Eden Natan-Zada
Encyclopedia
Eden Natan-Zadawas an Israeli terrorist who was born to a Jewish family that immigrated to Israel from Iran. He was an AWOL Israeli soldier who opened fire in a bus in Shefa-Amr in northern Israel
on 4 August 2005, killing four Arab citizens of Israel
and wounding twelve others. He was restrained, disarmed and cuffed when he tried to reload to prepare for another round of shooting. After he was restrained and handcuffed, he was beaten to death by the crowd, as recorded on video. It has been inferred that the shooting was a personal protest against the Israeli government's disengagement plan, since an orange ribbon was found attached to Natan-Zada's pocket. (Orange was an emblem color of anti-disengagement activism).
No group had taken credit for the terror attack and one official in the settler movement denounced it. Natan-Zada was absent without leave
and in hiding from the IDF at the time of the shooting. He had recently become religious
after getting involved with far-right activists.
. He then began spending weekends in Kfar Tapuach
, an Orthodox
West Bank
settlement where he eventually hid to avoid further service in the IDF. According to Matthew Gutman of the Jerusalem Post, Kfar Tapuach "became the unofficial headquarters of the Jewish terrorist group Kahane Chai
in 1990," but supporters deny the existence of a Kahane headquarters.
In a letter left behind after his desertion, Natan-Zada expressed dismay to his parents over the disengagement plan, saying 'Just as I couldn't carry out an order that desecrates the Sabbath
, I cannot be part of an organization that expels Jews.' He added the anti-pullout slogan 'Jews don't expel Jews' to his letter, and concluded the message with the words: 'I will consider how I will continue to serve.'
His mother claims that prior to the shooting she alerted the IDF and other security services that her son was still in possession of his military-issued weapon. 'We told everyone he's AWOL, that he could do something with his gun. We begged them to take away his gun. He also asked them to take his gun. The army destroyed my child. The army destroyed my life.' According to The New Republic
, 'an army psychiatrist
warned that he wasn't fit for weapons or uniform, but his professional judgment was awaiting approval by a panel of medical experts that was not very swift in assembling' and that a 'former chief of staff of the IDF' had 'speculated that the killer's parents might have a chance to win damages in court for neglect by the army of the welfare of their son.'
Natan-Zada boarded the Shefa-'Amr
-bound bus on Thursday, 4 August 2005. He was dressed in full IDF uniform, carrying his IDF-issued M16 rifle, and, according to observers, wearing the skullcap, beard, and sidelocks
of an observant Jew, as well as an orange ribbon hanging from his pocket. According to witnesses, the bus driver was initially surprised to see a religiously-observant Jewish soldier making his way to Shefa-'Amr
(an overwhelmingly Arab city) via public bus, so he asked Natan-Zada if he was certain he wanted to take his current route. Upon arriving in Shefa-'Amr
's primary Druze
neighborhood, Natan-Zada stood up and approached the front door as if to disembark the bus. When the door opened, Natan-Zada turned around and shot the driver. He then fatally shot a man sitting behind the driver, and fired into the rest of the bus, killing two young women and wounding twenty-one passengers. When he paused to reload his weapon, a passenger grabbed the barrel of his gun, sustaining burn injuries, and he was subdued by streetgoers gathered around the scene of the bus shooting. When the police arrived at the scene he was tied up but still alive, but the small force of Israel Police
officers on the scene could not prevent the crowd from lynching
him, and nine police officers were injured attempting to protect him. It took the police four hours to remove his body from the scene.
The four victims were Hazar Turki and Dina Turki, two sisters in their early twenties, and two men, Michel Bahus (the driver) and Nader Hayek; all were Arab citizens of Israel. The wounded were rushed to Rambam Medical Center
in Haifa
. In the days after the attack, 40,000 people attended a funeral service in honour of the victims in the town. The two sisters were buried in an Islamic cemetery, and the two men in the local Christian cemetery.
Ten months after the attack, Israeli authorities detained seven Arabs suspected of lynching Natan-Zada. Six were arrested, while the seventh turned himself in. Arab MK Mohammed Barakeh condemned the arrests.
