Police charged 12 Israeli Arabs from the Arab-Israeli city of Shfaram Sunday in the death of AWOL soldier Eden Natan-Zada, who killed four Arabs in 2005 before being lynched by an angry Arab mob.
Zada had fled the army several weeks before he boarded a bus that went to Shfaram and opened fire at short range. Zada murdered the driver and three passengers, two of them women, and wounded four additional Arab Israelis. Citizens on the bus disarmed Zada and then police arrived and handcuffed the 19-year-old. A Druze and Arab mob surrounded the bus, murdered Zada and injured several policemen before security forces could bring the situation under control.
Zada's action came after five years of incessant and horrific Arab terrorist attacks against Jews.
Zada in the course of the lynching (screenshot -- Channel 10).
The State Prosecution will charge seven of the Arabs with attempting to murder Zada. The other five are charged with attacking police under serious circumstances.
The count of attempted murder is a less serious one than murder. While it is not clear why the prosecution preferred this charge, the reason may be that it believes it would have a difficult time proving which of the lynch participants dealt Zada the blow that actually killed him.
“Without minimizing the seriousness of Zada’s actions,” the prosecution said, “the events that led to his death are an affront to the law. In a lawful state, someone who takes the law into his own hands and attacks someone who has already been captured and neutralized, even if he committed a depraved act, must stand trial.”
Arab MKs were incensed at the development. “These charges are a police provocation sending a message that an Arab does not have the right to self defense,” MK Jamal Zahalka said. “The prosecution is turning the victim into the guilty party,” MK Mohammad Barakeh claimed.
However, a video documenting the lynch clearly shows that Zada was unarmed and handcuffed by police before the mob attacked and killed him. After the event, police were accused of handcuffing Zada and then leaving him at the mercy of the mob, because they feared to take the action necessary to protect him from the bloodthirsty crowd.