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AARAB ISRAELI WOMAN ARRESTED FOR FAILING TO WARN OF BOMBINGSunday 11 Aug 2002
author: Kalman Rushdie
summary
ARAB ISRAELI WOMAN ARRESTED FOR FAILING TO WARN OF BOMBING
ARAB ISRAELI WOMAN ARRESTED FOR FAILING TO WARN OF BOMBING
An Arab Israeli woman was charged with failing to inform authorities about a suicide attack after the bomber sat down next to her on bus 361 to Tzefat, and warned her that “something bad” would happen on the bus they were riding.
The woman got off the bus with her friend at the next stop, and did not warn any of the other passengers or the driver. Twenty minutes later, the bomber blew himself up at the Meron Junction, killing 9 people.
After the two women got off the bus, they took a taxi that rode behind the bus for most of the trip, passing it just before it exploded. In the twenty minutes that elapsed between the time the woman got off the bus and the explosion, the woman failed to alert authorities, even though she had a cell phone and the taxi driver had a cell phone.
Police said there was no doubt that lives could have been saved if the woman had alerted the authorities when he learned about the situation. Even if the bomber could not be prevented from blowing up, measures could have been taken to minimize the impact of the explosion and preventing passengers from boarding.
"It is known that some of the casualties were those who had been boarding the bus at the Meron junction at the time of the explosion. These casualties could have been avoided if the alarm had been sounded," said Supt. Philip Lazerus. “There is also the possibility that the driver, after being alerted, may have had time to open the doors and enable some people to get off before the explosion.”