Yossi Dagan with the parents who shot the terrorists
Yossi Dagan with the parents who shot the terroristsSamaria Regional Council spokesperson

The parents who acted lawfully as armed escorts to 25 children on a Bar Mitzvah trip in Samaria were questioned under warning of prosecution for careless use of weapons and causing unnecessary death, in this case the death of one of the terrorists attempting to harm the children.

Local Arabs threw rocks at the children, forcing them to hide in a cave. The Arab mob then surrounded the entrance to the cave, spraying pepper spray and hurling rocks at the group of terrified hikers.

Responding to the threat, a parent of one of the youths who was escorting the group was forced to open fire on the attackers. Two of the terrorist rioters were hit by gunfire, and despite attempts by IDF medics at the scene to resuscitate him, one was declared dead at the scene.

IDF units arrived to rescue the group of hikers an hour and a half later. Three of the hikers suffered injuries as a result of the stones thrown and pepper spray they inhaled while hiding in the cave

The escorting parents injured in the scuffle, were taken to Petah Tikva's Beilinson Hospital for medical testing and treatment. They were released Thursday night, and went immediately to the Ariel police station to file a complaint against the Arab terrorists.

However, when the police received their complaint, the parents were interrogated for careless use of weapons and causing needless death. Complaining to police commanders, they voiced strong opposition to the interrogation.

Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan accompanied the parents to the police station, and waited with them until they were released in the early hours of Friday morning.

"You are not alone here," he said as they walked into the station. "All of Samaria's residents are here with you, together with every honest Israeli citizen."

"You are heroes. You did what was necessary, and you saved the lives of the children and of those accompanying them. All of the settlements, and every honest person in this country, support you completely and totally. I call on the authorities to deal honorably with these heroes, and I am sure they will do so."

Dagan emphasized that the parents in question "saved their own lives and their children's lives during this Bar Mitzvah trip."

"Using their own bodies, they courageously prevented the lynch," he said. "I call on all law enforcement agencies: Israel Police, the IDF, Shabak (Israel Security Agency) to create a special team which will capture and bring to justice all of those abominable rioters from Kafr Qusra who attempted to lynch 13-year-old children."

Honenu attorney Adi Kedar slammed the police decision to interrogate the parents.

"Israel Police's decision to interrogate the victims of the attempted lynch near Migdalim is outrageous," he said. "These children were saved only because of the courage of these civilians. [The parents] saved them from certain death."

"Instead of pursuing, capturing, and stopping the terrorists who carried out this horrific attack, Israel Police is showing our enemy which side they are on. The police are weakening the Jewish nation's strength, and unfortunately those watching us gain the strength they need to continue harming, G-d forbid, Israeli citizens.

"I call on Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh to deal immediately with this issue, close the parents' files, and deal with them as with any other crime victims."

The other parents also protested at the interrogation of the escorts who saved their children's lives, with some of them arriving at the police station to protest. Naomi, whose son suffered injuries to a hand and foot after an Arab terrorist threw a rock at him, called the interrogation "an embarrassment."

"This is an embarrassment," she said. "I was able to hug my son this morning only because of these people, who saved my son and the entire group. And now they are being interrogated? If Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan or Roni Alsheikh's son had been on this hike, I guess the parents who shot the terrorist would not have been interrogated."

"Terror is running rampant everywhere, and those who protect themselves find themselves being interrogated. Apparently, when it comes to those Jews living in Judea and Samaria, Israel Police prefers children's funerals to their smiles."