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Mourners at the funeral Friday of one of the eight boys killed by a Palestinian gunman in Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav yeshiva on Thursday. (AP)
Last update - 05:45 08/03/2008
Hamas says yeshiva attack 'normal response' to IDF Gaza op
By News Agencies
Tags: Mercaz Harav, Hamas, Lebanon 

Hamas on Friday announced it was responsible for Thursday's shooting at the Mercaz Harav religious school in Jerusalem that killed eight people, then denied it was involved shortly afterwards. However, a spokesman on Sky television news then hailed the killing as a "normal response to the occupation", apparently reclaiming responsibility for the attack.

At the same time on Friday, Lebanese officials reported that two Israel Air Force planes had violated Beirut's airspace. Israel Defense Forces said it knew of no such activity.

The gunman, Ala Abu Dahim, 25, from the village of Jabal Mukhbar near East Jerusalem was shot and killed during the massacre. Several residents of Jabal Mukhbar said he had been a driver at the yeshiva he attacked.
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His family set up a mourning tent Friday and hung green Hamas flags outside their home.

"The Hamas movement announces its full responsibility for the Jerusalem operation. The movement will release the details at a later stage," a Hamas official said. Less than two hours later The Associated Press reported that Hamas had retracted this claim.

Ibrahim Daher, head of Hamas' al-Aqsa radio, said his station put out an earlier claim of responsibility prematurely, based on confused information.

However, in an interview on Sky television news following its denial, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum referred to the massacre as "a normal response to the occupation." Barhoum added that the killing was a response to IDF killings in Gaza. "Our resistance is a legitimate right," he said.

Barhoum said that Hamas' military wing, the Izz a Din al Qassam Brigades, would make a formal statement soon.

"All the ones who identify themselves with that murderer know that Israel never starts an attack, never shoot any rockets against anybody," President Shimon Peres told Sky. "And they should know, and they know, would they stop firing the Katyushas and the Qassams against civilian life in Israel, there wouldn't be any bloodshed."

Eight boys - seven of whom were aged 15 to 19 and one of whom was aged 26 - were killed Thursday and nine more wounded when the gunman entered the yeshiva in Jerusalem's Kiryat Moshe neighborhood and opened fire in the library. Three of the wounded were in a critical condition.

Initially, an organization calling itself Galilee Freedom Battalions-the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Hezbollah's Al-Manar television station, while Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the gunman had acted alone.

Rosenfeld added the gunman came from a neighborhood where Palestinian residents hold Israeli ID cards that give them freedom of movement in Israel.

The man worked as a driver, Rosenfeld confirmed, but would not provide further details.

Abu Dahim was arrested by Israeli authorities four months ago and then
released two months later, they said. The residents would not give their names because the family had not authorized them to release the information.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who condemned the seminary attack, suspended negotiations this week because of the spike in violence in the Gaza Strip, but later backed down under pressure from the U.S.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said that the shooting had almost certainly been organized in the West Bank. He would not confirm that Israel had reached a decision to continue peace talks, but did not deny the other official's statement that negotiations would go on.

Lebanon: Israeli warplanes fly over Beirut

Israel Air Force planes flew over the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday, Lebanese security sources said. Officials said the two IAF aircraft violated Lebanese airspace and flew over Beirut at a medium altitude briefly before leaving the area.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said the IDF knew of no activity in Beirut.

The IAF frequently flies reconnaissance missions over south Lebanon and has drawn ground fire from Lebanese troops on at least two occasions since the cease-fire in August 2006 which ended the month-long Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah.

They have occasionally flown over Beirut as well. Three IAF reconnaissance planes violated Lebanese airspace in southern Lebanon Thursday, the Lebanese army said in a statement Friday.

The latest Israeli overflights come amid tensions over Thursday's attack in Jerusalem at the rabbinical seminary. Hezbollah's Al-Manar satellite TV station said a previously unknown group called the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza was responsible for the attack - a claim that could not immediately be verified.

Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbollah commander, was killed in a car bomb in Syria last month. Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the assassination and vowed retaliation.