Ariel Sharon
condemned Natan-Zada's actions unequivocally, calling them "a reprehensible act by a bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist," and "a deliberate attempt to harm the fabric of relations among all Israeli citizens." Vice Premier Shimon Peres
and Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz
visited the bereaved families. "Your pain is the pain of the entire State of Israel. We will not allow crazy men and terrorists to harm your life here," Peres told the families. Sharon's government has consistently referred to the shooting as "an act of terrorism," language usually reserved for Palestinian
suicide bombers.
While the Israeli government and US State Department
both consider groups based on Kahanism
to be terrorist organizations, Kahanist advocates insist their ideology only advocates the forced removal of Arabs from the Land of Israel
, not murder.
The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel
called on the government to refrain from investigating the death of Eden Natan-Zada. Arab Knesset
member Mohammad Barakeh
, a Shefa-'Amr
resident himself, warned that protests could erupt if police probe Zada's lynching: "Normally when someone stops a terrorist from continuing to kill he is considered a hero, but in this case it is the heroes who are sitting on the defense stand". However, Shefa-'Amr
's security officer, Jamal Aliam, told Army Radio that Zada had been attacked by dozens of people after he had been handcuffed and subdued by police.
Eventually, on 13 June 2006, seven suspects in the lynching were arrested. The seventh suspect turned himself in to the Police. The police said: "We're responsible for maintaining the law, and you can't take the law into your own hands. Even when it concerns a terrorist who murdered innocent people even though he made a heinous terrorist act". Two suspects were subsequently released and five await trial in Haifa. There was general support for their arrest and even left-wing activist Yossi Beilin
said: "Israel can't put up with a lynch made on a handcuffed person even if his actions are heinous and unforgivable. It's a combined interest of both Jews and Arabs that Israel won't close its eyes to such behaviour". The Arab Knesset
members however demanded their release and called their arrest a crime.
On 7 June 2009, twelve Arab citizens were indicted over the lynching. Seven were charged with attempted murder. In March 2010, Maher Talhami, their defense lawyer, stated that recently discovered aerial footage of the bus, recorded by an Israeli drone before, during and after the attack took place indicates that Israeli defense officials were aware of Natan-Zada's intentions.
Natan-Zada's funeral was a controversial matter. Jewish law requires a swift burial, but nationwide outrage against his attacks left his body without a willing resting place for two days.
An initial agreement between IDF officials and the Natan-Zada family would have allowed burial in a military cemetery, but with no military honors such as a 21-gun salute or placement of the Israeli flag upon his coffin. However, Meir Nitzan
, the mayor of Rishon LeZion intervened before the funeral. The morgue which housed Natan-Zada's body, Abu Kabir Forensic Institute
, refused to release the body to friends and fellow Kahane activists to bury, resulting in a bitter protest.
Residents of Kfar Tapuach
are divided on the issue. Kfar Tapuach
resident Moshe Meirsdorf said Natan-Zada's connection to the community "has been destructive for us. We totally reject everything he did." Meirsdorf claims that Natan-Zada and other extremist youth were not official community members, despite the fact that Natan-Zada had legally updated his address to Kfar Tapuach
. "He was never accepted by the absorption committee," said Meirsdorf, whose wife is a member of the committee. Others supported Natan-Zada, including four teenagers from Tapuach who were arrested following the incident. Most locals, however, voiced opinions in line with Tapuach leader David Haivri, who expressed pain over the loss of Natan-Zada and emphasized the tragedy of his death. In early 2006 the central synagogue of Kfar Tapuach
began building a library in Natan-Zada's honor.
Some Israeli media outlets initially suggested that Natan-Zada be buried in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba
, where Baruch Goldstein
, who committed Ibrahimi Mosque massacre 11 years earlier, is buried. Natan-Zada's body resided for two days in the Abu-Kabir morgue
, pending an appeal to Prime Minister Sharon by his parents. On 7 August 2005, the Prime Minister's Bureau overruled Meir Nitzan's ban against burial in Rishon LeZion, and decreed that Zada should be buried in the civilian cemetery there. He was buried in the Gordon neighborhood. Because of the delays, Natan-Zada was buried two days after Jewish law allows. Three of the hundreds of mourners at the burial were arrested with administrative arrest orders, including "New Kach" leader Efraim Hershkovits, American citizen Saadia Herskof, and former Kach activist Tiran Pollack's son Gilad.
