Terrorist attack by settler

An appalling terrorist attack has been perpetrated by a Jewish extremist from one of the West Bank settlements.

In what police are calling an incident of Jewish terrorism, a Jewish man dressed in IDF uniform opened fire on a bus in the northern town of Shfaram Thursday evening, killing at least 4 people and wounding nearly a dozen more.
The shooter, Natan Eden Zadah, 19, was also killed when he was assaulted by a mob of furious bystanders and witnesses. A crowd of thousands gathered around the site of the attack and surrounded the bus, where the attacker's body still lay until police removed it nearly five hours after the incident.

As a rational human being and particularly since I am a religious Jew (even though in all fairness this incident has no connection to me) I feel compelled to explicitly condemn this horrific act of terrorism and murder.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued a statement calling the attack "a criminal act of a bloodthirsty terrorist targeting innocent Israeli civilians." He said that he instructed security officials to make the investigation of the incident a top priority.
"This terrorist incident is a purposeful attempt to harm relations between Israeli citizens," Sharon said. "Terror of one citizen against others is the greatest danger to the future of Israel as a democracy. All of Israel, without regard to religion, race, or gender condemns this attack. The Israeli government is determined to defend its citizens of every sector."

Apparently the attack was motivated by the Gaza pull-out. I express my support for the pull-out here. I still think it is an excellent idea and that it should be a prelude to a pull-out from most of the West Bank. I have no doubt that the Israeli public is appalled by this attack and I am convinced that it won't impede the Gaza operation. On the contrary, I suspect it will make it easier, because it will destroy some of the political good-will that the settlers had gathered in recent times.