In an unprecedented manner, in recent days the IDF decided to confiscate weapons handed over by the regional brigades to agricultural farm owners in Judea and Samaria in order to protect the residents of the isolated points.
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These are farms where a series of terrorist attacks have taken place recently, and the confiscation of weapons effectively leaves the residents without any protection. The farms accuse Central Command General Yehuda Fuchs of making a decision that could endanger their lives.
A disturbing decision
These weapons were given to farm owners who had completed combat service in the IDF, who in recent years have dealt with incessant Arab attacks and agricultural terrorism against the farm.
The confiscation of weapons now effectively leaves the residents of the farms at the front lines of the settlement without any basic protection. So far, at least seven weapons have been confiscated from owners of farms and hills in Judea and Samaria.
The decision to confiscate the weapons is disturbing, since these are farms that have only experienced many terrorist attacks on the farm grounds in recent months. For example, at Dorot Illit Farm in Samaria, the weapon of the owner of the farm, which is a 20-minute drive from the nearest community, was confiscated, despite two serious attacks that recently took place on the farm.
Personal weapons confiscated from farm owners in Judea and Samaria. One of the farms, photo: uncredited
In one of the attacks that took place about three months ago, a masked terrorist armed with a Carlo rifle arrived and fired six bullets at the shepherd on the farm, who managed to escape at the last minute. A year earlier, an ISIS-affiliated terrorist infiltrated the farm with 15 IEDs and three commando knives, and tried to murder residents in their sleep. It was only thanks to an armed man present at the farm that the terrorist was eliminated before he could carry out his plot.
Eden Levy, a resident of the Shovui Eretz farm in Samaria near Yakir, was informed today that his weapon was confiscated, just two days after dozens of Arab rioters from the village of Bani Hassan stormed the farm and attacked one of the shepherds who was grazing nearby. This incident joins a series of attacks against the farm, including setting fire to a residential building with all its contents several months ago.
An equally serious incident took place on another farm in the Jordan Valley, near the settlement of the outskirts of Jericho. As reported in Israel Hayom, Zohar Sabah, the owner of the farm who was recruited for reserve duty, discovered that Bedouins from the nearby village took advantage of his absence and managed to steal dozens of sheep from the herd that remained on the farm.
A disturbing decision in the middle of the war. Confiscation of weapons from farms in Judea and Samaria, photo: uncredited
Zohar quickly jumped back to the farm and, together with other civilians, military and police forces, located the herd in one of the houses in the nearby village, after hours of searching in which dozens of Arabs gathered around them to disrupt the search.
The police announced that the identity of the thieves was known and that they would be arrested soon, but all this did not prevent the village Arabs and extreme left-wing organizations from publishing that "armed settlers have invaded the village."
The campaign did its job and IDF sources informed Sabah that the general had ordered the confiscation of his weapon as well as his wife's. Here, too, the farms say, the theft of the herd was only the latest in a string of terrorist incidents that the farm has experienced over the past two years, including a serious attack on one of the shepherds and a vehicular attack against another shepherd from the farm that was grazing near the main road.
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The far-left group Looking the Occupation in the Eye welcomed the confiscation of Sabah's weapons, calling it "good news." The organization has been working for many years against the agricultural farms in the area, and even creates frequent provocations together with the Arabs of the villages and encampments in the area.
The farms strongly criticize the confiscation of weapons, claiming that it is a deliberate move by Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fuchs: "The confiscation of legally held weapons, which were our only tool for self-defense for years against dozens of Arab attacks against the farms, is a criminal abandonment of the lives of the residents of the farms, which constitute the protective line of the entire settlement."
"Unfortunately, it seems that the OC is working hand in hand with the left-wing organizations that are waging the 'settler violence' campaign, and are constantly harassing the agricultural farms that are blocking the Arab takeover of national lands," the farm said.
Left-wing organizations are running the 'settler violence' campaign (archive, the subject has no connection to the article), Photo: Guardians of the Mount Forum
They added: "It is hard to ignore the feeling that the confiscation of weapons at the height of the war was intended to cause the residents of the farms to abandon the pioneering activity and leave the area for the PA takeover. This is a dangerous decision of the first order."
The IDF Spokesperson did not receive a response by the time the report was published, and it will be published when it is received.
"Decisions are made by the IDF"
A security source said, "It must be understood that anyone who wears a uniform and receives weapons from the army represents the State of Israel and the IDF. The weapons are to protect the community or farm from terrorists and not to resolve criminal disputes."
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"Unfortunately," the source says. "In a number of incidents, they did not call on the security forces to deal with the incident and took the law into their own hands. In the places where we took the weapons, we made sure to respond to the defense in the area."
The IDF Spokesperson's response: "Following a report of sheep theft, a number of Israeli civilians, including a reserve soldier in the sector, entered the village of Mu'argat. A physical confrontation ensued, during which the reserve soldier fired several shots from his weapon. Following the incident, the reserve soldier was suspended from combat, his weapon was taken and a military force was deployed in the area of the farm as an alternative."
"In another case, a weapon was taken from a farm owner after he exceeded the guidelines and orders required to carry military weapons. There is a military force stationed at all times in the area of the farm. In addition, the farm is located near communities that have well-equipped alert squads, in addition to the other battalion forces operating in the area."
"Decisions regarding the carrying of weapons are made by the IDF and at the discretion of the commanders only."
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