Ex-defense minister Ya’alon was target of Hezbollah bomb attack in Tel Aviv last year
Claymore-style mine that exploded in Yarkon Park was intended to hit former IDF chief of staff; eight suspects charged; Lebanese terror group planned similar attack in coming days
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The intended target of a Hezbollah bombing attack in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park last year was former defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon, Israeli authorities confirmed on Wednesday.
The blast, at around 6:30 a.m. on September 15, 2023, caused no injuries.
Two Arab Israeli suspects were detained immediately after the bombing, and another six were arrested in the following days.
All eight have since been indicted for a series of security offenses, including contact with Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon and various weapon offenses. A heavily redacted indictment from October was released on Wednesday.
“It’s not the first time someone has tried to kill me,” Ya’alon, 74, told Democrat TV in an interview on Wednesday. “My worldview is that of one who attacks, not one who is attacked, and I also take precautions, so I’m alive.”
The Shin Bet security agency announced on Tuesday that it had foiled another attempted bombing attack by the same Hezbollah network that was behind the intended assassination of Ya’alon.
תיעוד מרגע פיצוץ מטען החבלה בפארק הירקון הבוקר , נבדק חשד לקשר לאירוע בכביש 431 pic.twitter.com/K0IC7olDd8
— בז news (@1717Bazz) September 15, 2023
The latest attack was intended to have been carried out in the coming days, targeting another former senior defense official, according to the Shin Bet. The senior official in the incident has not yet been named.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the police and Shin Bet confirmed that Ya’alon was the intended target of last year’s bombing, as some details of the attack were removed from a gag order and the redacted indictment was released.
Police said that initially, it suspected that the attack was intended to harm random civilians in the park that morning, but as the investigation progressed with the Shin Bet, it uncovered the network that had planted the Claymore-style anti-personnel mine — known to be in Hezbollah’s possession — and came to the understanding that the bomb was “intended to harm a senior figure.”
An investigation of cameras in the park and questioning “relevant people” about who would normally visit the area of the attack at those hours brought police and the Shin Bet to the conclusion that Ya’alon was the target.
The suspects said in their interrogation that they had attached a camera and a remote detonation system to the bomb, planted it next to a tree in the park, and set it off upon spotting someone who they believed was Ya’alon walking down a path, according to police and the Shin Bet. The man was unharmed by the blast.
The two suspects detained immediately after the bombing were identified as Israeli citizens from the West Bank Palestinian town of al-Eizariya near Jerusalem, living intermittently in the Tel Aviv suburb of Jaffa. The other six suspects were not identified.
In the latest attempted attack, on Tuesday, the Shin Bet said that it had uncovered another Claymore-style mine that was intended to have been used to target a former official.
The attack was intended to have been carried out in the coming days, according to the Shin Bet.
The bomb had a remote detonation system, including a camera and a cellular connection, which would have allowed Hezbollah to activate it from Lebanon.
The agency said the same Hezbollah network was behind both incidents. It added that the network was being tracked for a lengthy period.
In March 2023, Hezbollah carried out a bombing attack at Israel’s Megiddo Junction, seriously injuring a man. That attack also involved the use of a Claymore-style mine. A senior Hezbollah commander in the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, responsible for that bombing, was killed in an IDF strike in February.
The Megiddo and Yarkon Park bombings occurred before the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
On October 7, Hamas led a devastating cross-border attack from Gaza on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel responded with a military offensive to destroy Hamas in Gaza and free hostages captured by terrorists.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza during the war there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 20 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 453 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon, but some also in Syria. Another 78 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.
