Suicide Bomber Strikes Haifa Restaurant
A memorial to the Maxim victims now stands next to the rebuilt restaurant in Haifa. (credit: Almog, public domain)

October 4, 2003

A suicide bombing kills 21 innocent people, including four Arabs, and injures some 60 others at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa.

The beachfront restaurant, co-owned by Jews and Christian Arabs, is known as a symbol of coexistence. Hanadi Jaradat, a 28-year-old Palestinian, detonates her explosive belt in the middle of Maxim, and metal fragments spray around the restaurant. Among the dead are several members from two families, including four children, one of them 2 months old.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for the bombing. The attack is the sixth female suicide bombing of the Second Intifada, which began in 2000. The Israeli army responds by demolishing Jaradat’s home and bombing an Islamic Jihad and Hamas training camp in Syria. Israel holds Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority responsible.

Islamic Jihad says the attack is a response to the killing of top officials in the preceding weeks. The terrorist organization also says the bombing exposes the weakness of Israeli security.

The restaurant is quickly rebuilt and reopens, with a memorial built nearby.

Two dozen suicide bombings strike Israel in 2003. During this period, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and other militant Palestinian groups share in the planning and execution of these deadly attacks.