Arab loading goat on truck (illustrative)
Arab loading goat on truck (illustrative)Flash 90

During pasture on Yom Kippur eve, Arabs managed to steal about 70 goats (valued at 75,000 shekels total) from veteran Kfar Tapuach shepherd Avraham Herzlich.

Despite the impending fast, dozens of volunteers were dispatched to the surrounding area and to as far as ​​the Jordan Valley with various vehicles.

One volunteer involved in the search from its commencement told Arutz Sheva that they entered several villages in search of the stolen flock encountering hostilities, a smashed windshield, and at one point found themselves surrounded, narrowly escaping.

A helicopter was sent into the air and reported the suspect's positions to the volunteers on the ground. At a certain point, a number of vehicles entered the Jamain quarries, and saw Arabs loading a goat on a vehicle.

"The thief suddenly saw us - 15 Jews in a bunch of jeeps inside the area - and went into shock. Just shock...shock," one of the volunteers arriving on scene told the HaKol Hayehudi. "I'll never forget the look on his face and those around him," he said.

Additional forces were called in, and soon the posse noticed another group of goats gathered nearby, that turned out to be about ten more goats stolen from the flock.

After searching and gathering information it was ascertained that the rest of the flock had been taken deep into the Arab village and apparently loaded onto trucks by the thieves.

HaKol Hayehudi reports police officers who finally arrived at the scene questioned several suspects in the theft, including the suspect identified loading a goat on a vehicle, but all were subsequently released. Police said they intend to continue investigating the case. IDF forces were also called in to assist in the search.

After several hours of searching, at around 5:00 p.m., it was decided to terminate the search because of the impending fast.

"We found only ten goats, but the feeling was a return of the honor that's trampled again and again, to see Jews who didn't give up and went straight into villages where the foot of a Jew doesn't tread, and have become safe havens for robbers and terrorists," a volunteer told the HaKol Hayehudi.

"It was indeed the eve of the fast, but everything gets shoved to the side for a friend in distress and for the sake of a Jewish honor that is reclaimed only slowly and with great effort," said the volunteer.

In recent months volunteers have been involved twice in locating stolen tractors in the Jordan Valley, in both cases succeeding in locating the stolen tractor, following a wave Jordan Valley tractor thefts.

Additionally, volunteers were summoned to a nighttime flock disappearance in the Shilo area, finding the property in a relatively short period of time after extensive searches.

"We, as neighbors and friends, want to be partners in strengthening the owners of flocks and farmers who sacrifice their lives every day for the benefit of the People of Israel and the return of the land, but unfortunately we've been abandoned by the authorities, and in one second their entire world is destroyed. It's important for us to be with them here in this difficult hour, and thank God there are a few success stories where we saw that volunteers who were deployed helped."

At the beginning of the week the herd of the Kashuela Farm in western Gush Etzion was stolen by Arabs. The owner of the farm spoke of the difficult feelings after it turned out the thieves had entered the farm and had reached the Ben David family home.

Goats
GoatsFlash 90