On the eleventh anniversary of the death of Ayat Al Akhras, the youngest of all of the Palestinian female suicide bombers who at age 18 murdered two Israelis and wounded 28 others when she blew herself up at the Kiryat Ha-Yovel supermarket in Jerusalem on March 29, 2002, was praised on Fatah’s facebook page. According to the Fatah Facebook Page, “We are committed to your promise. We are committed to the promise of freedom, oh Bride of Palestine, Ayat Al-Akhras.”
In other instances, the Fatah facebook page administrator declared, “Today is the 11th anniversary of Ayat Al-Akhras’ Martyrdom death, resident of the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, 18 year-old who blew herself up in a shopping center in Jerusalem. In her operation, Ayat – who should have worn a wedding dress – put on the Palestinian keffiyeh and army uniform. Rest in peace Sister Martyr (Shahida) Ayat Al-Akhras!” Furthermore, a caption on a picture of Ayat Al Akhras reads. “And the martyrs with their Lord, they shall have their reward and their light.” (Quran part of Sura 57:19, translation Muhsin Khan) Bride in a Martyrdom (Shahada) dress, Ayat Al-Akhras, who carried out the heroic operation (i.e., the suicide attack) in Jerusalem on March 29, 2002.”
The names of the two victims of Ayat Al Akhras’ suicide bombing were Rachel Levy and Haim Smadar. Rachel Levy was merely a 17-year-old teenager who sought to do grocery shopping. She had wanted to eat fish for Shabbat, so her mother sent her to the grocery store to buy fish. The other victim, 55-year-old Haim Smadar, was a security guard who as a fluent Arabic speaker detected that it was strange that Ayat Al Akhras told a group of Arab ladies who were selling vegetables outside the supermarket to evacuate the area. He prevented an even greater tragedy, by stopping Ayat Al Akhras from entering the packed Supersal supermarket full of shoppers purchasing food for Shabbat.
Yedioth Achronot reported at the time of Ayat Al Akhras’ terror attack, “The entrance to Supersal was destroyed completely. Containers of white paint exploded and the white paint got mixed with the blood of the injured. ‘I stood at the customer service desk at the time of the explosion. Every thing became full of smoke and people started to shout in pain,’ said Galiya, Supersal supervisor. There was a lot of destruction but generally the terrorist did not succeed to enter; most of the area was not injured.”
Avigail Levy, the mother of Rachel Levy, reported following the suicide bombing that murdered her daughter: Rachel was a “little girl” who “loved life. She was a very quiet girl. She didn’t have any political ideas … and she didn’t hate them. She didn’t hate any one.” Shoshana Smadar, the wife of Haim Smadar, proclaimed after her husband was slaughtered that her only comfort was the fact that she knew that her husband prevented the same from happening to 20 other families. Yet nevertheless, his death was very difficult on her, especially because she was forced to take care of two deaf children without her husband’s help. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade took responsibility for the explosion that caused the deaths of both Rachel Levy and Haim Smadar, yet to date, by praising Ayat Al Akhras on their Facebook page, Fatah demonstrates that they have no remorse that their armed wing murdered innocent people.
By Rachel Avraham