From Yukutiel:
Shalom,
We have had a very hectic past few days after planning and executing a fantastic operation to help this poor old fellow Yitzhak Hershkowitz. Yitzhak has had Arabs squatting in his house for the past 16 years in Jerusalem. He finally secured a court order to have the Arabs evacuated, but the Arabs have one last appeal pending.
In the meantime, he has secured a court order to take their flock of sheep and goats as the the courts agreed that the Arabs are in default not paying him "rent" in excess of 200,000 shekels.
Equipped with the court order in hand, we went with our guys and dogs to take the sheep. We knew that the Arabs would try and escape with the sheep and we also realized that the cops would be too frightened to execute the court order. So we spent many long days studying and watching the property and after coordinating with the cops we set out to get the job done at 7 minutes to 4 AM, Wednesday morning.
We had 30 guys closing off every possible exit from the property and about 10 guys including shepherds to get the sheep and seal the house. Due to the police procrastinatination, the Arabs were not caught off guard and they readied themselves with knives, bats, spears and sticks.
At the point when we saw the Arabs throwing rocks at us and trying to sneak the flock out the back, I gave the command for one of our groups to move down and subdue the stone throwers. We were outnumbered having only 6 guys in that specific spot. The Arabs had about 30 people there. Our guys and dogs did a wonderful job pushing the Arabs back. In the meantime, I gave the order for the shepherds and another group of four to come up from the back road, the very same exit route the Arab thieves thought they would use. The Arabs were shocked to see our shepherds guiding the sheep up the road and towards the direction of our truck parked several blocks away.
Where were the cops during all of this? You guessed right. They were chasing our people and ultimately returned the flock to the Arab thieves in direct contradiction of the court order which said, "And I hereby obligate the police to assist in the confiscation of the sheep on behalf of Mr Hershkowitz".
Three of our guys were arrested and released without bail after the cops realized just how bad they messed up and after they learned that Arutz Sheva had the entire debacle on video as it was transpiring.
The cops are plannig a major sweep of the property and confiscation of the sheep for Hershkowitz on Monday night. This time they have invited us to assist with truck, shepherds and helpers. The Arabs might try and hide the sheep...But the fact is without our show of force they would have continued to disregard Hershkowitz. Let's not forget that when Hershkowitz went with the cops on two earlier occassions, the cops literally watched the Arabs run out the back entrance with the sheep. Now, that we have shown them how to close off the property, and how to effectively liberate the flock, they have been embarrassed into action. That, plus their fear of the pending Hershowitz law suit seems to be encouraging them to finally take serious action as is mandated by the court order, which they have ignored for months.
This is reminiscent of old JDL Rav Kahane style actions, acting as a catalyst and a gadfly to get the wheels of justice to start turning on behalf of Jews who had no where else to turn other than to Rav Kahane and JDL.
Helping this 76 year old man who lives in a metal moving container/caravan in the Kiryat Arba industrial center to secure his Jerusalem property was a very uplifting experience for myself and our courageous dog handlers. It was a wonderful kidush Hashem.
Interestingly enough Yitzhak's Jerusalem house, where the Arabs have been squatting sits on land that is the current border between Givat Hamatos, Talpiyot and Bet Zefafa. When we G-d willing succeed in expelling these Arabs squatters, we will effectively expand Jewish Jerusalem by one kilometer.
Yitzhak bought this house before he made Aliyah, thinking he would move into his new home in Jerusalem. That Arabs thought that this old Jew would die off and that they would inherit the stolen property. The cops thought that Hershkowitz would disappear and fade away. I am sorry to break it to the Arabs and the cops. Hershkowitz is alive and well - Od Kahane Chai!
Unfortunately the last two weeks of our obsessive involvment with the planning and execution of this succesful and vital operation has created an additional strain on our already struggling programs. The dog program and the Kahane publishing efforts have suffered and are in more desperate and urgent need.
We did not know how to say no to Hershkowitz and we are not sorry for it. That is why we train the dogs to help make a difference and to do these types of mitzvot that otherwise would not have been fulfilled by others. However, now we need to turn to our friends to help us sustain our operations and to cover our expenses. We are in desperate need of help at this time.
We are five thousand dollars behind in payment to our expert dog trainers, and we are in need of funds to commence our Torah program in our new yeshiva.
Here is a link to the Arutz Sheva story
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/TV/?act=one&id=2024Checks can be sent to Klavim LHaganat Yisrael
POBox 6592 Jerusalem, Israel
Thanks,
Yekutiel