i Defense Ministry ruled that the four Arab citizens shot dead were not victims of terror because their killer was not part of a terrorist organization, and are thus not entitled to the usual compensation for life lost due to terror attacks. According to Mayan Malkin, a spokeswoman with the Israeli Defense Ministry, an attacker must be a member of the "enemy forces" against Israel to be considered a terrorist under the law. Instead, they received payment "beyond the letter of the law," as a lump-sum payment, as opposed to the lifelong monthly annuity given to the families of terror victims. Representatives of the Arab community in Israel condemned the decision, with Mohammed Barakeh, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament, saying that the "…decision raises a strong scent of racism, which distinguishes between a Jewish terrorist and an Arab terrorist." On 19 July 2006, the Israeli government changed the "Compensation Law for Victims of Hostile Acts" to include anyone victimized by violence stemming from the Israeli-Arab conflict. As a result of this change, the victims and families of Natan-Zada became eligible for terror compensation.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
on 4 August 2005, killing four Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
and wounding twelve others. He was restrained, disarmed and cuffed when he tried to reload to prepare for another round of shooting. After he was restrained and handcuffed, he was beaten to death by the crowd, as recorded on video. It has been inferred that the shooting was a personal protest against the Israeli government's disengagement plan, since an orange ribbon was found attached to Natan-Zada's pocket. (Orange was an emblem color of anti-disengagement activism).
No group had taken credit for the terror attack and one official in the settler movement denounced it. Natan-Zada was absent without leave
Desertion
In military terminology, desertion is the abandonment of a "duty" or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning...
and in hiding from the IDF at the time of the shooting. He had recently become religious
Baal teshuva
Baal teshuva or ba'al teshuvah , sometimes abbreviated to BT, is a term referring to a Jew who turns to embrace Orthodox Judaism. Baal teshuva literally means, "repentant", i.e., one who has repented or "returned" to God...
after getting involved with far-right activists.
Early life
Natan-Zada's parents describe him as having been a "bright and studious Israeli schoolboy" prior to his becoming involved with the Jewish terrorist Kahanism movement, to which he was introduced via the internetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. He then began spending weekends in Kfar Tapuach
Kfar Tapuach
Kfar Tapuach is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, founded in 1978. It sits astride one of the major traffic junctions in the West Bank. The executive director of the village council is Yisrael Blunder. As of December 2007, it had 800 residents...
, an Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
settlement where he eventually hid to avoid further service in the IDF. According to Matthew Gutman of the Jerusalem Post, Kfar Tapuach "became the unofficial headquarters of the Jewish terrorist group Kahane Chai
Kach and Kahane Chai
Kach was a far-right political party in Israel. Founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in the early 1970s, and following his Jewish nationalist ideology , the party entered the Knesset in 1984 after several electoral failures...
in 1990," but supporters deny the existence of a Kahane headquarters.
In a letter left behind after his desertion, Natan-Zada expressed dismay to his parents over the disengagement plan, saying 'Just as I couldn't carry out an order that desecrates the Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
, I cannot be part of an organization that expels Jews.' He added the anti-pullout slogan 'Jews don't expel Jews' to his letter, and concluded the message with the words: 'I will consider how I will continue to serve.'
His mother claims that prior to the shooting she alerted the IDF and other security services that her son was still in possession of his military-issued weapon. 'We told everyone he's AWOL, that he could do something with his gun. We begged them to take away his gun. He also asked them to take his gun. The army destroyed my child. The army destroyed my life.' According to The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, 'an army psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
warned that he wasn't fit for weapons or uniform, but his professional judgment was awaiting approval by a panel of medical experts that was not very swift in assembling' and that a 'former chief of staff of the IDF' had 'speculated that the killer's parents might have a chance to win damages in court for neglect by the army of the welfare of their son.'
The Shefa-Amr attack
Shefa-'Amr
Shefa-'Amr, also Shfar'am is a predominantly Arab city in the North District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a population of 35,300.-Etymology:...
