Is it older than Israel?

The Semiramis was a small hotel in Qatamon, a Palestinian Christian neighbourhood of Jerusalem. On the night of 5 January 1948 the Haganah planted a bomb in it, believing it to be a headquarters of Arab irregulars. It was not. The explosion brought down the building and killed 26 people, among them the Spanish vice-consul, Manuel Allende Salazar, and members of the families who owned and ran the hotel.

The British High Commissioner, Alan Cunningham, called it "an offence to civilisation". The Haganah dismissed the officer responsible. The bombing began the flight of Qatamon's residents, and the neighbourhood was emptied by May.