American Jews could have done something about Naif Zaid
A Palestinian terrorist who murdered a yeshiva student was found dead in
the Palestinian Authority's embassy in Bulgaria last week. Before we
all turn the page and forget the names of both the killer and his
victim, it's worthwhile pausing to consider some lessons from this
episode.
Naif
Zaid ambushed and murdered a young yeshiva student, Eliahu Amedi, in
Jerusalem in 1986. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. But it did not
take him long to figure out how to manipulate the system. In the spring
of 1990, Zaid announced that he was going on a hunger strike. After
forty days, the Israeli authorities transferred him to a hospital in
Bethlehem.
Being
situated in an all-Arab city created an opportunity for Zaid to escape,
which he soon did--from the hospital and from Israel. By 1994, Zaid was
living in Bulgaria. There he married, fathered three children, and
generally enjoyed life as Eliahu Amedi never will.
While
Zaid was enjoying his new life in Europe, Amedi's name was forgotten by
everyone except his immediate family and friends. And that, sadly, is
what happens to almost all victims of Palestinian terror.
But
an unusual development brought the story back into the headlines in
December 2015. Apparently fearing that Israeli agents were about to
capture him, Zaid took shelter in the Palestinian Authority's embassy in
Sofia, Bulgaria's capital.
Israel
asked the PA to hand him over, in accordance with Annex IV, Article 2,
Par.7(f)(1) of the Oslo II agreement that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
and the PA signed in 1995. That clause specifically obliges the PA to
comply with every Israeli request for extradition. But the PA refused,
just as it has refused Israel's dozens of other requests for the
extradition of terrorists.
For more than two months, the yeshiva student's murderer remained in the PA embassy, eluding justice--and nobody did anything.
Of
course, in most instances of Palestinian terrorism, there's not much
that American Jews can do. We rely on the Israeli security authorities
to pursue the attackers and bring them to justice. We are merely
spectators, hoping that the Israelis will catch the bad guys and finding
ourselves powerless to do much beyond collect tzedaka for the victim's
family.
But
the case of Naif Zaid was different. The pursuit of justice left the
security realm and entered the political arena. Once the PA refused to
hand him over, the question became how to put pressure on the PA to
change its mind. And that's where American Jewish protests could have
played a role.
There
are those in the Jewish world who speak out forcefully when yeshiva
students are threatened with being drafted into the Israeli army, or
when yeshivas are in danger of receiving less government funding. Why
weren't those voices heard in protest against the PA sheltering the
murderer of a yeshiva student?
There was so much that could have been done to put pressure on the Bulgarian authorities to intervene.
-There could have been a rally outside the Bulgarian Consulate in New York City.
-A delegation of Jewish leaders could have visited the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington.
-Jewish
groups that sponsor tours to Europe could have dropped Bulgaria from
their itinerary. (Recall how the Jewish boycott of Mexico in 1975 forced
the Mexicans to withdraw their endorsement of Zionism-is-racism.)
And
there was so much that could have been done to put pressure on the
Palestinian Authority. There could have been a petition to President
Obama, urging him to pressure the PA to surrender Naif. Members of
Congress could have been mobilized to reassess U.S. aid the PA. Jewish
peace activists could have announced that they would cut off contacts
with Palestinian leaders until Zaid was surrendered.
The
story of Naif Zaid has an unusual ending. One day last week, he was
found dead in the PA's embassy. News reports claimed he was involved an
unspecified "altercation" in the embassy. The Palestinians
are--naturally--accusing Israel of killing him. The truth may never be
known, and the names of Zaid and Amedi will soon vanish from the news.
Still,
it's only a matter of time before some similar situation arises again,
and American Jews will again face the choice between silence and
activism. Let's hope they make the right choice.
This post originally appeared on IsraelNationalNews.com.
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