A resident of the Jewish town of Yitzhar was robbed by two Arabs armed with knives after midnight, on her way home from work. Around one a.m. a white van pushed up dangerously against her vehicle and blinded her with its headlights.
After the Tapuach junction, the van passed her vehicle and began zigzagging wildly. The woman tried to evade the van, and even rammed it in an attempt to scare her assailants. Eventually, the Arabs blocked the road and extracted the woman from her car at knifepoint. They drove off with her car and cellphone, along with professional gear with an estimated value of thousands of shekels, but did her no bodily harm.
The woman began walking back to Tapuach junction. A vehicle with a Jewish family stopped for her, at which point she made contact with her husband and with the Yitzhar security officer. Following the event, border patrolmen were stationed at the entrance to Yitzhar to take the ID of any passers-by, to prevent a response of the Yitzhar residents.
The woman was interrogated by the IDF at Tapuach junction. The police arrived an hour later, and took her deposition. This morning, she lodged a complaint with the Shomron police.
The Samaria-Judea police said to Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news site that these robberies are common. “Taxis from central Israel are ordered, and then ambushed and robbed. There have been numerous events like this in the last few months. Fortunately there haven’t been kidnappings or murders.”
Three weeks ago a potential victim fought off assailants with an axe he had is his car, near the town of Eli, in Binyamin. A year-and-a-half ago, another victim was run over and injured resisting Arab muggers at the Eli gas station.
The residents of Eli went out in protest this morning (Thursday) at Hawara junction to castigate the free reign given to Arabs. “It could have ended with a kidnapping,” they said. “Why focus on the possible response of local Jewish residents, instead of on the apprehension of the perpetrators? What about priorities?”
The Samaria-Judea police district spokeswoman verified the event and said that, “The police took the woman’s deposition, and is investigating.”