New York — The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has condemned yesterday’s terrorist attack upon Israeli Arabs in the Israeli Arab town of Shfaram. Eden Natan-Zada , an Israel Defense Forces’ deserter wearing his army uniform, opened fire on passengers onboard a passenger bus in a Druze neighborhood of Shfaram, killing four people and wounding 12. Natan-Zada (also known as Tzuberi) was killed by a mob that boarded the bus after the shooting. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued a statement calling the attack “a criminal act of a bloodthirsty terrorist targeting innocent Israeli civilians,” and has instructed security officials to make the investigation of the incident a top priority.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “The murder of four Israeli Arabs and the wounding of 12 more is a terrorist act which we condemn unreservedly. This crime was committed by a deserter from Israeli military service who had been absent without leave for several weeks. His crime has been rightly and strongly condemned by the Israeli government and across the Israeli political spectrum.

“Unlike the situation in the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israelis and their government, along with Jews around the world, do not equivocate when it comes to terrorism. The Israeli government, the Knesset, the media and Israelis from all walks of life unambiguously condemn terrorist acts. Contrast this to the situation within the PA, where terrorism is institutionally encouraged and terrorists glorified in the PA-controlled mosques, schools, media and youth movements. As the ZOA noted only yesterday, a Palestinian college in Gaza just named a course in honor of Wafa Idris, the first Palestinian female suicide bomber.

“Prime Minister Sharon’s condemnation of this crime was clear and unwavering. Unlike Mahmoud Abbas last month, when Palestinian terrorists murdered two Israeli grandparents, he did not take 14 hours to issue a statement or limit his condemnation to the repercussions for his government’s image. He did not make a statement like the one Abbas made saying, ‘These attacks threaten our national security and undermine our credibility on the international arena …The Palestinian Authority will do its utmost to prevent such damaging attacks,’ implying that if they were not damaging, he’d be fully in favor of them.

“Sharon did not shun describing terrorist acts as immoral and disgraceful. And unlike Abbas and his ministers blaming Israel for the acts of Palestinians, he did not blame Palestinian actions for the crime of an Israeli. This points to the great failing of the PA — its refusal to take responsibility for Palestinian actions and to build a society that repudiates incitement and terrorism.”