In a decision that has sparked large protests in Palestinian-Israeli towns, an Israeli prosecutor has charged twelve men in an incident four years ago in which an Israeli man who was in the process of gunning down an entire busload of Arab men, women and children was subdued by the crowd and killed.
Photo of Israeli Eden Zada who carried out massacre of Palestinians in 2005 (photo from Esser Agaroth)
Israel's decision to move forward with the prosecution in this case shows a marked difference to the Israeli government's actions in similar cases involving Israeli Jews who intervened when Palestinians engaged in attacks against Israeli civilians. For instance, when a Palestinian construction driver crashed his tractor into an Israeli police car in March, a cab driver who saw the crash got out of his car and fired four shots at the Palestinian driver, killing him. In that incident, although no evidence was ever presented that the crash was carried out on purpose, the Israeli authorities declared it a “terrorist attack” and exonerated the cab driver who shot and killed the Palestinian.
But in the case of Eden Natan Zada, a right-wing Israeli who went on a killing spree in the Palestinian-Israeli town of Shfaram in 2005, killing four civilians and injuring a dozen more with gunshot wounds, the Palestinian-Israelis who attempted to subdue the heavily-armed Zada by beating him down with their hands have now been charged with murder.
One of the 12 Palestinian-Israelis indicted in the case, Jamil Safuri, told an Israeli reporter, “All Arab citizens of Israel are united in our struggle, because it is clear to all of them of that we are the victim and those who support Zada are the real murderers."
Protests held Saturday in the town of Shfaram included hundred of local residents and Palestinian-Israeli Members of the Knesset, who condemned the Israeli decision to prosecute the twelve men, saying that they acted in self defense to stop the slaughter of innocents that Zada was engaged in.
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