Den 15 maj 1974 tog sig tre palestinska terrorister utklädda till israeliska soldater – populärt tillvägagångssätt – in i skolan i Ma’alot och tog 85 israeliska skolbarn som gisslan.
När IDF slutligen tog sig in i byggnaden dödade terroristerna 20 barn.
Terrorattacken genomfördes av Demokratiska Fronten för Palestinas Befrielse – Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)
Fem dagar senare sade den israeliska premiärministern Golda Meir inför knesset:
The martyrs of Ma’alot went to their death for the sake of all of us. They were murdered for our sin in coming to this land, for the sin of the establishment and existence of our State, for the crime of our aspiration to live as a free and sovereign nation. This is Arab terrorism’s reply to the yearning for peace which imbues us. This is the mark of the identity of the moral portrait of the anti-Israel terrorist organizations.
