A stone-throwing attack that severely injured a 7-year-old Jewish boy in Hebron on Monday sent Defense Minister Moshe Arens rushing to the scene with a warning that stone-throwers risk their own lives.
“Those who endanger Jewish life by stone attacks should know that they are endangering their own lives,” the Likud minister told reporters Wednesday.
Asked if he meant stone-throwers would be fired on, Arens ignored the question but repeated his warning. He issued orders immediately to increase the number of troops deployed on the main road into Hebron.
The army clamped a curfew on the Arab-populated downtown section and herded scores of Arabs into a schoolyard for questioning. At the same time, security forces warned local Jews to refrain from revenge attacks on Arabs.
The victim, Evyatar Tzvi Cohen, a resident of Efrat in the Etzion bloc, is recovering from surgery at a local hospital. He suffered a fractured skull and damage to his brain membrane when he was struck by a brick hurled at the family car.
After the operation at Hadassah University Hospital, in which doctors fixed the skull fracture and removed a blood clot, he was able to recognize his family and talk to them.
The youngster, his father and relatives from the United States were returning to Efrat from Tisha B’Av prayers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Monday night. Their car was attacked by stone-throwing youths as it passed through the northern outskirts of the city.
The windshield of their car had been specially reinforced to withstand the impact of rocks, but not the rear window, where Evyatar was sitting.
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