The Jewish Agency will pay compensation fees on Sunday to the families of the four Arab victims murdered in the terrorist attack at Shfaram in August,
By JPOST.COM STAFF
The Jewish Agency will pay compensation fees on Sunday to the families of the four Arab victims murdered in the terrorist attack at Shfaram in August, when a Jewish extremist opened fire on a crowded bus.
In addition to the money to be granted to the victims' families by the government, the Jewish Agency will offer each family NIS 100,000, the agency spokesman said.
"We don't distinguish between blood," explained head of the Jewish Agency Zeev Bielski, who will visit Shfaram Sunday to offer the compensation money in person. "The agency decided to provide the same amount of aid money that it gives all terror victims to non-Jewish terror victims as well," Bielski said.
Until the government agreed last month to modify the law, the families were incensed by the fact that Israel did not technically recognize the casualties as terror victims, because a clause in the Israeli law defined a terrorist strictly as one belonging to a terror organization. In this case the Jewish murderer, Eden Nathan Zada, was acting independently of an organization. Thus the Israeli government was not required to award the family the typical compensation it offers victims of Palestinian.
After the attack, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon demanded that the government reevaluate the wording of the law so that it would officially recognize the Arab casualties as terror victims. A number of weeks ago the government rule to amend the law, so the families of the Shfaram victims will be compensated to the full extent.