israelinsider: security: Grannybomber: AP tries to spin vengeful attempted mass murderer into heroine

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Fatma Omar An-Najar in non-military garb (AP reproduction of family photo)


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Grannybomber: AP tries to spin vengeful attempted mass murderer into heroine

By Israel Insider staff and partners November 24, 2006

Granny preparing to liberate all of Palestine with her IDF-issued M-16 (AP reproduction from Hamas video)

An AP wire report tries to portray the oldest-to-date Palestinian bomber as a sweet senior citizen "driven" to her would-be crime by Israeli actions against her Islamic terrorist grandchildren.

The woman exploded yesterday in Gaza after trying to kill a group of Israeli soldiers, but you would hardly know that from the report, written by Sarah El Deeb, which attempts to turn the attempted murderer into a heroine justified in her attack.

The incident occurred shortly after 5 pm Thursday, according to a ynet report, when Israeli "Givati Brigade" soldiers operating against Qassam rocket cells spotted the woman approaching them, after they had received prior warning of a possible suicide attack in the area.

The troops called on the suspected terrorist to stop, but she continued moving towards them, at which point they hurled a non-lethal stun-grenade in her direction, apparently setting off the explosive device in her possession.

It was the second thwarted suicide terror attack against an IDF soldier in Gaza in the past month; one Givati Brigade soldier was lightly injured in the previous attack, also carried out by a woman terrorist.

But the AP report puts an altogether different spin on the attack [italics added]:

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Matriarch who lost grandson in conflict with Israelis turns into suicide bomber

The oldest Palestinian suicide bomber, a 64-year-old (else where AP identifies her as 68) widow, lived in a one-room shack and had so many grandchildren that relatives lost track of the number, but her daughter said Fatma Omar An-Najar was driven to lay down her life in an attack on Israelis because one grandson was killed and another disabled in clashes with troops.

Like younger bombers, she made a farewell video for the militant Hamas before she set out on her suicide mission Thursday.

Fatma presided over a small army of militants, mostly from the Islamic Hamas movement, but with a few active in the rival Fatah. Her husband, who died a year ago, served time in Israeli jails, so did five of her seven sons. One of her numerous grandsons died at 17 four years ago, fighting Israeli troops during an incursion into nearby Beit Lahiya, relatives said, and another teenage grandson lost a leg from gunshot wounds after he tried to stab a soldier.

One of her sons, Samir, 36, estimated that her nine offspring had a total of between 35 and 38 children of their own.

"She had an army of grandchildren," he said.

Her oldest daughter, Fatheya, said she and her mother had taken part in rally at a Gaza mosque three weeks ago, where women defied a cordon of heavily-armed Israeli troops to create a diversion for besieged Hamas fighters to slip away.

"She and I, we went to the mosque. We were looking for martyrdom," she said.

A veteran Hamas supporter, she sheltered fugitive militants during the first Palestinian uprising of 1987-1993, they said.

The couple's home was demolished by the Israeli army for harboring a Hamas leader, leaving Fatma and her husband to get by in a spartan lean-to tacked onto the complex of buildings housing the extended An-Najar family, with a mattress on the floor and little else.

Widowed, alone, her children grown, the embittered matriarch vented her frustration Thursday by strapping an explosive charge to herself and going on a Hamas-sponsored operation to blow herself up amid a group of Israeli soldiers operating in a nearby Palestinian refugee camp. The army said that the troops were at the ready after a tip-off of an impending attack and hurled a stun grenade at the woman as she approached them.

Startled, she detonated the charge while she was still some distance from the soldiers, killing herself instantly but only slightly injuring two of her intended victims, the military said.

Before setting out on her suicide mission, she filmed the video testament customary for such bombers.

A copy obtained by The Associated Press showed a petite woman wearing a white headscarf and black dress, toting an assault rifle on her shoulder and standing in front of a Hamas wall mural.

Reading from a sheet of paper, she dedicated her attack to the Hamas-led government of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and to the movement's military commander, Mohammed Deif.

"I hope God accepts it," she said.

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One wonders why a supposedly objective news agency accepts this kind of biased reporting.

The AP contributed to this report.

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