Terrorist Bombing of Hebrew University Cafeteria

Nine people – four Israelis and five foreign nationals – were killed and 85 injured, 14 of them seriously, when a bomb exploded in the crowded Frank Sinatra cafeteria on the Hebrew University Mt. Scopus campus shortly after 13:30. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

The bomber left the bomb in an innocent looking bag packed with shrapnel in the cafeteria. The device was professionally prepared, possibly in one of the factories in the Nablus casbah, which the IDF has refrained from entering since Operation Defensive Shield after Passover.

Though classes were not in session, students were taking exams at the time of the blast, and the cafeteria was crowded with diners. There were also numerous students in the building registering for classes for the coming school year.

The cafeteria is also near the Rothberg International School, where about 80 pupils from the United States and other Western countries had arrived to prepare for the fall semester.

Most of the injured were between the ages of 18 and 30. The explosion gutted the cafeteria.

The victims:

• David (Diego) Ladowski, 29, of Jerusalem

• Levina Shapira, 53, of Jerusalem

• Marla Bennett, 24, of California (US)

• Benjamin Blutstein, 25, of Pennsylvania (US)

• Dina Carter, 37, of Jerusalem (US)

• Janis Ruth Coulter, 36, of New York (US)

• David Gritz, 24, of Massachusetts (US-France)

• Daphna Spruch, 61, of Jerusalem died of her wounds on Aug 10.

• Revital Barashi, 30, of Jerusalem died of her wounds on Aug 13.

Source: Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.