Terror Against Terror

Kahane had publicly advocated since 1974 that Arab terrorism should be met with Jewish terrorism, hence TNT. The group began committing violent acts against Arabs in 1975. The number of Palestinian victims of TNT attacks is reported to be 23 dead, and 191 injured. In the summer of 1983 five American immigrants – Mike Guzovsky, Meir Leibowitz, Levi Hazan, Yehuda Richter, and Craig Arthur (Aviel) Leitner – decided to step up the violence of TNT, particularly in the wake of the Camp David Accords and treaty. The five had known each other from the New York JDL and were with Kach; Leitner in particular was evading possible prosecution for violence in the U.S., while Richter was part of the TNT's suicide cell at Yamit. They began by burning vehicles and the office of the Al-Fajr Jerusalem newspaper, threw Molotov cocktails at homes, and beat several residents. On the morning of March 4, 1984, the group opened fire with Guzovsky's father's M16 on a bus full of Arab workers near Mazra'a e-Sharqiya, leaving six wounded. They claimed responsibility by phone under the name of "the Shelomo Ben-Yosef Brigade of TNT".