In an effort to lessen confusion among soldiers operating in Judea and Samaria regarding the recently tightened open-fire orders, the commander of the Border Police – a combined military and police force – Deputy Commissioner Amos Yaakov, spoke Sunday with the soldiers who killed a terrorist Saturday in Samaria. The incident occurred at the junction leading to the village of Beta, not far from Tapuach.
D., the Border Policeman who was lightly wounded by the terrorist, returned to his unit Sunday. According to the soldiers, the terrorist managed to run up to them and stab D. before they realized what was happening, but they reacted swiftly.
“I felt a blow to the shoulder,” recalled D. “I turned around and pushed away the terrorist. Even before I cocked the gun, I identified the warrior at my side shooting the terrorist and neutralizing him.”
He was happy that the hospital released him quickly. “It was important to me, to return to the battalion and to my friends, as fast as possible,” said D. “I have no doubt that our preparedness is the reason that the event ended with me being lightly wounded, with the terrorist being neutralized quickly, and without any innocent civilians being hurt.”
“Suddenly, a Palestinian came out of nowhere and started to stab one of the warriors in my team,” added B., the soldier who killed the terrorist. “In a split second, we realized that this was a terror attack, and I understood that we need to act fast. I carried out fire in order to neutralize the terrorist.”
“In the case of an incident that lasts only a few seconds, there is no time to hesitate,” he added. “One has to use accurate judgment and act immediately. That is how Border Police are trained. Luckily, the terrorist was neutralized before he could achieve his aim.”
Yaakov made sure to be videotaped by reporters as he spoke to the troops, and emphasized that they acted exactly as was expected of them. Such gestures may be required due to confusion and demoralization caused by recent orders not to fire at terrorists except at the very moment when they pose a threat to life. In essence, the orders could mean that once the terrorist began running away after stabbing the soldier, the other soldiers would not have been allowed to shoot him.
In the Hebrew-language video, Deputy Commissioner Yaakov speaks with B., whose features are blurred, and with D., the soldier with his back to the camera.
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