-bound bus on Thursday, 4 August 2005. He was dressed in full IDF uniform, carrying his IDF-issued M16 rifle, and, according to observers, wearing the skullcap, beard, and sidelocks
Payot
Payot is the Hebrew word for sidelocks or sidecurls. Payot are worn by some men and boys in the Orthodox Jewish community based on an interpretation of the Biblical injunction against shaving the "corners" of one's head...
of an observant Jew, as well as an orange ribbon hanging from his pocket. According to witnesses, the bus driver was initially surprised to see a religiously-observant Jewish soldier making his way to Shefa-'Amr
Shefa-'Amr
Shefa-'Amr, also Shfar'am is a predominantly Arab city in the North District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a population of 35,300.-Etymology:...
(an overwhelmingly Arab city) via public bus, so he asked Natan-Zada if he was certain he wanted to take his current route. Upon arriving in Shefa-'Amr
Shefa-'Amr
Shefa-'Amr, also Shfar'am is a predominantly Arab city in the North District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a population of 35,300.-Etymology:...
's primary Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
neighborhood, Natan-Zada stood up and approached the front door as if to disembark the bus. When the door opened, Natan-Zada turned around and shot the driver. He then fatally shot a man sitting behind the driver, and fired into the rest of the bus, killing two young women and wounding twenty-one passengers. When he paused to reload his weapon, a passenger grabbed the barrel of his gun, sustaining burn injuries, and he was subdued by streetgoers gathered around the scene of the bus shooting. When the police arrived at the scene he was tied up but still alive, but the small force of Israel Police
Israel Police
The Israel Police is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism...
officers on the scene could not prevent the crowd from lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
him, and nine police officers were injured attempting to protect him. It took the police four hours to remove his body from the scene.
The four victims were Hazar Turki and Dina Turki, two sisters in their early twenties, and two men, Michel Bahus (the driver) and Nader Hayek; all were Arab citizens of Israel. The wounded were rushed to Rambam Medical Center
Rambam Hospital
Rambam Health Care Campus , or Rambam Hospital, is a hospital in the Bat Galim neighborhood of Haifa, Israel. The largest medical center in northern Israel and fifth largest in Israel, it is named for the 12th century physician-philosopher Rabbi Moshe Ben-Maimon , known as the...
in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
. In the days after the attack, 40,000 people attended a funeral service in honour of the victims in the town. The two sisters were buried in an Islamic cemetery, and the two men in the local Christian cemetery.
Ten months after the attack, Israeli authorities detained seven Arabs suspected of lynching Natan-Zada. Six were arrested, while the seventh turned himself in. Arab MK Mohammed Barakeh condemned the arrests.
Suspicion that authorities were aware of Natan-Zada's intentions
In March 2010, a lawyer representing some of the lynch suspects discovered security forces aerial footage of the scene prior to, during and after Natan-Zada's attack and after the lynching of Natan-Zada and accused the Israeli government of prior knowledge of Natan-Zada's intentions. At the time, the police denied it had aerial support and some have claimed a conspiracy theory that the government was trying to delegitimize the anti-disengagement movement by provoking an extremist act or setting up Natan-Zada.Reactions
Then Prime Minister of IsraelPrime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
condemned Natan-Zada's actions unequivocally, calling them "a reprehensible act by a bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist," and "a deliberate attempt to harm the fabric of relations among all Israeli citizens." Vice Premier Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
and Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz
Ophir Pines-Paz
Ophir Pines-Paz is an Israeli former politician who served as Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Science, Culture & Sport and as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party from 1996 until 2010.-Biography:...
visited the bereaved families. "Your pain is the pain of the entire State of Israel. We will not allow crazy men and terrorists to harm your life here," Peres told the families. Sharon's government has consistently referred to the shooting as "an act of terrorism," language usually reserved for Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
suicide bombers.
While the Israeli government and US State Department
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
both consider groups based on Kahanism
Kahanism
Kahanism is loosely defined as an nationalist ideology of dedication and self-sacrifice for Jewish causes, such as physical and spiritual freedom and safety of Jews in Israel and worldwide. The term is derived from the name of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane , founder of the Jewish Defense League in USA...
to be terrorist organizations, Kahanist advocates insist their ideology only advocates the forced removal of Arabs from the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
, not murder.
