Shilo resident Rotem Bar David faced some scary moments on Wednesday as she was driving to work.
Bar David, who works as a counselor at the Bnei Tzvi Yeshiva in Beit El, drives to work daily on Highway 60, the Judea-Samaria Highway. On Wednesday, as she passed by the Ma’ale Levona junction, a terrorist with a drawn weapon jumped at her vehicle.
“The bus that was in front of me made a right turn at the intersection,” Bar David recalled the terrifying moments in an interview with Arutz Sheva. “I accelerated and as I was doing that, I saw a white vehicle standing past the intersection on the right. Out came a guy with a black coat who motioned me to stop with his right hand. He held a weapon in his left hand.”
“I wondered why his weapon was raised,” she added. “Security people do not usually raise their weapons when they inspect vehicles. I kept going and I saw him pointing his weapon at me. I didn’t stop and just kept driving as he stood there with his weapon pointed at me. I did not hear any shooting sounds.”
“During those moments I saw my family before my eyes,” Bar David said. “I said, ‘My G-d, I’m a mother, it could be a terror attack.’ I hit the gas pedal and saw in the rearview mirror that as he aimed his weapon at me, an Arab taxi pulled up beside him.”
Bar David arrived safely at work and then reported the incident to security personnel.
“I talked with my husband and with Shilo’s security officer,” she said. “Today I was already driving on that highway once again. I hope they put a military jeep at that intersection. I cannot afford to be scared to drive there.”
In the past few months there have been increased reports of rock attacks by local Arabs along Highway 60.
In early September, Palestinian Authority Arabs hurled grapefruit-sized stones with sharp, irregular edges at Israeli vehicles as they passed the village of Halhul, north of Hevron.
One of the vehicles was hit and damaged, though no one was injured. IDF soldiers searched the area for the attackers.
About two hours earlier, another vehicle was similarly damaged. PA Arabs hurled rocks at an Israeli-licensed vehicle as it passed the PA Arab village of El Aroub just north of Beit Ummar and south of Gush Etzion, also on Highway 60. None of the passengers was physically hurt, and Israeli soldiers spread out to hunt for the attackers.
Last year, a Hamas cellambushed and murdered four Jewish residents of Beit Haggai, including a pregnant woman, who were traveling in a car near the Bani Nayim junction. The Hamas terrorist who masterminded the attack, 34-year-old Nashath al Karmi, was a resident of Hevron.
In July, students of the Yeshivat Bnei Tzvi in Beit El, where Bar David works, were attacked along with their rabbi by Arab workers at the Jordan River Rafting site.