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What Are Some 2012 Proxies?

How did terrorists know that the tour bus they bombed in Bulgaria contained Israeli citizens (July 18, 2012)?

  • http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/world/europe/explosion-on-bulgaria-tour-bus-kills-at-least-four-israelis.html?_r=1&hp This is fucking nuts.  Of course, terrorism is horrible in any way, shape, or form, against any group of people.  But when I hear reports like these, I have to wonder how the hell these terrorists would know! A group of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria?  WTF? My heart goes out to the victims and their families-- I guess I just want to know how it is these terrorists even knew, and if there is any way to prevent attacks like this in the future.  What a scary world we live in today. Edit: I edited the question because I realized whether the terrorists were Iranian proxies, though suspected by Israel, hasn't been confirmed.  I don't want this to be a political question.

  • Answer:

    I find it hard to believe that the terrorists did this "on the fly", deciding which bus to bomb when they heard Hebrew or saw Shekels. This was probably a well planned action. Bourgas has been an Israeli destination for at least 10 years, but until 2010 most Israelis seeking cheap vacations went to either Turkey or the Sinai Peninsula. After the flotilla incident of May 2010 and with the rising level of terrorism activity in Sinai, many Israelis turned to new destinations including the Greek islands and Bulgaria. My thinking is that whomever was behind this, had searched to find a favorite destination of Israelis where security was not so tight, if it exists at all. Bourgas turned out to be perfect. Once the decision was made on Bourgas, it's not hard to find the required information as to which airlines come from Israel, which bus companies work with the Israeli groups, etc. The curious thing is that (from what I understand) the bomb blew up in the front of the bus and not the back or the side, which is where the cargo would normally be stored. So I think it might not have been a suitcase as originally thought but perhaps a suicide bomber who walked on the bus.

Ophir Ben-Yitschak at Quora Visit the source

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It's easy for people in western countries who've had almost no direct interaction with terrorism to assume that terrorists are a few poor, angry and foolish guys who decide one day to do something crazy and violent, then go do it. Some terrorists are like that. Those are the unsuccessful ones (my favorite kind). The successful terrorists - Qaeda and Hezballah type terrorists - are highly skilled professionals who are well trained, well educated, well funded, well coordinated and well behaved. They get quality intelligence reports and they know how to read them. They're patient and care about good planning. To answer your question directly: the terrorists knew that their victims were Israelis because, let's see... they were speaking Hebrew, they just got off a flight from Israel, they were waving their Israeli passports around, they were wearing Crocs with high water pants and hip packs, they were carrying shekels... not to belittle your question, but identifying the target group as Israelis was probably the easiest step in the entire operation.

Anonymous

It was probably some charter bus company that always handled groups of Israelis coming on charter flights from Israel. These companies tend to be run by ex-pat Israelis, though I really don't know anything about the situation in Bulgaria specifically.

Anonymous

At this time, there is absolutely no evidence presented to link this heinous attack to the Iranian regime.  The Israeli government only stated that "all signs point to Iran," based it seems, only on the fact that it came on the 18th anniversary of the bombings in Argentina.  It could well turn out be the work of Iranian regime proxies, and we can of course understand the Netanyahu government's knee jerk reaction.  But the rest of us should reserve judgement until we have some actual proof.  As to the point of the question, Anon seems to me to be essentially correct.  The Times piece indicated that this area was a favored destination for Israeli tourists, so it wouldn't have been difficult for the bombers to find a target.

Anonymous

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