AryaShah at 22:17, 22 March 2026

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{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Short description|Palestinian suicide bomber (1975–2003)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Hanadi Jaradat
| image = Hanadi Jaradat.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = Hanadi Tayseer Abdul Malek Jaradat
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1975|09|22|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Jenin]], [[West Bank]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|10|04|1975|09|22|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Haifa]], Israel
| death_cause = [[Suicide bombing]]
| allegiance = [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine]]
}}

'''Hanadi Tayseer Abdul Malek Jaradat''' ({{langx|ar|هنادي تيسير عبدالمالك جرادات}}) (22 September 1975 – 4 October 2003) was a [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] [[suicide bombing|suicide bomber]] from [[Jenin]], who blew herself up on Saturday, 4 October 2003 in a [[Maxim restaurant suicide bombing|suicide attack]] on [[Maxim restaurant]], a [[Haifa]] restaurant co-owned by the same Jewish and Arab families for more than 40 years. She murdered 21 Jewish and Arab Israelis, and injured 51 other people. Among the dead were four children, including a two-month old infant, and five Arabs. She had been recruited by [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine|Islamic Jihad]].

==Background==
Jaradat was born on 22 September 1975 in the West Bank city of [[Jenin]]. At the time of her suicide bombing attack, she was a 28-year-old (12 days away from being a 29-year-old) law student due to qualify as a lawyer in a few weeks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/as-deadly-as-the-male-20040127-gdi8hl.html|title=As deadly as the male|date=27 January 2004|website=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref> She had studied law at [[Yarmouk University]] in [[Jordan]].

Jaradat reportedly carried out the bombing in Haifa as an act of revenge after [[Israel Defense Forces]] undercover operatives in [[Jenin]] killed her cousin (Salah, 34) and her younger brother (Fadi, 25), both of whom were members of [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine|Islamic Jihad]], with her cousin a senior member of the [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine|Al-Quds Brigades]], in a clash.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web |last=Baruch |first=Uzi |title=13 years ago today |url=https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/218596 |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Israel National News |language=en}}</ref><ref name=autogenerated1 /><ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3165604.stm Mid-East cycle of vengeance] by Verity Murphy, [[BBC]] News Online, 5 October 2003.</ref> Earlier, when she was 21, her fiancé had been killed by Israeli security forces. Following the killing of her cousin and brother, Jaradat went into mourning and began to study the [[Koran]] and fast two days a week.<ref name=autogenerated2>David Blair, "Revenge sparked suicide bombing", ''The [[Daily Telegraph]]'' via ''The [[Ottawa Citizen]]'', 6 October 2003, p. A9.</ref>

==Bombing==
On the day of the bombing, Saturday, 4 October 2003, she traveled from Jenin in the [[West Bank]] to Haifa.<ref name="auto2"/> She traveled to Maxim Restaurant, which ''The Guardian'' described as "a rare oasis of coexistence between Arabs and Jews."<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/oct/06/israel|title=Rare haven of coexistence rocked by blast|first=Chris|last=McGreal|date=6 October 2003|work=The Guardian}}</ref> The 22-pound body-belt bomb that she wore around her waist in order to feign pregnancy included nails, screws, ball bearings, and metal fragments packed around the four-kilogram high explosive core to maximize its lethal effect.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=m0N1AwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Hanadi+Jaradat%22&pg=PA139 ''Debating Terrorism and Counterterrorism; Conflicting Perspectives on Causes, Contexts, and Responses''] (2013).</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VS86CQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Hanadi+Jaradat%22&pg=PT118 ''The Ghost Warriors; Inside Israel's Undercover War Against Suicide Terrorism''] (2016).</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://thebulletin.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.2968/061006015|title=Mother. Daughter. Sister. Bomber.|first=Mia|last=Bloom|date=1 November 2005|journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|volume=61|issue=6|pages=54–62|via=CrossRef|doi=10.2968/061006015|url-access=subscription|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="toolis"/><ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/world/the-mideast-turmoil-the-attacker-bomber-left-her-family-with-a-smile-and-a-lie.html|title=THE MIDEAST TURMOIL: THE ATTACKER; Bomber Left Her Family With a Smile and a Lie|first=John F.|last=Burns|date=7 October 2003|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

