Terrorism: August 2005 Archives

So, the day after an AWOL IDF solider/settler shot several civilians on a bus in northern Israel, I got this lovely piece of mail in my inbox. My rants in italics.

Subject:Who was the real killer in Shfaram?

Who was the real killer in Shfaram?

/by Yekutiel Ben Yaakov /

Eden Natan Zada, a 19 year old Israeli soldier was murdered and lynched by a violent Arab mob in Shfaram [and he didn't even DO anything!!! JEEEZ!] after he allegedly opened fire on a bus, killing several Arab passengers. [Oh. That. "Allegedly."] Police cuffed and arrested Eden, and later allowed the mob to lynch him. This was still not sufficient to calm the Arab marauders down. An Arab doctor was then permitted to come on the bus to make certain that Eden was in fact dead. [note the language: "Arab" passengers (no mention of the fact that they are Israeli citizens) are "killed". The "soldier" who "allegedly opened fire" was "murdered and lynched." by "Arab marauders"]

This too was not enough as the crowd danced and stormed the bus. The police allowed this wild mob to control the area and the bus for several hours, until they stepped in to remove the Jewish body from the bus. The police moved in only after Jewish civilians threatened to extricate the body and to storm into Shefaram. Five minutes after the Jewish threat was given, the cops sent in specially trained riot police to restore some peace and order to the area around the bus. [So little mention of the people he killed, but so much dwelling on the mob's behavior in response.]

Eden's friends and family described him as being a shy, kind hearted and modest Jew, who was returning to his Jewish roots and as a person who would not harm a fly. [Well, maybe he'd leave insects alone, but he apparently had no trouble harming people. Didn't these people ever see the movie Psycho?]

Eden had been carrying out a stubborn struggle over recent months against his draft into the IDF during the disengagement period. He repeatedly pleaded with IDF recruitment officers not to draft him. Nobody listened. He was drafted. He continued to beg and cry to be relieved of duty so as not to carry out the  "historic crime." Nobody listened to his plea. He ran away from the army on three seperate occasions and sat in jail in two of those instances in his battle to be free from participating in the disengagement expulsion plan.

Voice of Judea Commentary:

Who is the real killer here? Who forced Eden to join the IDF and to violate his conscience? Who armed him, in spite of his repeated warnings? How many other Edens are out there who are torn and tormented over the role they are being forced to play in the disengagement?

This tragic incident should serve as a wake up call to Sharon to return to his senses and to permit the people of Israel to decide their own destiny. This incident should prove to all of us that Sharon can't force a majority of Israelis who are opposed to the disengagement to carry out what they feel to be his treasonous dirty work. This incident should serve as a wake up call for Sharon to listen to the pleading of the majority of his nation and of his soldiers? Somebody needs to listen to the soldiers and to hear their pain. It is very easy to threaten jail terms to soldiers who refuse to serve now and it is easy to condemn Eden. Even Eden's neighbors in Tapuach are distancing themselves from him. [If somebody I knew shot a bunch of innocent people and threatened to destroy the whole peace process and endanger Jews, I'd distance myself from him too!]

Eden was no more than a small pawn in a satanic chess game. Eden and those he killed were the first casualties in Sharon's sadistic disengagement plan. What will it take for Sharon to listen? If people are not allowed to democratically vote against his horrific plan, there will no doubt be other tormented souls who will speak through their rifles. Sharon - wake up and postpone the disengagemnet until a referendum is held. In the meantime, listen to your soldiers and free those who wish to be released. To vote in an independent referendum visit www.mishal.org [Feel free to go freep their stupid poll.]

 One other point needs to be made: In the past there have been many cases where Arab terrorists murdererd Jews and were protected from angry Jewish bystanders. [Yes. It's called "doing the right thing."] How many times have we heard the brave policeman speak of a fair trial, law and order and all of the other fine words to justify their protection of the Arab terrorists, often at great personal risk to themselves. It is shameful that in a land that calls itself a lnad of law, order and democracy that a mob of criminals were permitted to carry out a pre-trial mob lynch of a suspect. It is mind boggling to consider the police allowing this mob to control the scene for hours. It is no less outrageous to consider the fact that a doctor was permitted to participate in the lynching ceremony to formally pronounce Eden dead. [Yep. Lynching is really bad. No question there. And did those innocent people on the bus deserve being brutally murdered like that? For what crime? Where was their trial?]

Tikkun Olam's Richard Silverstein notes that in two stories in the New York Times and Haaretz, it's revealed that the soldier's parents knew he was about to do something violent and reckless. Not only that, but they tried telling the Israeli military and pleading for someone to do something. But nobody would listen. They hadn't even declared him AWOL yet.

So let’s get this straight. Say a Palestinian or Israeli Arab father called the IDF and told them that their child had a military weapon and that he was afraid the son or his comrades might use it against Israelis. And let’s further add that the father gives the IDF his son’s location. How quickly would it be before a soldier would be knocking on this kid’s door? So the fatal question is: why was the IDF so abysmally negligent? Here you have a tinderbox situation with the Gaza pullout. You have intelligence telling you that some settler groups are planning violent provocative acts to sabotage the process. And yet you do nothing when presented with such information?

Updated to add: and then there's this enchanting quote from the murderer's "best friend." 

This was a very good act. In the future streets will be named after him, he will be a hero,” Avraham said. “All of us see him as a hero of Israel.”

Asked if he felt any sympathy for the victims, Avraham stared blankly. “As far as I am concerned they are an enemy. The ones who died are the same as the ones who lynched him,” he said. “Any Arab by being Arab is our enemy and the day will come when we will kill all of them.”

Yeah. Fuck you very much.

Don't miss Juan Cole's retelling of the creation of Extremism. Terror and The War Struggle on Against It.

"The American Right, having created the Mujahideen and having mightily contributed to the creation of al-Qaeda, abruptly announced that there was something deeply wrong with Islam, that it kept producing terrorists."