Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists attempted to lynch a Jewish shepherd near Beit Yatir in the South Hebron Hills on Tuesday, moderately wounding him, Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) reported.
Yedidya Talia of the nearby Talia Farm was hit in the head by one of the stones thrown by the group of eight Arab rioters, the organization said. The farmer managed to call the security forces to the scene while trying to protect his body and flock at the same time.
Israel Defense Forces troops administered first aid and evacuated Talia to the hospital for further treatment, Hatzalah Judea and Samaria said.
The rescue group said IDF soldiers moved to arrest four of the suspected attackers. The military did not respond to several JNS requests about the incident.
The Mount Hebron Regional Council noted that the attack “took place as Bezalel, Yedidya’s brother who runs the farm, is serving as a company commander in the Spatial Defense Battalion, Judea Brigade, as he has been since the beginning of the war.”
“The Arabs apparently noticed this and took advantage of his absence to attack the shepherd,” the council said in a statement.
התקיפות הערביות כנגד רועי הצאן ביו"ש לא נפסקות: שמונה ערבים תקפו לפני שעה קלה את ידידיה טליה – רועה צאן יהודי מחוות טליה בהר חברון הסמוכה לישוב יתיר.
התוקפים הערבים יידו לעברו אבנים, שאחת מהם פגעה בראשו ואחרת בכתפו. טליה הספיק להזעיק למקום את כוחות הביטחון תוך שהוא מגן על גופו… pic.twitter.com/W97Ks9yBDe
— בז news (@1717Bazz) April 2, 2024
Yedidya and Bezalel’s mother, Marcelle Talia, who immigrated to Israel from South Africa and founded the family farm, was murdered while visiting her grandchildren in Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha near the Gaza border during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught on the northwestern Negev.
As the massacre unfolded, Bezalel Talia and two friends embarked on a rescue mission, driving some 50 miles from their farm in Judea to the border area. However, by the time they arrived, it was too late.
“They found mother, holding sweets for the children in honor of Simchat Torah,” daughter Liora Talia recalled at the funeral. “She was sweeter than honey and came to make me and the grandchildren happy.”
Data collected by Israeli authorities testify that Arab aggression against Jewish shepherds has been on the rise in recent months.
“Jewish farmers are grazing their sheep in open areas; Arabs don’t like that, even if it happens in Area C [of Judea and Samaria, where the Israeli communities are located]. They’re trying to stop them by using violence. … Farms are constantly attacked because the Arabs understand it’s a fight over open land,” an official responsible for documenting illegal Arab activities told JNS last year.
Between Oct. 7 and Jan. 15 alone, Hatzalah Judea and Samaria recorded more than 2,600 terrorist attacks against Israelis in the area, including 760 cases of rock-throwing, 551 fire bombings, 12 attempted or successful stabbings and nine vehicular assaults.
