Worshipers walking from the Machpelah Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron to Kiryat Arba on Friday night were shot at many times by Arab terrorists - yet no one was hurt. Soldiers later found at least 52 bullet casings where the terrorist stood, as well as two full cartridges of bullets: "It was truly miraculous that none of us were hurt," said Eliezer R., one of the group. "He stood only 30 meters away from us, and we saw the bullets whistling by..." Eliezer was walking with his two sisters and his baby daughter, while in front of them was a group of ten people, including a pregnant woman, five high school girls, and an elderly couple. The only injury suffered was when a woman broke her hand as she dropped to the ground. Soldiers and others returned gunfire towards the source of the shooting, but the terrorist escaped. In reaction, the IDF uprooted over 30 trees in the field from where the shots were fired, and declared a curfew in the area.
Rehavia R., aged 16, told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson,
"First the terrorist shot at the group in front of us. My brother yelled for us to drop to the ground, and then he started shooting. The terrorist was shooting at us from a dark field, and we just lay down on the floor - that was our only cover. We had no place to run to. I had my baby niece in a stroller, and I took her out - usually we tie her in, but for some reason we didn't this time, so it was easy - and we just lay there... When my brother shot, the terrorist then shot back at our group - two long rounds of bullets. It was an amazing miracle... I screamed at first, but because I had my niece, I quickly recovered; my younger sister, 14, was in shock for three hours afterwards. She couldn't talk, and even now remembers nothing except the first shots..."
Her older brother, Eliezer, added the following:
"Although I was too young to actually remember it, what passed through my head was the Friday night attack outside Hevron's Beit Hadassah 21 years ago in which six young Jews were killed as they were walking home... I had the feeling that there were a few terrorists, and that we were going to die, but I said to myself that I wouldn't go without fighting back...
"There were many miracles here, but there were also some other aspects: The soldiers who arrived seemed to be scared to shoot. When they came, they asked, 'Is there permission to shoot?' I yelled, 'They're shooting at you, of course you have to shoot back!' - and they did. The jeeps did a good job of covering for us, blocking my sisters and the baby from the terrorist. Then the elderly woman from the first group started screaming that she was hit, so I ran out to the road, asking the soldier to cover for me, and went to her; it turned out that she was not hit... Unfortunately, the policeman who arrived on the scene actually had the gall to ask me, 'Why did you shoot back? Weren't you afraid of hitting innocent Arabs [who may have been standing next to the terrorist]?' I couldn't believe that here I was, holding my baby daughter in my arms, just minutes after we were both saved from a murderous terrorist attack, and he was asking me such a question... The terrorist could easily have shot individual bullets, one at a time, and killed all of us... Luckily, they found the casings, because otherwise I could see that he [the policeman] was preparing to make up a case against me..."
Eliezer said that he and his sisters recited the HaGomel blessing yesterday for having been saved from danger, "and we are planning a festive meal of thanksgiving as well."
A spokesman of the Hevron Jewish Community issued the following statement:
"It was only a week ago that Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer planned on withdrawing Israeli troops from the hills surrounding the Jewish Community of Hevron, as well as the Arafat-controlled section of the city... Last night's shooting attack, during which terrorists fired over 50 bullets at citizens on their way home from prayer services, again proves that security for Israeli lives must remain only in the hands of the IDF. The return of the Abu Sneineh and Haret a-Sheikh hills, surrounding Hevron's Jewish residents, would constitute a blatant and criminal abandonment of Jewish lives. Presently the Defense Minister has announced that the withdrawal will be postponed until after the Jewish holidays, about 6 weeks away. The Defense Minister should declare that Israel has no intentions of ever again abandoning Jews in Hevron, not now, not in 6 weeks, not in 6 months and not in 6 years. The IDF must remain in Hevron, all of Hevron!"
Rehavia R., aged 16, told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson,
"First the terrorist shot at the group in front of us. My brother yelled for us to drop to the ground, and then he started shooting. The terrorist was shooting at us from a dark field, and we just lay down on the floor - that was our only cover. We had no place to run to. I had my baby niece in a stroller, and I took her out - usually we tie her in, but for some reason we didn't this time, so it was easy - and we just lay there... When my brother shot, the terrorist then shot back at our group - two long rounds of bullets. It was an amazing miracle... I screamed at first, but because I had my niece, I quickly recovered; my younger sister, 14, was in shock for three hours afterwards. She couldn't talk, and even now remembers nothing except the first shots..."
Her older brother, Eliezer, added the following:
"Although I was too young to actually remember it, what passed through my head was the Friday night attack outside Hevron's Beit Hadassah 21 years ago in which six young Jews were killed as they were walking home... I had the feeling that there were a few terrorists, and that we were going to die, but I said to myself that I wouldn't go without fighting back...
"There were many miracles here, but there were also some other aspects: The soldiers who arrived seemed to be scared to shoot. When they came, they asked, 'Is there permission to shoot?' I yelled, 'They're shooting at you, of course you have to shoot back!' - and they did. The jeeps did a good job of covering for us, blocking my sisters and the baby from the terrorist. Then the elderly woman from the first group started screaming that she was hit, so I ran out to the road, asking the soldier to cover for me, and went to her; it turned out that she was not hit... Unfortunately, the policeman who arrived on the scene actually had the gall to ask me, 'Why did you shoot back? Weren't you afraid of hitting innocent Arabs [who may have been standing next to the terrorist]?' I couldn't believe that here I was, holding my baby daughter in my arms, just minutes after we were both saved from a murderous terrorist attack, and he was asking me such a question... The terrorist could easily have shot individual bullets, one at a time, and killed all of us... Luckily, they found the casings, because otherwise I could see that he [the policeman] was preparing to make up a case against me..."
Eliezer said that he and his sisters recited the HaGomel blessing yesterday for having been saved from danger, "and we are planning a festive meal of thanksgiving as well."
A spokesman of the Hevron Jewish Community issued the following statement:
"It was only a week ago that Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer planned on withdrawing Israeli troops from the hills surrounding the Jewish Community of Hevron, as well as the Arafat-controlled section of the city... Last night's shooting attack, during which terrorists fired over 50 bullets at citizens on their way home from prayer services, again proves that security for Israeli lives must remain only in the hands of the IDF. The return of the Abu Sneineh and Haret a-Sheikh hills, surrounding Hevron's Jewish residents, would constitute a blatant and criminal abandonment of Jewish lives. Presently the Defense Minister has announced that the withdrawal will be postponed until after the Jewish holidays, about 6 weeks away. The Defense Minister should declare that Israel has no intentions of ever again abandoning Jews in Hevron, not now, not in 6 weeks, not in 6 months and not in 6 years. The IDF must remain in Hevron, all of Hevron!"