Kiryat Arba’s Shuki Gilboa, who subdued the terrorist who murdered 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel Hy”d, tells his story.
Meir Pavlovsky (left) repays a long overdue favor to Shuki Gilboa the man who helped save his life.
Shuki (Yehoshua) Gilboa leaped into action as soon as he got the call at 8:39 a.m. last Thursday that an intruder had jumped the perimeter fence in Kiryat Arba and was headed toward the yishuv at the gateway to Mearas Hamachpeilah.
Gilboa — a member of Kiryat Arba’s rapid response team which provides security to the yishuv’s 8000 residents — met up with Eyal Gelman the yishuv’s head security officer and Rabbi Chanoch Kahana a rav in the local yeshivah. They divided up the turf. Gelman went one way and Shuki and Rabbi Kahana headed to the most likely target the Ariel residence just as its owner Rabbi Amichai Ariel was pulling up.
Rabbi Ariel knew right away something was awry. He headed straight for the bedroom where his 13-year-old daughter Hallel Yaffa who was home sick that morning was sleeping. The next few horrid seconds will be forever etched into Shuki’s memory. Rabbi Ariel emerged crying out: “They killed my daughter.”
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