The dean of a yeshiva high school in the town of Hashmonaim in western Samaria near Modiin was attacked by a group of Arab stone-throwers Monday morning.
Rabbi Itamar Liberman, the dean of Ner Tamid yeshiva for high school-aged students in Hashmonaim was his way to the school from his home in Beit El Monday morning when his car was suddenly pelted by stones thrown by local Arabs near the Israeli town of Neve Tzuf in western Samaria.
The windshield of the car was smashed, and Rabbi Liberman temporarily lost control of the vehicle during the attack.
“I got a big ‘shakeup’ this morning,” Rabbi Liberman told Arutz Sheva. “My [front] window was smashed, and the car was swinging [out of control], but miraculously I was able to turn the steering wheel back and continue to drive on to the checkpoint [where the] soldiers were. There I reported the incident to the soldiers, to make sure that no more cars get hit.”
“From there, I continued on to the yeshiva for my morning class and the [morning] prayers. Only afterwards did I file a police complaint.”
Rabbi Liberman told Arutz Sheva that the attack is just the latest evidence of the deteriorating sense of security for Israeli residents of the Binyamin region of Samaria.
“My students who heard about the [incident] told me that recently there have been a number of protests by residents of Neve Tzuf as the security situation has deteriorated. They told me that there is a road from Neve Tzuf to Talmon and Dolev [other Israeli towns in the Binyamin district of Samaria] which had been closed to Arabs following a number of attacks, but which was reopened recently to Arabs. Residents are protesting [the decision to reopen the road to Arab traffic], and are even holding prayer vigils.”
“All morning I’ve been thinking about what the people who threw the stones were thinking. They wanted me to die, for us to be sad, to weaken us as a group, that we should be afraid to drive here, that we should be in this area less. I thank the cowardly Arab who threw the stone and by extension to the whole world; we will, God-willing, live more, be happy more, learn more, and volunteer more, and will be present here more in every sense of the word.”
Rabbi Liberman added that the stone which smashed his windshield would be used to build the next set of dormitories for the Ner Tamid yeshiva, symbolizing the cementing of the Jewish presence in the area in response to such attacks.
“We decided that the stone which was thrown at me, which is currently in my car, will become part of the foundation stone for the next dormitory.”
“Those who hoped to weaken us this morning will instead find us only strengthened. Dear Arab [stone-thrower], thanks for the ‘shakeup’.”