Rescuers Without Borders — What Does a Month in Judea-Samaria Look Like?

In addition to their rescue work around the world, the NGO, Rescuers Without Borders (SSF – Sauveteurs Sans Frontiers) keeps track of Arab terrorism against Jews in Judea-Samaria.They attest to having documentary real-time proof for each incident, including date, time, and location.

Here is their report for the month of January. I am putting up their YouTube video for Hebrew speakers below my translation of the individual screens showing their data:

There were over 400 incidents of enemy attacks in Judea-Samaria for the month of January alone:

24 injuries in violent Arab attacks in the following separate incidents:

• rock throwing – 300
• tire burning – 59
• Molotov Cocktails – 89
• bottles of paint – 3
• blinding drivers with lazer – 3
• car ramming – 1
• setting fires, including a synagogue – 6
• attempted stabbling – 1
• road blocks with rocks – 6
• car theft – 3
• fire works – 1
• shooting attacks against soldiers next to major road ways – 2

Incidents in the Binyimin region:

• rock throwing – 92
• tire burning – 33 in 17 separate incidents
• setting fires – 3
• blinding drivers with lazer – 2
• Molotov Cocktails – 20 in 11 separate incidents
• road blocks with rocks – 2
• throwing paint bottles – 2 in one incident
• attack on shepherd – 1
• car ramming – 1
• car theft – 1

Incidents in the Shomron region

• rock throwing – 62
• fireworks – 1
• road blocks with rocks – 4
• throwing a heavy item – 1
• Molotov Cocktail – 27 in 13 separate incidents
• throwing paint bottle – 1
• tire burning – 9 in five separate incidents
• blinding driver with lazer – 1
• shooting at soldiers next to major road – 2
• car theft – 2

Incidents in the Gush Etzion region:

• rock throwing – 43
• Molotov Cocktails – 34 in 18 separate incidents
• burning tires – 3 in two separate incidents
• attempted stabbing – 1

Incidents in the Yehuda region:

• rock-throwing – 98
• tire burning – 14 in nine separate incidents
• Molotov Cocktails – 8 in five separate incidents
• fire setting, including a synagogue – 3

Incidents in the Jordan Valley:

• rock throwing – 5
• blinding driver with lazer – 1

Incidents in Jerusalem

• rock throwing, Molotov Cocktails and setting cars on fire
• a bus driver was lightly injured by a Molotov Cocktail

Incidents in southern Israel

• intense disturbances in the south, including setting a car on fire and attempting to drive a car off the road by means of a rock road block
• a police officer was lightly injured from rock throwing

Rock Throwing at Moving Cars

At the end of the video, there is a clip taken from a car-mounted camera. The driver is just driving along a quiet road at night and suddenly rocks are thrown at the car. Maybe this can give you a sense of what that must feel like.

It happened to me once in Haifa. I was driving up on a well-travelled road in the city (Dori Road) toward Neve Shaanon when suddenly a large rock hit my front window. The glass was shattered on my side of the car, limiting visibility. There was only one bulding near me, a new building just completed and it did not appear to me that it was occupied yet. But the building was not close enough to the road to suppose that the rock was thrown from one of the balconies.

Shaking, I pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. I was proud of myself that I had enough control not to swerve and cause an accident.

The cars driving by had no idea what had happened because it was only one rock and one car. They kept moving along as I sat there, pulling myself together. The fear is huge. I looked around to see who must have thrown the rock. And I wondered why my car would be targetted — was it a kids’ game gone wrong? But I think the rock was too large for kids. I did not feel safe in that spot and felt I had to get out of there quickly. And that was Haifa!

It was before the age of the cellphone (or at least before I had one) and there were no phone booths around. I had no choice but to turn around and drive to the nearest police station. I filed a report and the officer unenthusiastically came out to the carpark to see the damage. But he did not seem the least concerned and I know no investigation was ever carried out. It would have likely taken a few more incidents like this one to get the police to sit up and notice.

I ended up just driving myself to the garage that always took care of me, peering through the cracks in the glass.

Once something like this happens to you — or to someone you know — you do not take rock throwing on the roads lightly. And we know that over the years there have been injuries and fatalities from rock throwing at moving cars in Judea-Samaria.

A Final Word

Should the fact that the incidents noted here happen outside what some people call “Israel proper” mean that we should not sit up and take notice?

Should our attitude be: well, they want to live in a dangerous region for illegitimate ideological reasons and that is what comes with living there? So it is okay not to provide them with proper protection? And then it is okay to be horrified when some of the young people there take the law into their own hands because the law-enforcers are not enforcing security and safety?

Is it okay to leave people open to attack because apparently those in charge of security do not agree with their politics?