Maxim is a beachfront restaurant co-owned by Jews and Arabs in the northern [[Israel]]i city of [[Haifa]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-30116051.html|title=Islamic Jihad behind Haifa blast|date=4 October 2003|website=Irish Examiner}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://israeled.org/suicide-bomber-strikes-haifa-restaurant/|title=Suicide Bomber Strikes Haifa Restaurant|date=4 October 2023|website=CIE}}</ref> 21 Jewish and Arab Israelis were killed and 51 others injured. The victims included four Israeli children (one of whom was a two-month old infant). Jaradat had intentionally paused near a group of baby carriages in the center of the crowded restaurant.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 January 2004 |title=Suicide attacks get personal |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2004/01/21/suicide-attacks-get-personal/ |website=Baltimore Sun}}</ref><ref name="auto2"/><ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto1"/> According to Haifa police sources, the aftermath was gruesome, with some of the dead still sitting upright at their tables, while others, including children and babies, were slammed against the walls. Due to the force of the explosion, all that remained of Jaradat was her head.<ref name="toolis"/> Two of the Arabs killed, Sherbel Matar (aged 23) and Hana Francis (aged 39) came from the village of [[Fasouta]].<ref name="auto3"/> Jaradat was the sixth [[female suicide bomber]] of the [[Second Intifada]] and the second who had been recruited by [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine|Islamic Jihad]].<ref name=autogenerated1>Arnon Regular,[https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=346913&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y Profile of the Haifa suicide bomber], haaretz.com, 5 October 2003.</ref> [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad]] claimed responsibility for the bombing.<ref name="auto"/>

==Aftermath==
Commenting on his daughter, her father Taisir, who had worked in Israel for years as a house painter, said "My daughter's action reflected the anger that every Palestinian feels at the occupation. The occupation did not have mercy on my son Fadi, her brother. They killed him even though he was not a wanted person, they murdered him in cold blood before Hanadi's eyes."<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="Ticking bomb">Vered Levy-Barzalai, [https://www.haaretz.com/ticking-bomb-1.102712 Ticking bomb.] 16 October 2003; haaretz.com.</ref> He declined all condolences, instead saying that he was proud of what his daughter had done, and that "I will accept only congratulations for what she did. This was a gift she gave me, the homeland and the Palestinian people. Therefore, I am not crying for her. Even though the most precious thing has been taken from me."<ref name="Ticking bomb"/>

In reprisal for the suicide bombing, Israeli forces conducted a raid at 3:00 a.m. on 5 October 2003, during the course of which they demolished the Jaradat family home and the houses of two of her neighbours.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

Maxim was quickly rebuilt and reopened.<ref name="auto"/>

==Honors and awards==
Jaradat was proclaimed by the Islamic Jihad as the "Bride of Haifa" to honor her "marriage to the soil of her homeland", an honor it previously reserved only to men.<ref>Psycho-political aspects of suicide warriors, terrorism, and martyrdom. Jamshid A. Marvasti. 2008. p. 274</ref><ref>Yoram Schweitzer (ed.), Female Suicide Bombers: Dying for Equality? . The Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies (JCSS). August 2006. p. 20</ref><ref>Gail Corrington Streete. Redeemed bodies: women martyrs in early Christianity. p. 120</ref><ref>Brides of Palestine/Angels of Death: Media, Gender, and Performance in the Case of the Palestinian Female Suicide Bombers. Dorit Naaman. Signs Vol. 32, No. 4, War and Terror I: Raced ... Gendered Logics and Effects in Conflict Zones. The University of Chicago Press. {{doi|10.1086/512624}}</ref> Within several days of the bombing, trophy cards with her picture, labelled "Hanadi the Bride of Haifa", were being handed out in Gaza.<ref name="toolis">[https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-150390746 Cult of the FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBER]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' (Perth, W. Australia). By KEVIN TOOLIS, pp 12-15, 10 September 2006</ref>

In 2005, the Palestinian daily ''[[Al-Ayyam (Ramallah)|Al-Ayyam]]'' published a special supplement entitled "What Did Hanadi Say", consisting of poems honoring Jaradat and calling for [[Jihad]].<ref>Al-Ayyam, 22 August 2005. As cited by "PA Ministry of Culture Glorifies Murderer of 29", [http://www.worldsecuritynetwork.com/ World Security Network], 23 August 2005.</ref>

