ZAKA

==History==
[[File:Kibbutz Be'eri after the massacre, Zaka volunteers in the kibbutz take care of the remains of murdered people.jpg|thumb|250px|right|ZAKA volunteers working in destroyed [[Be'eri]] after the [[Be'eri massacre|massacre in 2023]]]]
[[File:ZakaAmbulance.JPG|thumb|250px|right|Zaka armoured [[ambulance]] for use in the [[West Bank]]]]

The organization traces its roots to a group of religious volunteers who assisted in the recovery of human remains after the [[Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack|Tel Aviv Jerusalem bus 405 attack]] in Israel in 1989, during the [[First Intifada]]. ZAKA was formally established in 1995.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news |last=Gunter |first=Joel |title=Zaka: The volunteers giving dignity to Israel's dead |work=[[BBC]] |date=2023-10-14 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67100014 |access-date=20 November 2023}}</ref>

During the attack on bus line 405 in 1990, [[Yehuda Meshi Zahav]] arrived with other yeshiva boys to provide first aid to the victims. On his way home, he concluded that if in the enemy's view everyone is equal, so too for him. In the 1990s, he arrived at the scenes of suicide bombing attacks in Israel, among other things, and treated the bodies of those killed. As a result, [[ZAKA]] (Disaster Victim Identification) was founded. In his capacity as Chairman of ZAKA, he worked for inter-religious and secular reconciliation.<ref name=Biography>{{cite web |url=http://www.zaka.org.il/yehuda_meshi_zahav |title=Biography (in Hebrew) |access-date=12 January 2024 |archive-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423074209/http://www.zaka.org.il/yehuda_meshi_zahav |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2005, ZAKA established a minorities unit with [[Bedouin]], [[Muslim]], and [[Druze]] volunteers to serve Israel's non-Jewish communities, primarily Bedouin in the [[Negev]] and Druze in the [[Galilee]]. These units also function when religious Jews cannot, on the Jewish [[Shabbat|Sabbath]]{{dubious|reason=ZAKA generally does have rabbinical dispensation to work on Sabbath. What is meant here? Mistake or smth. specific?|date=December 2023}} and holidays. According to Jewish law, Jews may violate the Sabbath to save a life, but not to deal with the dead. In 2010, ZAKA said it planned to increase its minorities units to 125 volunteers.<ref name="JTA1" />

In 2004, a group of ZAKA volunteers flew to [[The Hague]], with the wreckage of the [[bus]] destroyed in the [[Jerusalem bus 19 suicide bombing]] on 29 January 2004. The wreckage, along with pictures of 950 victims, was taken to [[Washington, D.C.]] to urge the [[United States]] government to act against the Palestinian resistance movement.<ref name="MFA">{{Cite web |date=29 January 2004 |title=Suicide bombing of Egged bus no. 19 in Jerusalem |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2004/1/Suicide%20bombing%20of%20Egged%20bus%20no%2019%20in%20Jerusalem%20- |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207004529/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2004/1/Suicide%20bombing%20of%20Egged%20bus%20no%2019%20in%20Jerusalem%20- |archive-date=7 February 2009 |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=[[Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs]]}}</ref> The bus was later displayed at various US universities.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 June 2007 |title=Bombed Israeli Bus on Display at Duke Oct. 12-13 |url=http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2004/10/bus19_1004_print.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610172336/http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2004/10/bus19_1004_print.htm |archive-date=10 June 2007 |website=[[Duke University]]}}</ref>

In August 2007, ZAKA members were accused of burning down a secret [[crematorium]] in [[Israel]]. Most Jews believe Jews should be buried according to religious tradition, not cremated. ZAKA's founder Yehuda Meshi Zahav denied any involvement of ZAKA in the arson but called the existence of the crematorium a "desecration of the dead" and said that the crematorium was "destined to disappear in flames."<ref>{{cite news |work=[[BBC News]] |title= 'Arson' at Tel Aviv crematorium |date= August 23, 2007 | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6959892.stm |access-date= 4 January 2009 |archive-date= 25 January 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190125161304/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6959892.stm |url-status= live}}</ref>

In January 2016, after two failed attempts, the [[United Nations]] granted ZAKA the status of a 'consultant [[non-governmental organization|NGO]]'.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ziri |first=Danielle |date=2016-01-28 |title=UN gives ZAKA official consultant status |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/un-gives-zaka-official-consultant-status-443016 |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |language=en-US |archive-date=27 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927061957/https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/un-gives-zaka-official-consultant-status-443016 |url-status= live}}</ref>