1973 New York City bomb plot
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The 1973 New York City bomb plot was a plan by the
Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
militant group
Black September Black September ( ar, أيلول الأسود; ''Aylūl Al-Aswad''), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was a conflict fought in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF), under the leadership of King Hussein ...
to detonate three
car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...
s in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
at the same time
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Golda Meir Golda Meir, ; ar, جولدا مائير, Jūldā Māʾīr., group=nb (born Golda Mabovitch; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was an Israeli politician, teacher, and ''kibbutznikit'' who served as the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1 ...
arrived there in March 1973. The bombs failed to explode, but the main suspect, Khalid Duhham Al-Jawary, was not caught until January 1991. The attempted attack was the first such Black September operation within the United States.


Background

Black September was formed in 1970, after the Black September conflict between Palestinians and Jordanians erupted in
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
that same year. In September 1972 it caught world attention with the
massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...
of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the
1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. Israel soon responded with the Wrath of God campaign. In early March 1973, the group attacked the Saudi embassy in
Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
, killing the U.S. Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission as well as the
Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
Chargé d'affaires.


Plot


Planning

On January 12, 1973, Khalid Duhham Al-Jawary, described in a federal warrant as a 27-year-old Iraqi linked to Black September but self-described as a Palestinian who grew up in Jordan, flew through
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
to
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, and then on to New York City. On January 17 the FBI, acting on a tip received in
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, interviewed Al-Jawary about his activities. Al-Jawary claimed to be in flight training at
Teterboro Airport Teterboro Airport is a general aviation relief airport in the boroughs of Teterboro, Moonachie, and Hasbrouck Heights in Bergen County, New Jersey.Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
with her son Todd in order to reconnoiter targets without arousing suspicion.


Car bombs

Just days after the Khartoum killings, around March 4, 1973, Al-Jawary took three rented cars rigged with explosives and placed them around various Israeli targets in the city; one at
Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...
and 47th Street at the First Israel Bank and Trust company, another at Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street at an
Israel Discount Bank Israel Discount Bank, Ltd. is a retail bank, commercial bank, private bank and financial services company headquartered in Tel Aviv with 112 branches throughout Israel. Discount Bank is a public company traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange und ...
, and a third at
El-Al El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (, he, אל על נתיבי אויר לישראל בע״מ), trading as El Al (Hebrew: , "Upwards", "To the Skies" or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ar, إل-عال), is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural ...
's cargo terminal at
John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Ne ...
. The bombs consisted of gasoline, propane tanks, and
Semtex Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and Pentaerythritol tetranitrate, PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex was developed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia, or ...
, as well as batteries and blasting caps. The two cars on Fifth Avenue had alarm clocks for timing the detonators, whereas the one at JFK, two times as powerful, utilized an advanced electronic timer known as an "e-cell". In addition to the explosives, someone had placed Black September propaganda in the cars, concealed in
Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
newspapers. According to a Federal agent at the time, the explosives were supposed to detonate at noon on March 4 with the arrival of Prime Minister Meir in the city. However, the bombs never detonated, a failure which the FBI ascribed at the time to "an error in the circuitry system."


Discovery

According to an
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
investigation released in 2009, the
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
had intercepted an encrypted message sent from official Iraqi diplomatic communications in the United States to the Iraqi foreign ministry in Baghdad (and then the
Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establ ...
), which revealed the plot and the bombs' locations. At 7:15 pm on March 6, officials from the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
and
New York Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
started a search for the car bombs. All three cars were found: the two on Fifth Avenue had been towed and impounded at Pier 56 on March 5, and subsequently discovered on March 7 by their rental agency, while the car at the airport was found early in the morning on March 7 and disabled by NYPD bomb squad member Terence McTigue. According to the FBI, the detonation of one of the bombs by police caused a fireball 50 to 75 feet high and 25 feet wide, creating a potential fatality zone of 100 yards that could have killed hundreds. They soon issued a warrant for the arrest of the main suspect, Al-Jawary, but also stated publicly at the time, "It would have been a pretty tough job for one man."


Aftermath

In the immediate aftermath of the failed attack the FBI launched a massive investigation for the case, codenamed Tribomb. Three hundred FBI agents took part, recovering 60 fingerprints identified as those of Al-Jawary and conducting hundreds of interviews. Despite immediately issuing a warrant for the arrest of Al-Jawary, he managed to escape the country, but in 1991, while flying from Iraq to Tunis for the funeral of
Abu Iyad use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Carthage, Tunisia , death_cause = Assassination , resting_place = , resting_place_coord ...
, he was detained in
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
for use of a false
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
ian passport. A few months later Italian authorities handed over custody to the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
, who flew Al-Jawary to stand trial in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. In April 1993, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Al-Jawary was released on February 19, 2009 from the U.S. Federal prison system and handed over to U.S. immigration officials.


See also

* List of terrorist incidents, 1973 * Terrorism in New York City


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New York City Bomb Plot Explosions in 1973 Black September Organization attacks Failed terrorist attempts in New York City Car and truck bombings in the United States Terrorist incidents in the United States in 1973 1973 in New York City 1970s crimes in New York City 1973 crimes in the United States