The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel
High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel
The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab citizens of Israel is an extra-parliamentary umbrella organization that represents Arab citizens of Israel at the national level...
called on the government to refrain from investigating the death of Eden Natan-Zada. Arab Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
member Mohammad Barakeh
Mohammad Barakeh
Mohammad Barakeh is an Israeli Arab politician and member of the Knesset for Hadash, of which he is the General Secretary.-Biography:Born in Shefa-'Amr, Barakeh studied mathematics at Tel Aviv University. He first became politically involved whilst at university in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
, a Shefa-'Amr
Shefa-'Amr
Shefa-'Amr, also Shfar'am is a predominantly Arab city in the North District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a population of 35,300.-Etymology:...
resident himself, warned that protests could erupt if police probe Zada's lynching: "Normally when someone stops a terrorist from continuing to kill he is considered a hero, but in this case it is the heroes who are sitting on the defense stand". However, Shefa-'Amr
Shefa-'Amr
Shefa-'Amr, also Shfar'am is a predominantly Arab city in the North District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a population of 35,300.-Etymology:...
's security officer, Jamal Aliam, told Army Radio that Zada had been attacked by dozens of people after he had been handcuffed and subdued by police.
Eventually, on 13 June 2006, seven suspects in the lynching were arrested. The seventh suspect turned himself in to the Police. The police said: "We're responsible for maintaining the law, and you can't take the law into your own hands. Even when it concerns a terrorist who murdered innocent people even though he made a heinous terrorist act". Two suspects were subsequently released and five await trial in Haifa. There was general support for their arrest and even left-wing activist Yossi Beilin
Yossi Beilin
Dr. Yosef "Yossi" Beilin is a left-wing Israeli politician and a former Knesset member, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and Justice Minister, representing both the Labor Party and Meretz-Yachad, of which he served as chairman between 2003 and 2006. He is best known for his involvement with the...
said: "Israel can't put up with a lynch made on a handcuffed person even if his actions are heinous and unforgivable. It's a combined interest of both Jews and Arabs that Israel won't close its eyes to such behaviour". The Arab Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
members however demanded their release and called their arrest a crime.
On 7 June 2009, twelve Arab citizens were indicted over the lynching. Seven were charged with attempted murder. In March 2010, Maher Talhami, their defense lawyer, stated that recently discovered aerial footage of the bus, recorded by an Israeli drone before, during and after the attack took place indicates that Israeli defense officials were aware of Natan-Zada's intentions.
Burial controversy
An initial agreement between IDF officials and the Natan-Zada family would have allowed burial in a military cemetery, but with no military honors such as a 21-gun salute or placement of the Israeli flag upon his coffin. However, Meir Nitzan
Meir Nitzan
Meir Nitzan is an Israeli politician. He was mayor of Rishon Lezion for five consecutive terms.-Biography:Nitzan was born in Bucharest, Romania. He lived in a displaced persons' camp in Cyprus before making Aliyah at age 16. Upon his arrival in Israel, he lived in the then-transit camp Pardes Hanna...
, the mayor of Rishon LeZion intervened before the funeral. The morgue which housed Natan-Zada's body, Abu Kabir Forensic Institute
Abu Kabir Forensic Institute
L. Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine also known as Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, is an Israeli forensic research laboratory located in the Abu Kabir neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Israel.-History:...
, refused to release the body to friends and fellow Kahane activists to bury, resulting in a bitter protest.
Residents of Kfar Tapuach
Kfar Tapuach
Kfar Tapuach is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, founded in 1978. It sits astride one of the major traffic junctions in the West Bank. The executive director of the village council is Yisrael Blunder. As of December 2007, it had 800 residents...
are divided on the issue. Kfar Tapuach
Kfar Tapuach
Kfar Tapuach is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, founded in 1978. It sits astride one of the major traffic junctions in the West Bank. The executive director of the village council is Yisrael Blunder. As of December 2007, it had 800 residents...
resident Moshe Meirsdorf said Natan-Zada's connection to the community "has been destructive for us. We totally reject everything he did." Meirsdorf claims that Natan-Zada and other extremist youth were not official community members, despite the fact that Natan-Zada had legally updated his address to Kfar Tapuach
Kfar Tapuach
Kfar Tapuach is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, founded in 1978. It sits astride one of the major traffic junctions in the West Bank. The executive director of the village council is Yisrael Blunder. As of December 2007, it had 800 residents...
