| 1994 London Israeli Embassy bombing | |
|---|---|
 Israeli embassy in London | |
  The attack site | |
| Location | 51°30′10.44″N0°11′20.76″W / 51.5029000°N 0.1891000°W /51.5029000; -0.1891000 London, United Kingdom |
| Date | 26 July 1994 |
| Target | Israeli embassy Balfour House |
Attack type | Car bomb |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | 20 |
| Motive | Palestinian nationalism |
| Convicted | Jawad Botmeh, Samar Alami |
The1994 London Israeli Embassy bombing was acar bomb attack on theIsraeli embassy inKensington,London, on 26 July 1994. The explosion injured twenty civilians and caused extensive damage to nearby buildings. A second bomb exploded several hours later outsideBalfour House inFinchley, which housed the London offices of theUnited Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA), injuring six people.
Two Palestinian engineers, Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh, were later convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions in connection with the attacks.
On the morning of 26 July 1994, a car containing an estimated 20 to 30 pounds (9.1 to 13.6 kg) of explosives detonated outside the Israeli embassy inKensington Palace Gardens, moments after the driver left the vehicle. The blast was heard over a mile away and shattered windows in nearby shops and residences. The attack occurred one day after a meeting in Washington, D.C., betweenKing Hussein ofJordan and IsraeliPrime MinisterYitzhak Rabin to discuss a peace treaty between their countries.[1]
About thirteen hours later, a second car bomb exploded outside Balfour House in Finchley, the headquarters of the United Jewish Israel Appeal, a British Jewish charity.[2][3] Six people were injured in that blast.
Initial suspicion focused on "pro-Iranian extremists, probably linked to the Lebanon-basedHezbollah group," according to statements from the Israeli ambassador and British intelligence analysts.[1] Shortly after the first explosion, a group calling itself thePalestinian Resistance Jaffa Group claimed responsibility in letters sent to two Arab newspapers.[2]
In January 1995, fivePalestinians were arrested in London in connection with the attacks, leading to charges against two of them the following year.
In December 1996, two of the individuals arrested the previous year, Samar Alami—a Lebanese-Palestinian chemical engineer educated atUniversity College London andImperial College London[4][5]—and Jawad Botmeh—a Palestinian electronics engineer educated at theUniversity of Leicester andKing's College London[6]—were convicted at theOld Bailey of conspiracy to cause explosions related to the 1994 bombings.[7] The prosecution did not allege that they planted the bombs but argued that they were part of a group involved in planning or supporting the attacks.[8] Both admitted experimenting with homemade explosives, which they said were intended for demonstration purposes to be shared with Palestinians in theoccupied territories.[9] They were each sentenced to twenty years in prison and lost an appeal in 2001.[10]
Amnesty International stated that Botmeh had been "denied his right to a fair trial."[11] Campaigns supporting the pair were backed by thegovernment of Palestine, the trade unionUnison, lawyerGareth Peirce, journalistPaul Foot, and the group Miscarriages of Justice UK (MOJUK).[12][13] Five early day motions in theBritish Parliament gained support from 71 MPs, includingJeremy Corbyn,John McDonnell,Peter Bottomley, andTom Brake.[14][15]
In 2007, theEuropean Court of Human Rights dismissed their appeal, ruling that their trial had not violated the right to a fair hearing.[16]
In 1998, formerMI5 officerDavid Shayler alleged that British security services had received an advance warning of a plan to attack the embassy but took no preventive action. TheCrown Prosecution Service later confirmed a warning had been received, though it related to a different group than the one whose members were convicted.[17] Then–Home SecretaryJack Straw stated that MI5 could not have prevented the attack based on the available intelligence.[18]
Another former MI5 officer,Annie Machon, later claimed that an internal MI5 assessment had raised the possibility of Israeli involvement in the attack, but no evidence supporting this claim has been publicly released.[19][20] No official investigation has substantiated the allegation.
Botmeh was released from prison in 2008.[21] He later worked as a researcher atLondon Metropolitan University,[22] where he was briefly suspended in 2013 after being elected as a staff representative. Unison stated that the suspension was connected to his trade union activities.[11][22] The decision was reversed the following month and he was reinstated.[11]
