Yishai Yifati, a resident of Gush Etzion who last Friday was forced to defend a group of Jews, including women and children who were attacked with a barrage of stones during a protest shift, was questioned by police with a warning, and this morning a police officer arrived at his home and confiscated his weapon.
During the incident, a group of residents of Gush Etzion stood near the Arab village of Teqoa (not to be confused with the Israeli town of Tekoa) in protest of the repeated stone-throwing attacks against Jewish residents which originate from the village.
At the end of the protest, a group of Arabs began attacking the protesters and the policemen and soldiers present with a barrage of stones.
Yifati was the first to react and fired a single shot into the air to stop the stone-throwing. To his astonishment, this week he was summoned to the police station, where he was questioned with a warning and this morning, a policeman arrived at his house and confiscated his gun.
In a video from the incident, stones can be seen being deliberately thrown at residents and security forces. The documentation shows one of the women holding a baby in her arms, and a thrown stone passes near the baby's head and almost hits him and the others present at the scene.
Yifati, a married father of six, a resident of Kfar Eldad and a former combat soldier said today: "Shame, shame, we are being abandoned, the terrorists are celebrating, and we are being interrogated. I have no words. I acted as expected from anyone who is licensed to carry a weapon in Israel, I saw immediate danger to life, I saw stones flying next to babies, I fired in the air according to the instructions and the law, and thank G-d, the attack was stopped and I apparently prevented injuries. The terrorists are now free and laughing at home and I find myself in interrogations with a criminal record, and without the ability to defend myself and my family."
"The State of Israel prefers to see Jews wounded, rather than terrorists fleeing, there is no one to protect our lives here. I call on everyone for whom Jewish life is important to do everything in their power to stop this crazy situation - that the victims are judged as guilty," Yifati exclaimed.
Attorney Nati Rom of the Honenu legal organization said: "I see an upside-down world. The victim is being interrogated, while the attackers are not being tried, no investigation is being conducted against them and no resources and manpower are being invested to decipher who carried out this stone attack. Apart from the harsh discrimination, the selective enforcement here is the abandonment of human life. My client is an exemplary civilian, a graduate of military service, the salt of the earth, who conducted himself in an exemplary manner. In a correct world he would be invited to the police station to be honored for resourcefulness and saving lives and not for questioning and having his weapon seized. I intend to act on all levels so that the injustice against my client is stopped immediately, so that his weapon is immediately available to him and so that the case against him will be closed."