In recent weeks, residents of Jewish communities in the area of Modiin have been suffering from a wave of break-ins and thefts from homes and businesses. Investigation by residents revealed tracks leading to gaps in the separation fence.
In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Shimon Sheleg, a resident of Kfar Rut, explained that the rise in thefts is largely facilitated by giant gaps in the security fence, as was revealed yesterday in a tour he conducted with police following another wave of break-ins that he himself experienced.
“Two days before Sukkot, they broke into my farm and stole two horses that were there. They called and said, ‘Pay up, and you’ll get the horses back,’ they wanted tens of thousands of shekels. The owner of the horses had no choice but to pay. Two weeks later, they broke into my house and stole work tools. The next day, they came again and took things. Yesterday, they broke into my farm again and stole horses. I decided to go after them. I followed the tracks of the horses at six in the morning until the security fence, and I couldn’t believe what I saw there.”
“The fence was completely open,” he explained. “You could pass an entire army through there. For several kilometers, every several dozen meters there is a gap of 5-7 meters, without any sort of alarm or warning. We went with police along the fence for an hour, and nothing happened.”
“This is a disgrace. They invested billions in this fence that I don’t believe in. It doesn’t even need to be here, but if it is - it should be like it’s supposed to be,” Sheleg said, noting that the break-ins are a “recurring occurrence every night in all the communities of the area. You can transfer livestock, equipment, cars, trucks - everything. Traffic flows very freely through the gaps.”
Sheleg said that he doesn’t know whether any sort of organizational response of residents against the phenomenon exists, but he certainly hopes that this will happen. “The Jewish people needs to wake up. They’re doing things to us that you don’t hear about.” When asked whether the criminal acts could turn into something more dangerous, he answered: “G-d forbid. We need to be full of faith in G-d.”