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  • Yeshiva head: Jerusalem attack is continuation of 1929 massacre
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      1.   ok Haters and Yaakov Sullivan, now you 2 can hand out candies 16:35  |  Robert/Montreal 07/03/08
      2.   This attack is a war declaration! 16:40  |  S 07/03/08
      3.   Now what! 16:42  |  Farhad 07/03/08
      4.   Olmert and Hamas 16:43  |  Gilbert 07/03/08
      5.   Hamas attacked Jerusalem 16:47  |  Brod 07/03/08
      6.   Destroy Hamas 16:49  |  Ron 07/03/08
      7.   UNDERSTANDABLE! U CAN`T EXPECT ROSES IN RETURN FOR BOMBS 16:52  |  JACKAL 07/03/08
      8.   As usual same no reply from wimp achora 16:53  |  Cadd Ima 07/03/08
      9.   Hamas, you`re making it so easy for Israel 16:58  |  Conroy 07/03/08
      10.   Israeli Idiots Who Favor a "Hudna" 17:00  |  Tod Zuckerman 07/03/08
      11.   hamas death sentence 17:06  |  fish 07/03/08
      12.   If Israel were to adopt Hamas` tactics 17:09  |  Paul Freedman 07/03/08
      13.   They Always claim thing even when Gaza was destroyed they claim V 17:16  |  Simon Mohammed 07/03/08
      14.   HAMAS RESPONSIBLE OF COURSE 17:27  |  STEVE H 07/03/08
      15.   Hamas, proud to claim credit for killing children 17:28  |  Michael 07/03/08
      16.   MADDNESS FROM BOTH SIDES MUST STOP 17:30  |  JH 07/03/08
      17.   Yay Tod! A man in the know 17:30  |  Robert/Montreal 07/03/08
      18.   is anyone surprised??? 17:34  |  seashell 07/03/08
      19.   Hamas just said it wasn`t them report is wrong see BBC Arabic 17:37  |  observer 07/03/08
      20.   It wasn`t Hamas this is Israel propaganda 17:39  |  this I know 07/03/08
      21.   Enough 17:40  |  Russ 07/03/08
      22.   Declaration 17:41  |  Paul 07/03/08
      23.   Make up your minds you dumb bunch of terrorists! 17:47  |  ClickShmuck 07/03/08
      24.   About Hamas later denial of their earlier claim 18:03  |  S 07/03/08
      25.   Israeli Arabs should be annexed to Palestine 18:05  |  Rafi 07/03/08
      26.   I KNEW IT!! IT WASN`T HAMAS!! Just swomeone with personel Problem 18:07  |  Kris 07/03/08
      27.   He reacted alone, not acted alone 18:08  |  Harold 07/03/08
      28.   hamas flags outside house 18:08  |  sd 07/03/08
      29.   What is needed is a stop to this repetitive Insanity 18:15  |  Simon Mohammed 07/03/08
      30.   Yeshiva Shootings 18:22  |  Meyer 07/03/08
      31.   Bully-boy sabre rattling 18:23  |  Clickfool 07/03/08
      32.   Mr. JH of Concord, NH 18:26  |  Harvey 07/03/08
      33.   This I know 18:30  |  Jocelyn 07/03/08
      34.   Enough 18:31  |  Jerome 07/03/08
      35.   The plain facts 18:37  |  Fahmi Natour 07/03/08
      36.   Demand the old police report. 18:38  |  postman 07/03/08
      37.   Until proven otherwise 18:41  |  Chris Linthwaite 07/03/08
      38.   For over 60 years, 18:47  |  skeptic 07/03/08
      39.   If Hamas is the gov`t of gaza and they 18:51  |  TAZ 07/03/08
      40.   What a tragic joke, a pal`n beast with an Israeli ID card.... 18:55  |  Misha 07/03/08
      41.   Plain Stupidity 18:56  |  Drew 07/03/08
      42.   #19 Go to reuters web page re Hamas involvement or not.. 18:58  |  Ali 07/03/08
      43.   # 38 With whom, the corrupted dealer as a PM ? 19:12  |  Misha 07/03/08
      44.   Why does Hamas retract after murdering an American? 19:28  |  Gina 07/03/08
      45.   What the king can do, no one else can 19:42  |  Altalena 07/03/08
      46.   Ethiopians; colonialist oppressors of Pals? 19:48  |  Polybios 07/03/08
      47.   Iran is behind it 19:54  |  Jonathan S 07/03/08
      48.   MURDERING BABIES, CHILDREN AND WOMEN WAS A HORRIFIC MASSACRE 19:55  |  TripleJump 07/03/08
      49.   All of a sudden! 20:00  |  Paul 07/03/08
      50.   Hamas Claims Responsibility 20:04  |  ROBOCOP 07/03/08
      51.   response to #38 For over 60 years, skeptic 20:06  |  Shepherd 07/03/08
      52.   Endings! 20:07  |  Paul 07/03/08
      53.   An act of Lucifer 20:16  |  PL 07/03/08
      54.   To murder kids that read the bible what a crime 20:18  |  Abu Yusuf 07/03/08
      55.   After this murder is it goind to change things 20:21  |  Abdul Aziz Higazi 07/03/08
      56.   Too late Hamas, you claimed responsibility, no "take-backs" 20:22  |  Conroy 07/03/08
      57.   Have a minute of silence for Palestinian and Jewish civilians... 20:40  |  Trevor 07/03/08
      58.   Why does Hamas retract after murdering an American? 20:50  |  Gina 07/03/08
      59.   39# TAZ. How right you are. And throw the 20:53  |  Akram Zekaria 07/03/08
      60.   mofaz 21:24  |  ariel 07/03/08
      61.   Russ, what about Eilat? 21:28  |  x-ray 07/03/08
      62.   Maybe so... Maybe not... 21:36  |  Ari 07/03/08
      63.   Well said, Chris Linthwaite #37 21:40  |  Polybios 07/03/08
      64.   Olmert is to blame for this massacre 21:40  |  Dav 07/03/08
      65.   Drew and the MLK approach 21:46  |  Polybios 07/03/08
      66.   Normal Response? 22:11  |  Zev 07/03/08
      67.   Hamas claims yeshiva attack, says `normal ` 22:13  |  alan 07/03/08
      68.   Hamas behaviour recognized by world body 22:35  |  Joe Sittizen 07/03/08
      69.   #35 --I agree with you! 22:40  |  US Citizen 07/0