No military honors for Shfaram terrorist

TEL AVIV- It remains unclear where Shfaram terrorist and AWOL soldier Eden Zada will be buried.

His family arrived at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Jaffa Friday afternon, thrreatening to take his body to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz’s home, after the defense minister had decided earlier that Zada would be buried in a civilian cemetery, rather than a military one as demanded by Zada’s family.

Eventually the family gave up on the plan, so Zada’s body will apparently remain in Abu Kabir over the weekend.

Mofaz’s decision overturned an earlier agreement between IDF officials and the Zada family in which the killer would be buried in a military cemetery, but with no military honors such as a 21-gun salute or the placing of wreaths on the grave.

Friday morning, Mofaz held a series of meetings with legal experts before announcing his decision, while at the same time receiving requests from bereaved families to block a military burial for Zada.

Zada’s parents told Ynet they would file a plea with the High Court in a bid to overturn Mofaz’s decision.

“I will come with my son’s body to Mofaz’s home so he may look into my eyes and tell me not to bury it,” Yitzhak Zada said.

“The defense minister is a coward. We were offered to bury him in Tapuah, but we would not be able to visit him there. The IDF abandoned my son, and that is why he was murdered.”

Yitzhak Zada also pleaded with Rishon Lezion Mayor Meir Nitzan to allow his son to be buried in his hometown.

“I ask that you treat him like a human being, because he was killed while wearing an IDF uniform,” Zada said.

IDF commandcar containing Eden Zada's body (Photo: Tomeriko)

Nitzan rejected the request, saying, “a man is buried according to where he resides, this is determined by Israeli law. We are not obligated to offer burial to every citizen, but only to residents of the city.”

“I feel sorry for the family, but he (Eden) identified with the residents of Tapuah, and that is where he should be buried,” he said. “His identification card states he is a resident of Tapuah.”

Meanwhile IDF Central Command Chief Yair Naveh issued an order forbidding the burial of Zada in one of the West Bank settlements, stating that should the IDF receive word of such an attempt, roadblocks would be set up to prevent the body from being transferred to the area.

IDF at fault?

The Tapuah secretariat announced that it is opposed to the burial of Zada in the settlement, stating, “The locals say there is no reason to permit the burial of a non-resident.”

Zada's family arrives at Abu Kabir (Photo: Ofer Amram)

According to recent reports, the terrorist’s mother, Debby, turned to IDF officials during the past two weeks to notify them that her son, who had defected from his army unit, was in Tapuah.

She also phoned Israel Radio reporter Carmela Menashe to warn that her son may be dangerous.

“She spoke like a mother of a armed soldier who may do something,” Menashe told Ynet.

“She pleaded and yelled, saying that she had turned to all the relevant officials to warn them of a possible disaster and asked that they look for her son. She informed them that her son was opposed to the pullout and that he had defected from the army.”

Menashe said she had planned to publish an article on the fleeing soldier prior to the Shfaram attack.

“I already had a headline, ‘An armed IDF troop who is opposed to the pullout ran away to Tapuah – his mother warns,’” she said.

“When I received word of the terror attack, I knew it was the same soldier.”