Man Linked to Outlawed Extremist Group Kills Four Israeli Arabs on Bus Posted: August 8, 2005

A Jewish extremist killed four Israeli Arabs and wounded at least ten others on a passenger bus in the Israeli Arab town of Shfaram.

Eden Natan Zada, 19, who was dressed in an Israel Defense Forces uniform when he opened fire on the bus on August 4, has been described by authorities as an Israeli army deserter from the West Bank settlement of Tapuah. 

Zaada, who was beaten to death by a mob after the shooting, reportedly had become a follower of the outlawed ultranationalist Kach movement and was angry about Israel’s plans to dismantle Jewish settlements. 

Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon condemned the gunman as a “bloodthirsty terrorist who sought to attack innocent Israeli citizens.”  Extreme religious nationalists have opposed the Prime Minister’s Gaza plan, which is scheduled to dismantle over 20 settlements in the area. 

Police reportedly have arrested three people in Tapuach who may have known of Zada’s plan to kill Arabs.

The shooting is the worst attack by a Jewish radical since Baruch Goldstein, an American-born settler, killed 29 Palestinians praying in a Hebron mosque in 1994.