The death of Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi was announced at 10 AM this morning, after an unknown assailant in a Jerusalem hotel shot him in the head and neck. Many Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, upon hearing the news, broke out in celebration, just as they did after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization took responsibility for the attack, as revenge for Israel\'s killing of PFLP head Abu Mustafa two months ago. The PFLP says that it plans more such vengeance killings. The PFLP has a long record of terror and murder both inside Israel and abroad, including the hijacking in September 1970 of four Western jetliners to Jordan, where they were blown up. The PFLP was responsible for about ten attacks this year, mostly car bombs in Jerusalem and elsewhere, in which about 30 Israelis were wounded. The Israeli government attempted to prevent future attacks by the PFLP by demanding that the Palestinian Authority arrest senior PFLP leaders - but the PA did not do so.
There were apparently no witnesses to the shooting, which took place on the 8th floor of the Jerusalem Hyatt Hotel. Ze\'evi was found when Arutz-7 broadcaster Eshel Levine, who had arranged to interview him for his morning program, called the Minister\'s spokeswoman to say that Ze\'evi could not be reached. When she too could not reach him, she called Mrs. Ze\'evi in the hotel dining room, who went up to their room and found him in the hall lying in a pool of blood.
It is assumed that the crime was committed either by hotel workers or with their help. Several workers at the hotel are suspected of membership in the PFLP. It was noted that security at the hotel was not tight, and that it is easy to enter and leave the hotel from several directions. Mrs. Ze\'evi later related that before he left the breakfast table this morning, he told her that an Arab man in the dining room \"has not taken his eyes off me, and it\'s suspicious.\"
Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy confirmed that the minister was not protected by bodyguards this morning. According to GSS guidelines, only the Prime Minister, Defense Minister, and one or two others are always guarded, while other government members are guarded intermittently according to intelligence recommendations. Ze\'evi specifically generally objected to having bodyguards around. Despite the above, the GSS took full responsibility for failing to prevent the assassination.
Although he was clinically dead when he arrived at the hospital, the doctors worked for over two hours to resuscitate him.
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court issued a gag order on all details of the investigation into the assassination.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization took responsibility for the attack, as revenge for Israel\'s killing of PFLP head Abu Mustafa two months ago. The PFLP says that it plans more such vengeance killings. The PFLP has a long record of terror and murder both inside Israel and abroad, including the hijacking in September 1970 of four Western jetliners to Jordan, where they were blown up. The PFLP was responsible for about ten attacks this year, mostly car bombs in Jerusalem and elsewhere, in which about 30 Israelis were wounded. The Israeli government attempted to prevent future attacks by the PFLP by demanding that the Palestinian Authority arrest senior PFLP leaders - but the PA did not do so.
There were apparently no witnesses to the shooting, which took place on the 8th floor of the Jerusalem Hyatt Hotel. Ze\'evi was found when Arutz-7 broadcaster Eshel Levine, who had arranged to interview him for his morning program, called the Minister\'s spokeswoman to say that Ze\'evi could not be reached. When she too could not reach him, she called Mrs. Ze\'evi in the hotel dining room, who went up to their room and found him in the hall lying in a pool of blood.
It is assumed that the crime was committed either by hotel workers or with their help. Several workers at the hotel are suspected of membership in the PFLP. It was noted that security at the hotel was not tight, and that it is easy to enter and leave the hotel from several directions. Mrs. Ze\'evi later related that before he left the breakfast table this morning, he told her that an Arab man in the dining room \"has not taken his eyes off me, and it\'s suspicious.\"
Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy confirmed that the minister was not protected by bodyguards this morning. According to GSS guidelines, only the Prime Minister, Defense Minister, and one or two others are always guarded, while other government members are guarded intermittently according to intelligence recommendations. Ze\'evi specifically generally objected to having bodyguards around. Despite the above, the GSS took full responsibility for failing to prevent the assassination.
Although he was clinically dead when he arrived at the hospital, the doctors worked for over two hours to resuscitate him.
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court issued a gag order on all details of the investigation into the assassination.