Dozens of Arabs ambushed and attacked a Jewish couple driving near the Shoket Junction on Wednesday night.
The couple were on their way to Arad via Route 31, and stopped at a police checkpoint approximately a kilometre and a half away from the scene of the incident, to ask the officers there which way they should go to reach the Dead Sea.
Police officers directed them to continue driving straight towards the next checkpoint, where they could ask for further directions. However, before reaching the second checkpoint, the driver noticed burning tires on the road, and approximately 20 Arabs who had gathered nearby.
Judging that the only way to escape was to continue driving straight ahead and then swerve around the tires and avoid the Arabs, the driver sped ahead - straight into a low barbed wire fence that had been placed on the road. The fence wrecked the front part of the vehicle, the tires, and the underside of the chassis. The driver was forced to stop and then the Arabs started to run toward the vehicle, hurling rocks at the driver and his wife.
The driver exited the vehicle and began yelling at the Arab mob in Arabic, warning that he would fire in their direction if they came closer. The rioters were undeterred, and continued to throw rocks as they approached, until the driver shot three times into the air.
The shots shocked the rioters, and they turned and began to run away. A few minutes later, however, the mob began to regroup and more Arab vehicles arrived to join them. Two Arab vehicles then stopped beside the Jewish driver, and told him that they had come to help him.
At first, the driver was worried that it was just a ploy, but when the Arabs showed him that they really were calling the police, he understood that they spoke the truth. With the help of the two Arab drivers who came to his aid, and thanks to the deterrence the driver himself had managed to create by using his weapon and military training, the Arab mob was successfully kept at bay until police arrived.
The wrecked vehicle