Readers will no doubt remember the attempted bus bombing in Bat Yam on December 22nd in which disaster was narrowly averted due to alert passengers and prompt action on the part of the bus driver and the fact that it took the BBC News website twenty-three hours to report on that incident at the time. 
On January 2nd 2014 Israeli security forces announced the arrests of suspects in connection with that terror attack. The four main suspects are from the Bethlehem area and are members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with one of them also being a member of the PA security forces.
“The four Islamic Jihad operatives were named as Yosef Salamah, 22, Sahaha Tamari, 24, Hamadi Tamari, 21 and Sami Harimi, 20. Sahaha and Hamadi Tamari, brothers, have both served time in Israeli prisons, and Salamah is a Palestinian Authority police officer.”
The Jerusalem Post reports:
“The bomb was created by the Hamadi brothers and Yosef Salamah. They used 2 kg of improvised explosives, nails and screws and attached it to a cellular operating system for remote operation.
The bomb was delivered to Harimi, hidden inside in a black handbag. On the morning of December 22 Harimi traveled to the southern Hebron hills and illegally crossed over the border to Israel.
Harimi then got into the car of a Bedouin Israeli citizen and was driven, along with other men that had crossed with him, to Jaffa. After praying in a mosque, Harimi got on the Dan bus line 240, put the bomb in the center of the bus and got off the bus. A few minutes later he called the cellular device attached to the bomb to set it off.
During his interrogation Harimi, who was arrested in Bethlehem on December 26, stated his intention to commit a larger act of terror in the Tel Aviv area around the same time period. His arrest prevented him from doing so.
During the interrogation of Hamadi, police uncovered 20 kg of explosives near his home.”
To date, the BBC News website has not reported this development to the story it belatedly covered two weeks ago.
Also on the evening of January 2nd, the first missile attack from the Gaza Strip in 2014 (and the second of the week) was launched, hitting the Sdot Negev area. The Israeli air-force responded by targeting a terror infrastructure site and rocket launching sites. Earlier in the evening, a group of Gaza Strip residents approached the border fence and tried to damage it.
“A group of suspects had approached a buffer zone near the fence from the Gaza side and were attempting to damage it, an IDF spokesperson told AFP, adding that after “numerous” warnings to desist, “soldiers then resorted to aiming fire at the individuals’ lower extremities,” and reported “one hit.”
A Hamas official later confirmed that a 16-year old male was wounded in the leg during the incident and had been hospitalized in moderate condition.”
That latest missile fire has also not been reported by BBC News, even though it is clearly aware of the incident.
Related articles:
World’s first missile-proof train station opens – BBC not on track
BBC silent on doubling of terror attacks since renewed ME talks