In October 2012, the Palestine Committee of the [[Arab Lawyers Union]] "created the 'Martyr Hanadi Jaradat plaque of honor' ... [and] conveyed to the family of Martyr Jaradat the good wishes of the head of the Union, Mr. Omar Al-Zayn… and also emphasized the pride of the Arab Lawyers Union for what their daughter had done in defense of Palestine and the nation", according to an October 14, 2012 report in the Palestinian daily publication ''Al-Ayyam''.<ref>[https://palwatch.org/page/4177 Report on plaque of honor posthumously awarded Jaradat], palwatch.org. Accessed 3 January 2024.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=287669 | title=Arab Lawyers Union honors Palestinian suicide bomber | publisher=The Jerusalem Post | date=13 October 2012 | accessdate=21 October 2012 | author=Abu Toameh, Khaled}}</ref><ref>[https://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/10/18/3109676/arab-lawyers-union-honors-female-palestinian-suicide-bomber Union of Arab lawyers honors female Palestinian suicide bomber] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130415055737/http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/10/18/3109676/arab-lawyers-union-honors-female-palestinian-suicide-bomber |date=15 April 2013 }}, ''[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]]'' (JTA), 18 October 2012.</ref><ref>[http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/10/18/arab-lawyers-union-honors-terrorist-who-killed-21-israelis-in-haifa/ Arab Lawyers Union Honors Terrorist who Killed 21 Israelis in Haifa], ''[[Algemeiner Journal]]'', 18 October 2012.</ref><ref> {{Cite web |last=Zilberdik |first=Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques |date=2012-10-18 |title=Suicide terrorist who killed 21 receives "highest honor" from Palestinian Lawyer's Union |url=https://palwatch.org/page/4177 |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Palestinian Media Watch |language=en}}</ref> The union has a membership of bar associations in 15 countries and 27 affiliated organizations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/union-of-arab-lawyers-honors-female-palestinian-suicide-bomber/|title=200,000-member Arab Lawyers Union honors female Palestinian suicide bomber|work= The Times of Israel|accessdate=3 January 2024}}</ref>

==Artwork and incident in Sweden==
{{main|Snow White and the Madness of Truth}}
Jaradat was the subject of [[Snow White and The Madness of Truth]], a controversial item of [[installation art]] by [[Israel]]i-born [[Sweden|Swedish]] composer and musician [[Dror Feiler]], and his Swedish wife, artist [[Gunilla Sköld-Feiler]]. It consisted of a portrait of Jaradat floating on a small white boat named "Snövit" ("[[Snow White]]") in a long pool of blood red water.{{fact|date=December 2023}} The artwork became the centre of controversy when the Israeli ambassador to Sweden, [[Zvi Mazel]], vandalized the installation. After pushing some lightstands into the pool, causing a short-circuit and disabling the light, Mazel told Feiler that ''"This is not a work of art. This is an expression of hatred for the Israeli people. This has glorified suicide bombers"''. Further, he said to the press that the piece constituted a ''"complete legitimization of [[genocide]], the murder of innocent people, innocent civilians, under the guise of culture"''. Feiler rejected charges that their intention was to glorify suicide bombers and accused Mazel of ''"practicing censorship"''. He said the installation was made to ''"call attention to how weak people left alone can be capable of horrible things"''.<ref name=CNN>[http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/01/18/israel.sweden/ "Sharon backs envoy's art attack"], cnn.com. 19 January 2004.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/18/international/middleeast/18MIDE.html|title=Israel Diplomat Defends Attack On Bomber Art In Stockholm|work=New York Times|first=Greg |last=Myre|date=January 18, 2004}}</ref><ref name="SvD">[http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/israelisk-attack-mot-konstverk_121349.svd "Israelisk attack mot konstverk"] ''Svenska Dagbladet''. Accessed 3 January 2024.</ref> Following the incident, Mazel said: ''"I was standing before an exhibit calling for genocide, praising the genocide of me, you, my brothers and sisters."''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/1452095/Envoy-who-damaged-art-work-is-praised.html |title=Envoy who damaged art work is praised|work=The Telegraph|date=19 January 2004|first=Toby|last=Harnden}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Palestinian Islamic Jihad}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaradat, Hanadi}}
[[Category:1975 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:2003 suicides]]
[[Category:College students who died by suicide]]
[[Category:Female guerrillas]]
[[Category:Female mass murderers]]
[[Category:Female suicide bombers]]
[[Category:Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine members]]
[[Category:Palestinian female murderers]]
[[Category:Palestinian murderers]]
[[Category:Palestinian mass murderers]]
[[Category:Palestinian militants]]
[[Category:People from Jenin]]
[[Category:Suicide bombers in Israel]]
[[Category:Suicide bombing in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict]]

Hanadi Jaradat - Revision history

AryaShah at 22:17, 22 March 2026