A wrong turn: Settlers hold gun to 3-year-old’s head in attack on Arab-Israeli family in West Bank

Violent settlers attacked an Arab-Israeli family by pelting them with stones and burning their car after the family made a wrong turn in the West Bank on Friday night, according to Israeli media.

The al-Jaar family—Nofa, Hind, Ragda, Lamis, and her three-year-old daughter Alif, from Rahat—were traveling to Nablus when they made a wrong turn into the West Bank settlement of Giva’at Ronen.

On Friday, N12 reported the family had suffered burn wounds and bruises.

They were evacuated by the IDF to Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus for treatment, with the hospital saying they had minor wounds.

Members of the security establishment told Maariv that the incident was defined as a “serious escalation in the activity of right-wing activists,” and due to the seriousness of the incident, the investigation was immediately transferred to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).

The settlers attack

Nofa told the Israeli media outlet, Ynet, “We wanted to go to Nablus, but Waze misled us,” referring to the wrong turn that took them off the main road to Nablus and onto the side route that goes to Giva’at Ronen.

“We saw that there were religious people, settlers. They started running after us. We turned [the car] around because we wanted to escape from the scene, but there was no way out. You can’t go back, and you can’t move forward; there was a type of spring [in the way].”

“Many people ran in our direction. Two had guns. After they broke all the windows, one raised a gun. Our [little] girl started screaming. They asked, ‘Are you from the territories [West Bank]? Did you come from Gaza? Do you have anyone from Gaza?’ ‘We want to kill you,’ they told us. They didn’t stop, even with the [little] girl.”

Following this, the settlers reportedly sprayed the family with tear gas and chased them down the hill toward IDF troops, “The army came, and we also called the police – but there was no [sense of] urgency,” the family told Ynet.

“It took a long time, about fifteen minutes. [The soldier] told me, ‘Bring the cell phones, everything you have in your bag.’ He pulled the bag from my hand, and everything fell to the floor. I don’t know why he did it. I told him that I only had an identity card and medical documents.”

Once the army arrived, the settlers fled. Nofa said, “This is [such] cruelty, [what] heartless people. What did we do? We saw death before our eyes. They wanted to kill us. After that, they burned our car before the police arrived. They put the gun to my 3-year-old girl’s head.”

A cousin of the women, Khaled al-Jaar, told Ynet, “It could have ended in disaster. If a person makes a mistake and enters a certain area, there is probably a danger to life. People are crazy, take the law into their hands and carry out lynchings.”

He called on the security services and police to catch the perpetrators, saying, “I hope that they will do a thorough job. This is lynching. They came to the women, a 3-year-old girl, and hit them with stones inside the car. Then they chased whoever wanted, threatening [them] with weapons. It is very dangerous. They need to be taken care of and put behind bars so that people learn not to do this.”

Police confirmed later that they had opened an investigation into the incident.

“The Israel Police takes very seriously any injury to innocent citizens. The police will use all the means at their disposal in order to bring the suspects to justice.”

JPost