Brussels Airport Terrorists ‘Really Wanted To Kill a Jew’: Report
Image by Getty Images
By Naomi Zeveloff January 24, 2017
Jews and Israelis were specifically targeted in the Islamic State suicide bombing on the Brussels airport on March 22, 2016, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.
A Belgian-led investigation has indicated that the the bombers targeted travelers to Israel. One of the attackers pursued a group of Hasidic Jews before detonating the explosive device.
“The attacker seemed to rush towards two Orthodox Jews,” an unnamed source close to the investigation told AFP. “He really, clearly wanted to kill a Jew.”
A source also said that the attackers were “obsessed with the Israelis.”
A check-in counter for Delta Airlines was also targeted.
“We know they wanted to target Americans,” said one source. “It’s clear they had quite specific targets.”
Four Americans were among the 32 victims at the airport and a twin attack on a Brussels subway station. Two ultra-Orthodox Israelis were injured.
Three attackers, Najim Laachraoui and brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui were killed.
Contact Naomi Zeveloff at [email protected]
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Brad Lander woos Jewish voters in NYC mayoral race with Talmud and Hebrew
-
Fast Forward Trump administration condemns destructive pro-Palestinian protest at University of Washington
-
Fast Forward Government reviewing visas of pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied Columbia library, after about 75 arrests
-
Fast Forward Temple suspends second student involved in ‘F— the Jews’ sign
Most Popular
- 1
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 2
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 3
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 4
Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish וואָס צוויי פּאָעטן האָבן געשריבן וועגן זייערע מאַמעסWhat these two Yiddish poets wrote about their mothers
מאַני לייב און ראַשעל וואַפּרינסקי, וואָס זענען יאָרן לאַנג געווען ראָמאַנטיש פֿאַרבונדן, באַשרײַבן ביידע דער מאַמעס פֿרומקייט.
-
Fast Forward Brad Lander woos Jewish voters in NYC mayoral race with Talmud and Hebrew
-
Fast Forward Trump administration condemns destructive pro-Palestinian protest at University of Washington
-
Opinion 80 years after Germany surrendered, we’re still learning the real lessons of World War II
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.