Jericho bus firebombing

On the evening of October 30, 1988, an Egged bus (No. 961) traveling from Tiberias to Jerusalem via the Jordan Valley on Highway 90 was attacked as it approached Jericho in the West Bank. Two Palestinian youths, Mahmud Salim Suliman Abu Khraesh of Jericho and Jum'a Ibrahim Juma Adam of Ramallah, emerged from a nearby banana grove and threw three molotov cocktails at the bus, forcing it to slow and setting it ablaze. The two had reportedly decided on the attack earlier that day while playing cards at a café, and both had previously been jailed for attempted firebombing.

Most of the 22 passengers escaped the burning bus. However, Rachel Weiss, a 26-year-old second-grade teacher from Tiberias, went into shock as the fire spread and threw herself over her three young sons — Netanel, 3, Rephael, 2, and Ephraim, 9½ months — in an attempt to protect them. An Israel Defense Forces corporal, David Delarosa, who had already escaped the bus, tried to pull Weiss to safety but she refused, reciting the Shema prayer as she chose to remain with her children. Weiss and her three sons died in the fire. Delarosa died approximately six weeks later from burns and smoke inhalation sustained during the rescue attempt. Rachel Weiss's husband, Rabbi Eliezer Mordechai Weiss, had been traveling with the family but was seated separately at the front of the bus. Among those wounded were Dov Bloom, 35, and his wife Sandy, 33, residents of kibbutz Ma'ale Gilboa.

Israel responded swiftly, imposing a curfew on Jericho and detaining dozens of suspects. Both assailants confessed by the end of the day. Adam was arrested immediately, and Abu Khraesh was taken into custody on November 3. Security forces demolished the homes of the two attackers and bulldozed the banana, orange, and date groves that had been used as cover for the attack.

The bombing occurred the day before Israel's November 1 elections to the 12th Knesset and was reported to have influenced voter sentiment, contributing to the re-election of a right-leaning Likud-led coalition. Rachel Weiss and her three sons were buried the following day at the Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery in Jerusalem; the Israeli settlement of Rehelim was later named in her memory.

Decades later, on December 30, 2013, Israel released Abu Khraesh from prison as part of a group of prisoners whose offenses predated the Oslo Accords, in connection with a renewal of peace negotiations with the Palestinian National Authority. Adam remained imprisoned; Israel later stated it would not proceed with a final scheduled release batch, citing Palestinian non-compliance with negotiation commitments, leaving Adam and 28 others in Israeli custody.