B'nai B'rith - The 1977 Hanafi Siege

The 1977 Hanafi Siege

On March 9, 1977, when, in what was at the time one of the worst terror attacks in America, seven members of the Hanafi Muslim sect took over the B'nai B'rith headquarters, the Islamic Center and Washington, D.C.'s city hall. (B'nai B'rith is one of the few major Jewish organizations headquartered in Washington, D.C, not New York.) For 39 hours, 123 hostages were held on the top floor of the B'nai B'rith building at Rhode Island Avenue. The building was ransacked, its ground floor museum stripped, personnel shot and beaten—some severely, some who never recovered from the psychological shock.

The Hanafi terrorists had targeted the three Washington buildings in revenge for the slaying of their leader's family members by Philadelphia Black Muslims. B'nai B'rith was targeted because the judge in Philadelphia was Jewish. The takeover was ended after the intervention of ambassadors from three Muslim countries—Pakistan, Egypt and Iran, basing their negotiations on the teachings of the Koran—convinced the terrorists to surrender to police.