OVER THE YEARS IT'S BEEN A STATE DEPARTMENT PRACTICE NOT TO  UTTER THE WORD" TERRORISM" UNTIL ABSOLUTELY FORCED TO DO SO

The extreme reluctance of the Obama administration to define the attack on the American Consulate in Libya as a terrorist attack is not unique to the Obama State Department. Rather, over the years it's been a State Department practice not to  utter the word" terrorism" until absolutely forced to do so

The Bush administration was similarly guilty. For example ,on July 6, 1989, Abd al-Hadi Ghneim, a Palestinian terrorist grabbed the steering wheel of a bus traveling on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway. Shouting “Allahu Akhbar!” (Allah is great), Ghneim drove the bus off the road and into a steep ravine. As it careened down the rocky slope, the bus caught fire and exploded.

This was the first recorded instance of Palestinian suicide terrorism. Sixteen passengers were killed, including 39 year-old Rita Levine, of Philadelphia, and two Canadians, Winnipeg teenager Fern Rykiss and Dr. Shelley Volokov Halpenny, of Vancouver. Among the 27 injured passengers were six Americans, including a woman on her way to see her daughter, a gymnast, compete in the Maccabiah games in Jerusalem. The terrorist survived.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the attack a “senseless, tragic incident,” but declined to use the word “terrorism.”

Calling the attack a “terrorist act” presented a political problem for the Bush administration. Seven months earlier, the U.S. had initiated contacts with Yasir Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization, claiming the PLO had renounced terrorism. If the PLO was involved in the attack and the U.S. verified that it was terrorism, the administration might have had  to end its dealings with Arafat.

New York Times  columnist William Safire was blunt. He wrote that the State Department was “worried about upsetting Mr. Arafat’s followers.”

In fact, 25 year-old Gaza Strip resident , Ghneim,, was not a member of Arafat’s PLO, but rather of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. But PLO spokesman Bassam Abu Sharif complicated matters by praising the terrorist attack as “a human reaction” to “desperate conditions.” Sharif said, “He who protects his rights and opposes occupation is not a terrorist. If it were so, George Washington himself would be a terrorist. "The State Department ignored Sharif’s statement.

Arafat did not directly condemn the attack. However,The State Department praised Arafat for telling an interviewer, “It is painful for me to witness the loss of all these civilian lives.”

Also, journalists used numerous terms to avoid using the word “terrorist”.” Washington Post correspondent Nora Boustany described Ghneim as an “activist.” NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER JOEL BRINKLEY CALLED HIM AN “ASSAILANT.” IN HIS FIRST DISPATCH ON THE SUBJECT, BRINKLEY CHARACTERIZED THE MASSACRE AS AN “ATTACK,” AN “ACCIDENT,” AND A “BUS CRASH.” IN HIS SECOND ARTICLE, HOWEVER, HE DID CALL IT A “TERRORIST ATTACK.”

Israeli officials were very upset  by Washington’s position. Baruch Binah, spokesman for the Israeli Consulate in New York, said Sharif’s statements represented “the true feelings of the PLO,” and a letter circulated by the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Yochanan Bein, said Sharif’s remarks “provide clear evidence that the PLO never had any intention of renouncing terrorism and violence.” An Israeli official in Washington said the episode showed that the PLO’s alleged renunciation of terrorism, in order to begin talks with the United States, was “meaningless.”

In Jerusalem, Foreign Ministry spokesman address the issue: directly He said at a press conference that, “IF THE UNITED STATES DOES NOT CALL IT TERRORISM, IN FACT IT GIVES A LICENSE TO KILL TO EVERY PALESTINIAN INDIVIDUAL OR ORGANIZATION.”

Capitol Hill and the American Jewish community criticized the Bush administration.

Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA) said that while even Radio Moscow was calling the attack terrorism, “the State Department was diddling about trying to get answers.”   Abraham Foxman Anti-Defamation League head said the administration’s reluctance to call it terrorism indicated a softening of the U.S. condition that the PLO had to sincerely oppose terrorism in order to qualify for dialogue with Washington.

Even some who favored U.S.-PLO contacts protested. Ten leaders of the International Center for Peace in the Middle East, including five who had recently met with Arafat, called on the PLO leadership to “strongly condemn” the attack and “all other acts of violence against innocent civilians.”

The PLO  never condemned the attack nor did they ever call it “terrorism”.. However, the Bush administration finally gave in. Six days after the attack, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, “It was clearly an act of violence against innocent civilians. I think in everybody’s minds that would constitute an act of terrorism.” Although Boucher hedged by using the term “in everybody’s minds,” this statement by the State Department was  sufficient to put that controversy to rest.

 Ghneim, he was finally convicted of 16 counts of murder and sentenced to 16 life sentences. But he was released in October 2011, together with other terrorists who were set free in exchange for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

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