Excerpts from Letters from Tel Mond Prison: An Israeli Settler Defends His Act of Terror

Written by Era Rapaport
Printed in 1996

"Where did I get the nerve to do what I did? I dislike any type of violence....Here I was doing what I've abhorred."

Certain events in life inspire ordinary people to do extreme things. As Era Rapaport's prison memoirs, Letters from Tel Mond Prison: An Israeli Settler Defends His Act of Terror, attests, a threat against one's home can be one such event. Era Rapaport (1945?–) responded to a perceived threat on his homeland after six Jews were killed by Arabs in the town of Hebron on May 2, 1980. Although it was rumored that Palestinian mayors had given the order to kill these Jews, the Israeli government did not retaliate or punish the Palestinians. Feeling no support from the Israeli government, Rapaport and others planned and executed the bombing...