. "He was never accepted by the absorption committee," said Meirsdorf, whose wife is a member of the committee. Others supported Natan-Zada, including four teenagers from Tapuach who were arrested following the incident. Most locals, however, voiced opinions in line with Tapuach leader David Haivri, who expressed pain over the loss of Natan-Zada and emphasized the tragedy of his death. In early 2006 the central synagogue of Kfar Tapuach
Kfar Tapuach
Kfar Tapuach is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, founded in 1978. It sits astride one of the major traffic junctions in the West Bank. The executive director of the village council is Yisrael Blunder. As of December 2007, it had 800 residents...
began building a library in Natan-Zada's honor.
Some Israeli media outlets initially suggested that Natan-Zada be buried in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba
Kiryat Arba
Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba , lit. "Town of the Four," is an Israeli settlement in the Judean Mountains region of the West Bank on the edge of Hebron. Its settlers consist of a mix of Russian immigrants, American immigrants, and native-born Israelis numbering close to 10,000...
, where Baruch Goldstein
Baruch Goldstein
Baruch Kopel Goldstein was an American-born Jewish Israeli physician and mass murderer who perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, killing 29 Palestinian Muslim worshipers and wounding another 125....
, who committed Ibrahimi Mosque massacre 11 years earlier, is buried. Natan-Zada's body resided for two days in the Abu-Kabir morgue
Morgue
A morgue or mortuary is used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification, or removal for autopsy or disposal by burial, cremation or otherwise...
, pending an appeal to Prime Minister Sharon by his parents. On 7 August 2005, the Prime Minister's Bureau overruled Meir Nitzan's ban against burial in Rishon LeZion, and decreed that Zada should be buried in the civilian cemetery there. He was buried in the Gordon neighborhood. Because of the delays, Natan-Zada was buried two days after Jewish law allows. Three of the hundreds of mourners at the burial were arrested with administrative arrest orders, including "New Kach" leader Efraim Hershkovits, American citizen Saadia Herskof, and former Kach activist Tiran Pollack's son Gilad.
Victim compensation
After the event, the IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i Defense Ministry ruled that the four Arab citizens shot dead were not victims of terror because their killer was not part of a terrorist organization, and are thus not entitled to the usual compensation for life lost due to terror attacks. According to Mayan Malkin, a spokeswoman with the Israeli Defense Ministry, an attacker must be a member of the "enemy forces" against Israel to be considered a terrorist under the law. Instead, they received payment "beyond the letter of the law," as a lump-sum payment, as opposed to the lifelong monthly annuity given to the families of terror victims. Representatives of the Arab community in Israel condemned the decision, with Mohammed Barakeh, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament, saying that the "…decision raises a strong scent of racism, which distinguishes between a Jewish terrorist and an Arab terrorist." On 19 July 2006, the Israeli government changed the "Compensation Law for Victims of Hostile Acts" to include anyone victimized by violence stemming from the Israeli-Arab conflict. As a result of this change, the victims and families of Natan-Zada became eligible for terror compensation.
See also
- Violent incident in Shefa-Amr
- Mohammad Barakeh
External links
- Jewish Settler Kills Four Israeli Arabs In Attack on Bus, 4 August 2005, The Washington Post
- Sharon Condemns Attack by "Bloodthirsty Jewish Terrorist", Talks to Arab Leaders, 5 August 2005, Combined Jewish Philanthropies
- Extremist's body left on a slab in morgue, 5 August 2005, Independent Online, South Africa
- Zada Finally Buried; His Death Will be Investigated, 7 August 2005, Arutz Sheva (Channel 7 news)
- "For Arabs Only: Israeli Law and Order." Jonathan CookJonathan CookJonathan Cook is a British writer and a freelance journalist based in Nazareth, Israel, who writes about the Middle East, and more specifically, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.-Background:...
. CounterPunch. 14 June 2006.