporting. A complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Tzvi Weiss et al. v. National Westminster Bank, PLC, alleged that Hamas perpetrated and claimed responsibility for the attack. Its account was presented as the plaintiffs' allegations rather than as judicial findings.[2]

The government study listed the billiard-club bombing among the most devastating suicide attacks on places of entertainment during the period.[1] The civil complaint also preserved a detailed account of Esther Bablar's death and the claims brought by two of her daughters, while reporting on Ibrahim Hamed's conviction placed the bombing among the attacks adjudicated by the Judea Military Court.[2][5]

Published casualty figures differ. The detailed government event entry records 15 killed and approximately 51 wounded, but the same report's comparative overview gives a death toll of 16.[1] Another government publication reports 16 killed and 55 wounded, while the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs gives 16 killed and 45 injured.[3][4] None of these documents explains the divergence.

The sources also differ in form and scope when assigning responsibility. The government report attributes the planning and execution to Hamas infrastructure in Ramallah and Jerusalem, whereas the American civil complaint presents Hamas's responsibility as an allegation made by the plaintiffs.[1][2] The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs associates the attack with explosives engineer Muhammad Arman, while Jerusalem Post reporting identifies Ibrahim Hamed as convicted in connection with the Sheffield Club bombing.[4][5]