The nine-year-old Jewish boy stabbed by an Arab terrorist on Saturday in the town of Yitzhar put up a fight, according to neighbor Revital Ofan.
The story began at 6:30 a.m. when an Arab terrorist reached the outskirts of Yitzhar, located 22 miles east of Herzliya, and set fire to the Ben Shlomo residence. The family was out of town celebrating the grandmother's birthday, at the time of the arson.
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Next door neighbor Revital Ofan woke up to the crackling of the flames, and to the sound of the Arab terrorist trying to prow his way through the plastic blinds on her bedroom window. She shut the blinds from inside the house, and secured the front door. In the meantime, the nine-year-old neighbor Tovia came running to her house to wake her family and warn them of the approaching fire.
Nine-year-old Tovia in his hospital bed next to his father
But, before Tovia could reach the Ofan's door, he met the terrorist.
In the above video, Mrs. Ofan tells of the brave fight that he put up, before being stabbed 5 times by the Arab and thrown over the balcony.
Yitzhar's Security Chief Moshe Shimon says that the Jewish town has suffered attacks over the last ten years from neighboring Arabs. As recent as last week, the Arabs torched an adjacent field, and the flames almost reached one of the houses on the western side of Yitzhar. In that incident, a mob of 100 Arabs came to destroy Jewish property and throw rocks, and the IDF stood there instead of dispersing them with force.
In the video, Shimon tells of the feeling of the Jewish residents in light of the lack of a determined response by the IDF.