israel rules terrorist not terrorist

Four Arab Israelis shot dead by a soldier opposed to the closure of the Gaza Strip settlements are not victims of "terror" because their killer was Jewish, Israel's defence ministry has ruled, and so their families are not entitled to the usual compensation for life.

The ministry concluded that the law only recognises terrorism as committed by "organisations hostile to Israel" even though the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, described the killings by Private Eden Nathan Zaada, 19, as "a despicable act by a bloodthirsty terrorist."

Israel needs to fix that law as soon as possible. It is clearly offensive to see a person who killed arabs (probably to protest an activity by the israeli government) as somehow different from someone who did the same to jews - or to treat the victims differently.

Also I question whehter they normally fully utilize this point of law - I doubt they spend much time trying to investigate if the terrorists who kill jews are trying to destroy israel or just trying to kill jews for some other reason.