lsraeli Shin Bet officers lead away a Palestinian terrorist after he hijacked an lsraeli bus. The Palestinian would be executed by the Shin Bet in a field shortly after this photo was taken

lsraeli Shin Bet officers lead away a Palestinian terrorist after he hijacked an lsraeli bus. The Palestinian would be executed by the Shin Bet in a field shortly after this photo was taken

The Bus 300 incident: On the 13th of April 1984, 4 Palestinian terrorists hijacked an Israeli bus carrying 41 people.

The militants, who were unaffiliated with any group, were armed with knives as well as a grenade and fake bomb. Israeli police were quickly made aware of the incident by an escaped passenger. It stopped in the

Gaza Strip and was rapidly surrounded by IDF SOF, lsraeli Police and Shin Bet.

 The Palestinians demanded 500

prisoners released from Israeli prisons for the safe return of the lsraeli hostages. The decision was made to storm the bus, which was conducted by the Sareyet Matkal. During the assault two terrorists were killed, alongside 1 lsraeli hostage. The

other two terrorists were captured.

There was significant lsraeli media presence at the scene. The order to execute the two remaining Palestinians was given by Avraham Shalom, the head of Shin Bet.

This was part of a semi-official policy in the organisation to kill terrorists to disincentivise the taking of Jewish hostages for prisoner exchanges. The two Palestinians were beaten to death by Shin Bet officers with rocks and iron bars. The lsraeli military initially claimed no terrorists survived

the initial assault, up until this photo was published. Media publications of the extrajudicial killings led to multiple inquiries, however the first one had allies of Shalom on the board. A trial for murder against multiple Sarayet Matkal members led to their acquittal. Shalom had attempted to frame IDF personnel for the killings, to remove blame from his organisation.

Criminal investigations were launched into senior Shin Bet officials for covering up the murders, however they

did not lead anywhere. The lsraeli Attorney General was forced to resign due to his investigations, as he was

accused of impeding national security. It is a fair to say there was a concerted effort to cover up the murders by

Shin Bet.

lsraeli President Chaim Herzog issued a pardon to Shalom and four other Shin Bet officers implicated in the

murders. The lsraeli Supreme Court upheld the pardons after an initial challenge. The scandal damaged Shin

Bet's reputation in the Israeli public opinion, and would go onto expose Shin Bet use of torture leading to the

establishment of the Landau Commission. Avraham Shalom resigned as a result of public outrage to the murders.

The men were tWo of at least 69 names that would later feature on an internal lsraeli document called the 'skull dossier. The 'skull dossier' was an incomplete list of terrorists,accused terrorists and some innocent people who had been extrajudicially executed by the Shin Bet in lsrael, Gaza, West Bank and Southern Lebanon in the few years leading up to this event.

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