German tourist Jerald Hetzel, who was attacked by an Arab mob, recounts the terrifying moments: ‘I didn’t know if I would get out alive.’
Jerald Hetzel, a young tourist from Germany, was attacked together with a second tourist on Saturday by an Arab mob in Shechem (Nablus) after he entered the city with a cooperative vehicle rented from a Tel Aviv car rental service bearing a small Israeli flag.
“We felt very, very afraid,” Hetzel told Kan 11 of the ordeal, “I didn’t know if I would get out alive because they had so much hate against us.”
Hetzel says he did not expect such an attack since he had traveled to Judea and Samaria in rented cars in the past and had no issues. “We were literally attacked by a mob of young angry people from the street,” describes the young tourist.
“They suddenly came out of the taxis and surrounded us, and we tried to explain in English that we are tourists from Germany, that we are both not Jewish so that we are not a target for them. But they didn’t understand, they didn’t even listen. They just screamed at us, and they started to bump our car with their fists, and then they took traffic signs and rocks and began to throw them at us.”
Jerald and his companion were rescued by an Israeli Arab at the scene. “I saw a car with an Israeli license plate, and he signaled to me to follow him, so I followed him, and he led us away through smaller roads away from the main road to the border of the city of Nablus,” he recounts.
Hetzel adds: “It definitely changes my mind about the Palestinians because until now, I had better experiences with them, and it just showed me that out of nothing, they could attack you. They were so triggered by this really, really small Israeli flag on the car that they decided to attack us, and I don’t know if they wanted to kill us, but we definitely had that impression.”
Source: Arutz 7