Bet El (file)
Bet El (file)Flash 90

A severe, unpublicized security incident in Bet El, just north of Jerusalem, back in August led the town’s Security Chiefs, in cooperation with the IDF, to rethink defense arrangements.

After the incident, Bet El Security Head Menachem Tzur, whose mother and brother were murdered just outside Bet El, received authorization to purchase security equipment in a sped up, bureaucratic-free process.

Tzur says, “The need is urgent. The impact is real and immediate. It will simply restore a sense of security to the moms and kids on Bet El’s outskirts and literally prevent a future terrorist murder.” Tzur is asking the public to assist in purchasing the equipment

The incident began when ten Jewish youth hiked in the Wadi, a nature canyon near the town security fence, and were assaulted by 20 Arabs chanting anti-Semitic slogans. Another 20 Arabs appeared and ascended the hills on the sides of the Wadi and began hurling softball-sized rocks.

Click here for movie:

“It was the most life-threatening situation I have witnessed,” said Yisrael D., watching from his apartment window overlooking the Wadi. “The youth were trapped and threatened by stones coming from all directions,” he said.

An approaching IDF jeep which just happened to be nearby sent the Arabs fleeing.

The apartments in this outlying neighborhood are reserved for young couples, including recent graduates of IDF elite units. “None of us have the funds to purchase hi-caliber security equipment necessary to contain such a situation,” said Naom Meisels, himself a reservist in the elite Duvdevan unit and a student at the Bet El Yeshiva Center.

In a video posted online, a neighborhood mom says she and her friends are staying but will feel secure only when the security equipment is distributed to people there.

For more information and to help: Click here. Donations are via Bet El’s “Israel Empowered” US Tax-Deductible [501(c)3]Organization.