I just heard on Israeli radio (http://bet.iba.org.il) that an Israeli citizen helped a Palestinian homicide/suicide bomber in last week's terrorist attack on Rishon Le-Zion.

"The gag order over the arrest of Ibrahim Sarhana, a resident of the Dehaishe refugee camp and his wife Marina Pinsky, an Israeli citizen, on suspicion that they aided a suicide bomber to arrive in Rishon Letzion last week, has been lifted Thursday.

Pinsky, a Jewish citizen of Israel who had immigrated to Israel 11 years ago, confessed to the allegations as well."

Correction: Ha'aretz reports that contradictory to previous reports, the woman who aided the suicide bomber who carried out the suicide bombing in Rishon Letzion on May 22 is not Marina Pinsky - a Jewish Israeli - but rather Irena Polichuk, a non-Jew who arrived in Israel several years ago and worked as a prostitute.

Click here to see the report on the original homicide/suicide bombing, where two unarmed civilians were killed and over 50 wounded.

I copy the full article and the correction below.

Police: Palestinian and Israeli wife drove suicide bomber into Rishon Letzion
By THE JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF - May. 30, 2002
http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1022691063299

The gag order over the arrest of Ibrahim Sarhana, a resident of the Dehaishe refugee camp and his wife Marina Pinsky, an Israeli citizen, on suspicion that they aided a suicide bomber to arrive in Rishon Letzion last week, has been lifted Thursday.

Sarhani and Pinsky allegedly drove the suicide bomber into Rishon Letzion, where he carried out the attack that claimed the life of two people and injured 50.

Sarahana confessed to the allegations, Israel Radio reported. He led the police to where a fourth passenger in the car, 20-year-old female terrorist Arin Ahmed, who planned to participate in the Rishon Letzion attack, but at the last minute decided not to, hid the explosive belt she was going to detonate.

Ahmed was later apprehended in Beit Sahur east of Bethlehem by the Shin Bet security forces.

Pinsky, a Jewish citizen of Israel who had immigrated to Israel 11 years ago, confessed to the allegations as well

Woman who aided Rishon Letzion bomber was not Israeli Jew
By Amit Ben-Aroya
http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=171685

Security sources said on Saturday that contradictory to previous reports, the woman who aided the suicide bomber who carried out the suicide bombing in Rishon Letzion on May 22 is not Marina Pinsky - a Jewish Israeli - but rather Irena Polichuk, a non-Jew who arrived in Israel several years ago and worked as a prostitute.

Polichuk married Ibrahim Sarahna, a 33- year-old Palestinian, in the Ukraine. In Israel, Polichuk used the national identity card belonging to Pinsky, who had been married to Sarahna's cousin.

On Thursday it was released for publication that a Jewish immigrant from the former Soviet Union and her Palestinian husband were suspected of aiding the Rishon Letzion suicide bomber. Two people were killed and 51 were injured in the Rishon Letzion attack.

On May 23, the day after the attack, the Shin Bet security service arrested Polichuk, who they believed to be Pinsky, along with her husband, Sarahna, of the Deheishe refugee camp near Bethlehem.

Under interrogation, the two confessed to helping the terrorist, Issa Abed-Raba Badir, and revealed new details about the attack. They said that Ahmed Mugrabi, a senior Tanzim leader who had long been on Israel's wanted list, recruited Sarahna to bring terrorists into Israel, taking advantage of the freedom of movement he enjoys as the husband of an Israeli. Sarahna agreed in the full knowledge that his passengers planned to carry out attacks, but Polichuk said she discovered their purpose only after the fact.

Sarahna told interrogators that there were supposed to be two bombers in the Rishon attack, and he ferried them both from Bethlehem in a stolen car. He said he was the one who suggested Rishon as a good place for the attack, and drew the perpetrators a map of the area to help them.

On the day of the attack, Sarahna and Polichuk dropped 17-year-old Badir off at the site, but the second bomber, Arin Ahmed, 20, got cold feet, so they took her back to Bethlehem instead. Under the original plan, Badir was to blow himself up first, and Ahmed was supposed to wait until the rescue crews arrived to set off her bomb. Polichuk said it was only when Ahmed refused to go through with the attack that she learned what had been planned.

Posted by David Melle
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