Ahlam Tamimi
Izz al-Masri was escorted to the restaurant by Ahlam Tamimi, a 20-year-old female university student and part-time journalist, who had disguised herself as a Jewish tourist for the occasion. She later commented that she was not sorry for what she had done and does not recognize Israel’s existence. "Despite the fact that I'm sentenced to 16 life sentences I know that we will become free from Israeli occupation and then I will also be free from the prison," she said. Reportedly, when she first learned from a journalist who was interviewing her in jail that she had murdered eight children, not just three as she had initially believed, she just smiled broadly and continued with the interview.
Tamimi was released in October 2011 in exchange for the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Following her release, Tamimi gave an interview with the Jordanian Ammon News website, which was later posted on YouTube (as translated by MEMRI):
I do not regret what happened. Absolutely not. This is the path. I dedicated myself to Jihad for the sake of Allah, and Allah granted me success. You know how many casualties there were . This was made possible by Allah. Do you want me to denounce what I did? That's out of the question. I would do it again today, and in the same manner.
At the time of her release, Tamimi was engaged to her second cousin Nizar Tamimi, and subsequently moved to Jordan, where she became the host of a talk show on the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV entitled Nasim Al-Ahrar, which deals with the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Her arrival in Jordan following her release was attended by hundreds of people, including relatives and many Muslim Brotherhood supporters, trade unionists and citizens, who waved Palestinian flags and banners of Hamas amid cheers of support to the Palestinian people and the al-Qassam Brigades. She later met with Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal in Cairo, Egypt.
Tamimi subsequently claimed in an interview with Al-Jazeera that Israel had asked the “Russian mafia” to kill her and other Palestinian prisoners who were released in the Gilad Schalit prisoner exchange agreement, although she did not provide further details.
In an interview which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on 12 July 2012 (as translated by MEMRI), Tamimi described the reaction of other Palestinians immediately after the bombing:
| “ | Afterwards, when I took the bus, the Palestinians around Damascus Gate were all smiling. You could sense that everybody was happy. When I got on the bus, nobody knew that it was me who had led ... I was feeling quite strange, because I had left 'Izz Al-Din behind, but inside the bus, they were all congratulating one another. They didn't even know one another, yet they were exchanging greetings...While I was sitting on the bus, the driver turned on the radio. But first, let me tell you about the gradual rise in the number of casualties. While I was on the bus and everybody was congratulating one another... | ” |
After hearing an initial report that "three people were killed" in the bombing, Tamimi stated:
| “ | "I admit that I was a bit disappointed, because I had hoped for a larger toll. Yet when they said "three dead," I said: 'Allah be praised'...Two minutes later, they said on the radio that the number had increased to five. I wanted to hide my smile, but I just couldn't. Allah be praised, it was great. As the number of dead kept increasing, the passengers were applauding. | ” |
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