Posted on 06/25/2004 8:33:45 AM PDT by Nachum
Several yeshiva students, learning at the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, found themselves targeted in what apparently was an attempted kidnapping by Arabs from the Galilee.
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Tzfat (Safed), told Arutz-7 that the incident proves the danger from local hostile Arabs to be greater than originally thought.
The incident, as reported in the weekly B'sha'ah Tovah magazine, took place several days ago, when a group of yeshiva (seminary) students from America studying in Jerusalem made their way to the Galilee to visit the holy sites in the region. Upon returning very late at night to their car, which they had parked in Tzfat, they discovered that two of their tires had been slashed. Due to the late hour, there was nowhere nearby for the students to obtain replacement tires, so they began making their way on foot to a gas station at the exit to the city.
An Arab worker at the station told the young Americans, "I have a friend who can replace the tire for you for 50 shekels." But the "friend" was in Carmiel, the students were told, so they would have to wait.
After returning to their car, within half-an-hour a truck pulled up and three Arabs - who appeared to be drunk, according to one of the yeshiva students - got out, saying they were the "flat-tire experts". They claimed that their garage was located in the nearby village of Akrabeh and they insisted that only one of the yeshiva students accompany them there.
According to the complaint later filed with Tzfat police, the Arabs agreed that two of the students would accompany them and Yisrael Weiss and Shimon Rotter got into the bed of the truck, along with one of the Arabs. When they arrived in Akrabeh, the Arabs tried to convince one of the students to come into an apartment building while the other waited in the truck.
"The began trying to convince us that nothing will happen to us," reported one of the students, "but on the other hand, threatening us that if we didn't listen to them, we wouldn't get out of there alive."
When the students refused to be separated and tried to exit the vehicle, the driver took off at high speed, while his accomplice tried to prevent their escape. The two yeshiva students were able to overpower the single would-be kidnapper who was with them in the back of the truck and jumped into the darkness.
The students ran from Akrabeh until they reached the edge of Tzfat, where an Arab well-known for his friendly relations with the Jews of Tzfat stopped for them, went to Akrabeh and returned with a replacement tire. He requested that the students not file a complaint with the police, as it would negatively impact relations with Akrabeh, generally known to be peaceful in its relations with the Jews.
However, on the advice of rabbis in Tzfat, the students did file a complaint. One of the concerns motivating the students and rabbis to publicize the incident is that many of the yeshiva students from overseas are unaware of the dangers in visiting holy sites in hostile Arab villages such as Kafr Kana or Mashhad. Local Tzfat activists and leaders have also expressed their concern over Arab terrorists taking advantage of the ignorance and innocence of foreign tourists for purposes of kidnapping, as apparently almost occurred in the case reported in B'Sha'ah Tovah.
Toda Rabbah...Thank You Greatly for The PINGS!
Sha'alu Shalom Yerushalayim b' YISROEL!
Shabbat Shalom.
local hostile ArabsGalilee isn't local Jerusalem. Arabs aren't Palesitinians.
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