Dozens of Arabs wearing masks attacked a group of Jewish shepherds this afternoon (Tuesday) in the Binyamin region. The shepherds were from an agricultural farm near the settlement of Rimonim.
The Arabs used stones and clubs to attack the shepherds and even broke several phones the victims used to record the incident.
Other residents from the farm who arrived at the scene were also violently attacked. Four shepherds were injured.
A half-hour after the attack began, security forces arrived at the scene and arrested three of the attackers. The injured were treated by Magen David Adom personnel and evacuated to Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem for treatment.
One of the shepherds recounted the attack from his hospital bed. "I was herding the flock of sheep near the farm and suddenly four masked Arabs ran towards me with clubs," he said. "I immediately called the other shepherds on the farm who reported to the army and hurried to the scene. Within a few seconds, dozens more Arab rioters came running to the scene and just started beating me with stones and clubs from all directions."
"There is not one place on my body that was not hit. Another person who was with me was hit in the groin by a stone, and the rioters also broke his finger. The other group that came to help were also injured one after another. My cell phone also caught a few blows and stopped working. They outnumbered us six to one and arrived with a look of murder in their eyes," the shepherd said.
Jewish shepherds have come under repeated attack by Arab rioters in recent weeks. In one such incident near Burqa, an attack on a Jewish shepherd escalated into a confrontation which ended with the shooting death of one of the Arab attackers by a Jewish man who suffered a serious head injury from a stone before he opened fire in self-defense.