from the heart of jerusalem: rabbi binny freedman

We cannot find peace with illogical evil — it must be destroyed

Posted

At 6:22 am on Oct. 23, 1983, a member of the Islamic Jihad got into his 19 ton yellow Mercedes Benz truck on an otherwise normal day, and headed for Beirut International airport, where the 24th Marine Amphibious unit was deployed.

The marines were expecting a water truck; instead, they got a truck full of explosives. The jihadist drove his truck into the Marine Barracks, killing 241 American servicemen, the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since World War II’s Battle of Iwo Jima. Sentries at the gate were under orders to keep their weapons at condition four (no magazine inserted and no rounds in the chamber), which made it difficult to respond quickly to the truck.

Only one sentry, LCpl Eddie DiFranco, was able to load and chamber a round. However, by that time the truck was already crashing into the building’s entryway. The suicide bomber, an Iranian national named Ismail Ascari, detonated his explosives, which were later estimated to be equivalent to approximately 21,000 pounds of TNT. The force of the explosion collapsed the four-story building into rubble, crushing many inside. 

On Feb. 7, 1984, as a result of this terrorist attack, President Reagan ordered the Marines to begin withdrawing from Lebanon; the withdrawal was completed on Feb. 26, 1984.

Following the U.S. lead, the rest of the (British, French and Italian) multinational force, was withdrawn by the end of February.

We should have seen it coming.

Ten years later, in February 1993, a different preaching the same terror, detonated another truck bomb below the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center, murdering six people and injuring over 1,000. The attack was meant to bring down the North tower. Eight years later, on Sept 11, 2001, they succeeded, bringing down both towers and murdering close to 3,000 civilians.

We should have seen it coming. 

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