A group of Arabs who were supposedly harvesting olive trees in the village of As-Sawiya in northern Samaria on Shabbat attacked with stones a Jewish family from nearby Rehelim who were taking a walk inside their settlement. As the Arabs continued to throw boulders and giant stones at the Jewish family, one family member, a soldier stationed at the northern border who was on a Shabbat furlough and was armed fired at the attackers. The Arabs ran away but later announced that one of the rioters had been killed.
The image they posted showed the rioter with his friends, all of them with stones in their hands. Hamas and Fatah issued separate messages of mourning for the death of what both claimed was their martyr.
At the terrorist’s funeral in the village of Sawiya, his brother was recorded inciting the crowd and calling for the murder of Jews while holding a Hamas flag.
After the rioter’s funeral, the brother was arrested for incitement.
يلّي معك بارودة .. ومخبيها للأعراس
يا بتطخ اليهودي .. او أعطيها لحماستشييع الشهيد بلال شاهين في بلدة الساوية قضاء نابلس pic.twitter.com/I9VKWVc7TK
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) October 28, 2023
Samaria Council Head Yossi Dagan, who arrived at the scene shortly after the incident, said, “I fully support the fighter who defended his life and the life of his family and behaved properly.”
Dagan, an observant Jew, received special permission from the Rabbi of Samaria, Rabbi Eliakim Lebanon, to issue a message to the media from the area on Shabbat, to expose the fake news about the event: “This was about a family that was attacked near their orchard by dozens of Hamasniks, I fully support the fighter who fired!”
Dagan demanded the IDF Central Command to cancel the olive harvest in the areas adjacent to the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. He argued that the harvest serves as a launch point for attacks on Jews.
“You would not allow the Hamasniks from Beit Hanun to harvest olives 300 meters from Kibbutz Be’eri, neither should it be allowed 300 meters from Rehelim,” he said.
Dagan stressed the flags of the Nazi terrorist organization Hamas were hoisted at the rioter’s funeral in his village, including by his brother, and the crowd shouted: “We are all soldiers of Muhammad Defi!”
Dagan also said: “We will not allow a massacre here like the one in the south. I demand that the harvest be stopped.”
