The men had been terrorizing motorists by throwing the rocks at their cars at nearly point-blank range.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
An ambush set by the IDF to capture rock-throwing terrorists on motorcycles ended successfully when a soldier jumped at one, knocking the men off and arresting them, Hebrew media sites reported Tuesday.
On four days over the last week and a half, motorists in the western Binyamin region gave security forces hair-raising reports of two men on a motorcycle driving close to their vehicles and throwing large rocks at them. Only with the greatest of luck did this not end with physical injury or death, as the terrorists were aiming at them from nearly point-blank range.
According to the reports, the IDF reacted both to the immediate danger and out of concern that this was a pilot attempt that could include motorcyclists with guns if the method proved itself.
Men of the Hod Company lay hidden on the sides of the road where the motorcyclists plied their “craft” and saw a vehicle with drivers who answered the description given by the victims. Corporal Yisrael Weiner ran out of the bushes and called for the men to halt. When they instead tried going around him, Weiner jumped on the motorcycle and pulled the men off. He knew he had struck pay dirt when their pouches were found full of rocks.
The Hod Company belongs to the Duchifat Battalion, which specializes in counter-terror operations that include patrols, manning checkpoints and the apprehension of terrorists. Although their raids usually take place in Palestinian villages, their expertise extends to other venues as well.
Weiner himself is a member of an all-religious platoon within Hod, whose soldiers combine a year and a half of army duty with three and a half years of Torah studies in what is called the Hesder program. There are some 70 Hesder yeshivas in Israel with 10,000 students.
Uri Pinsky, head of the Hesder Yeshiva Association, reacted proudly to news of the identity of the specific soldier who had acted so heroically.
“Hesder service soldiers prove time and time again that the combination of ‘the Book and the sword’ not only does not harm their fighting, but actually helps them lead and achieve excellence in the army as well,” he said. “These students join tens of thousands of other students and graduates who take and have taken part in maintaining the security of the citizens of Israel and have prevented a great deal of bloodshed.”