'After lynch attempt, shut down Hawara to Arab traffic'

After the near-lynching of a Jewish motorist in the town of Hawara on Route 60 Thursday, the army needs to shut down Arab traffic in the area and reassess its open-fire policy, MK Motti Yogev (Jewish Home) said in an interview with Arutz Sheva.

Earlier on Thursday, a social worker and father of eight from the town of Itamar in Samaria was attacked by hundreds of Arab rioters as he drove home from the supermarket.

The driver’s path was blocked on Route 60 in the town of Hawara, which is built round the road. Unable to escape, the Jewish motorist found himself surrounded by a lynch mob of 200 rioting Arabs who stoned his car and attempted to force their way inside. The driver opened fire on his attackers, killing one terrorist and wounding a second.

“There’s been an apparent escalation in terror attacks on the roads and in other places lately, in Hawara its repeating itself every day at different places,” said Yogev. “This equation where on the one hand there’s a bit of incompetence on the part of army officials and on the other hand citizens are forced to defend themselves, only to be interrogated for hours then have their guns taken away - that’s a dangerous equation that needs to be stopped.”

Citizens, Yogev continued, have every right to defend themselves without fear of reprisal or harassment by the authorities.

“A Jew who is attacked, whether it is by a knife[-wielding terrorist] at Damascus Gate [in the Old City of Jerusalem] or by stones or at roadblocks made to facilitate a lynch inside his car and his life is endangered,” said Yogev, invoking the Talmudic dictum of “whoever comes to kill you, kill him first.”

“That’s basic morality, and all of this business [regarding when people can shoot to save their lives] needs to be much shorter.”

The IDF must reassess its open-fire policies, Yogev argued, taking into account the increased dangers citizens and soldiers alike face from Arab terrorism. Yogev also suggested the army close Route 60 to Arab traffic.

“The IDF needs to get ahold of itself and make sure that the open-fire orders are suitable for the situation, to make sure that there are enough forces on the ground to secure the roads and towns and to close Shechem and close Hawara to Arab traffic. You can’t let the lawbreakers be the ones able to travel there while the victims are the ones prevented from doing so.”