On Rosh Hashanah, we are asked to remember. As I sat in synagogue the day after the 25th anniversary of 9/11, I realized I have vivid memories that tell the story of the hatred toward both Israel and America that led up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on American soil. My stories help connect the dots.

In July of 2000, under the auspices of US President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak met with the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Yasser Arafat, at the US president’s country retreat at Camp David. Barak offered Arafat an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Arafat refused the offer. One of the results was the Second Intifada, which had the stated goal of using suicide bombings to spread fear and intimidate Jews in Israel into acceding to Palestinian demands.

The Sbarro Pizza Parlor Suicide Bombing: On August 9, 2001, I was in Jerusalem attending the National Convention of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America (HWZOA). We were all aware of the ongoing Second Intifada; however, it had not prevented over 500 Jewish women from across the US  coming to Jerusalem to show the world that we were ardent Zionists, who believed in saving lives at our hospitals in Jerusalem, regardless of race, ethnicity, or religion.

It was the final day of the conference, and Hadassah delegates were scattered throughout downtown Jerusalem, spending a little time on last-minute sightseeing and shopping before flying back to the US. Suddenly, we heard a very loud “boom” that shook the ground beneath our feet. Within minutes, word came down that a suicide bomber had blown himself up a few blocks away in the Sbarro pizza parlor; the dead and wounded were being taken to either Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem or Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus.

As a member of the Hadassah National Board, I frantically began trying to contact the delegates from my region to make sure they were safe. It was no easy task, as cell phone communication had quickly become impossible. After an anxious afternoon, I and my colleagues reached every Convention attendee. They were all safe. I even reached my family in the US to let them know that I was safe.

We later learned that the suicide bomber, Izz Al-Din Shuheil al-Masri, a 22-year-old from a wealthy Palestinian family, deliberately chose to become a martyr for Allah by blowing himself up at the Sbarro pizza parlor. His intent was to murder as many Jews as possible. He killed 15 and wounded 130 innocent men, women, and children who had simply........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)