Mitzpe Yericho
Mitzpe YerichoIsrael news photo: Archive

Among the five families evicted from their homes in the new community (“outpost”) of Yissa Beracha in Mitzpe Yericho early Thursday morning were newlyweds Tzvi Yitzchak and Sarah Cohen. Their home was razed.

Tzvi Yitzchak Cohen told Arutz Sheva in an interview on Thursday about the terrible violence used by police against local residents during the eviction and demolition.

“Yissa Beracha is a new neighborhood which was established about a year and a half ago following the murders of Yitzchak and Talya Imas, Avishai Shindler and Kochava Even Chaim who were murdered in a terror attack near Hevron,” Cohen said. “Until two months ago, when we received notices that we were outside the boundaries of the community, we had no problems.”

Cohen, who lived in a trailer until the wedding, when he and his new wife moved into their permanent home, said, “After the engagement and before the wedding we built the house and entered it immediately after the ceremony. Since then we’ve dedicated more houses and a synagogue in the community, but last night everything was destroyed.”

“They behaved brutally, they sprayed pepper gas at dozens of guys, threw one of them from the roof of a home,” he added. “They used Arabs to remove our belongings and then demolished the houses. They took us out of our home while beating us.”

Cohen said, “They want to break us but they will not succeed. We will build everything again and anyone who can contribute – a blessing will come upon him.”