Eye in the Sky

Eliezer Shulman reports from the control room of Israel’s deskbound pilots

For half a year, terrorists planned an attack unique in cruelty and scope that would shock Israel to the core. On Seder night, six suicide bombers would blow themselves up in chareidi neighborhoods of Jerusalem, at three different sites carefully chosen to maximize casualties.

Iran provided the backing, both financial and logistical. Suicide bombers were recruited, and their families, from the villages of Silwad and Kofer, near Ramallah, were paid handsomely, with promises that they would be dispatched overseas right after the attacks.

The preparations were meticulous. The bombers were ordered by their handlers neither to make any contact with them nor leave their homes for an entire month before the night of Pesach, so as not to attract the attention of Israel’s security services. But as the date drew near, the plan hit an unexpected hitch.

The night they had marked for the attack, it turned out, would not be Seder night, but rather Purim. On learning this, the bombers were confused. The briefing they received from their handlers weeks before had clearly stated that Purim should have been a month earlier. Since they were under orders not to contact their handlers, they had to resolve this puzzling conundrum on their own.