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The '''1973 New York City bomb plot''' was a plan by the [[Palestinian territories|Palestinian]] terrorist group [[Black September (group)|Black September]] to detonate three [[car bomb]]s in [[New York City]] at the same time [[Israel]]i [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]] [[Golda Meir]] arrived there in March 1973. The bombs failed to explode, but the main suspect, [[Khalid Duhham Al-Jawary]], was not caught until January 1991. The attempted attack was the first such Black September operation within the United States.<ref name=AP090124>{{cite news|first=Adam |last=Goldman |author2=Herschaft, Randy |title=Freedom Looms for Terrorist |url=http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_wires/2009Jan24/0,4675,MysteryTerroristABRIDGED,00.html |agency=Associated Press |publisher=Fox News |date=2009-01-24 |accessdate=2015-12-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026103950/http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_wires/2009Jan24/0%2C4675%2CMysteryTerroristABRIDGED%2C00.html |archive-date=October 26, 2014 }}</ref>

==Background==
Black September was formed in 1970, after the [[Black September in Jordan|Black September conflict]] between Palestinians and Jordanians erupted in [[Jordan]] that same year. In September 1972 it caught world attention with the [[Munich massacre|massacre]] of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] in [[Munich]]. Israel soon responded with the [[Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre]]. In early March 1973, the group [[Attack on the Saudi embassy in Khartoum|attacked the Saudi embassy]] in [[Khartoum]], killing the U.S. Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission as well as the [[Belgium|Belgian]] Chargé d'affaires.

==Plot==

===Planning===
On January 12, 1973, [[Khalid Duhham Al-Jawary]], described in a federal warrant as a 27-year-old Iraqi linked to Black September<ref name=NYT73>{{cite news |first=Martin |last=Tolchin |title=Iraqi Linked to Black September is Sought in Bomb-Planting Here |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/16/archives/iraqi-linked-to-black-september-is-sought-in-bombplanting-here.html?sq=Iraqi%2520Linked%2520to%2520Black%2520September%2520is%2520Sought%2520in%2520Bomb-Planting%2520Here&scp=1&st=cse |work=The New York Times |date=1973-03-16| accessdate= 28 February 2009 }}</ref> but self-described as a Palestinian who grew up in Jordan,<ref name=AP090124/> flew through [[Montreal]] to [[Boston]], and then on to New York City. On January 17 the FBI, acting on a tip received in [[Tel Aviv]], interviewed Al-Jawary about his activities. Al-Jawary claimed to be in flight training at [[Teterboro Airport]], and would leave a month to become a commercial pilot in the Mideast. During his time in New York, Al-Jawary became friendly with a woman named Carol, and used trips to [[Manhattan]] with her son Todd in order to reconnoiter targets without arousing suspicion.<ref name=AP090124/>

===Car bombs===
Just days after the Khartoum killings, around March 4, 1973, Al-Jawary took three rented cars rigged with explosives and placed them around various Israeli targets in the city; one at [[Fifth Avenue]] and [[47th Street (Manhattan)|47th Street]] at the First Israel Bank and Trust company, another at Fifth Avenue and [[List of streets in Manhattan|43rd Street]] at an [[Israel Discount Bank]], and a third at [[El Al|El-Al]]'s cargo terminal at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]].<ref name=AP090203>{{cite news |title=How the plot to assassinate Golda Meir was foiled |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3665848,00.html |agency=Associated Press |publisher=Ynet |date=2009-02-03 |accessdate=2009-02-03}}</ref>

The bombs consisted of gasoline, propane tanks, and [[Semtex]], as well as batteries and blasting caps. The two cars on Fifth Avenue had alarm clocks for timing the detonators, whereas the one at JFK, two times as powerful, utilized an advanced electronic timer known as an "e-cell". In addition to the explosives, someone had placed Black September propaganda in the cars, concealed in [[Hebrew language]] newspapers.<ref name=AP090124/>

According to a Federal agent at the time, the explosives were supposed to detonate at noon on March 4 with the arrival of Prime Minister Meir in the city.<ref name=NYT73/> However, the bombs never detonated, a failure which the FBI ascribed at the time to "an error in the circuitry system."<ref name=NYT73/>

==Discovery==
According to an [[Associated Press]] investigation released in 2009, the [[National Security Agency]] had intercepted an encrypted message sent from official Iraqi diplomatic communications in the United States to the Iraqi foreign ministry in Baghdad (and then the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]]), which revealed the plot and the bombs' locations.<ref name=AP090203/> At 7:15 pm on March 6, officials from the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] and [[New York City Police Department|New York Police Department]] started a search for the car bombs. All three cars were found: the two on Fifth Avenue had been towed and impounded at Pier 56 on March 5, and subsequently discovered on March 7 by their rental agency,<ref name=NYT73/> while the car at the airport was found early in the morning on March 7 and disabled by NYPD bomb squad member Terence McTigue.<ref name=AP090203/>

According to the FBI, the detonation of one of the bombs by police caused a fireball 50 to 75 feet high and 25 feet wide, creating a potential fatality zone of 100 yards that could have killed hundreds.<ref name=NYT73/> They soon issued a warrant for the arrest of the main suspect, Al-Jawary, but also stated publicly at the time, "It would have been a pretty tough job for one man."<ref name=NYT73/>

==Aftermath==
In the immediate aftermath of the failed attack the FBI launched a massive investigation for the case, codenamed Tribomb. Three hundred FBI agents took part, recovering 60 fingerprints identified as those of Al-Jawary and conducting hundreds of interviews.<ref name=AP090124/> Despite immediately issuing a warrant for the arrest of Al-Jawary, he managed to escape the country, but in 1991, while flying from Iraq to Tunis for the funeral of [[Salah Khalaf|Abu Iyad]], he was detained in [[Rome]] for use of a false [[Jordan]]ian passport. A few months later Italian authorities handed over custody to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], who flew Al-Jawary to stand trial in [[Brooklyn]]. In April 1993, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.<ref name=AP090124/> Al-Jawary was released on February 19, 2009 from the U.S. Federal prison system and handed over to U.S. immigration officials.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100885550|title= Man Who Tried To Bomb Israeli Targets Released|accessdate=2009-02-20 |last= Temple-Raston|first= Dina|date= 2009-02-19|publisher=NPR| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090224221444/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100885550| archive-date= 24 February 2009 | url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|New York City}}
* [[List of terrorist incidents, 1973]]
* [[Terrorism in New York City]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Coord|40.782846|N|73.959459|W|format=dms|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:New York City bomb plot, 1973}}
[[Category:March 1973 in the United States]]
[[Category:Black September Organization attacks]]
[[Category:Failed terrorist attempts in New York City]]
[[Category:Car and truck bombings in New York City]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in the United States in 1973]]
[[Category:1973 in New York City]]
[[Category:1970s crimes in New York City]]
[[Category:Car and truck bombings in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Improvised explosive device bombings in 1973]]
[[Category:Anti-Israeli sentiment in the United States]]
[[Category:Golda Meir]]
[[Category:Palestine–United States relations]]

1973 New York City bomb plot - Revision history

imported>Panamitsu: add {{Use American English}} template per MOS:TIES