A security incident that began as a suspected kidnapping in the early hours of Thursday morning ended with all involved Israelis located safely, after a group of Breslov Hasidim entered the Palestinian village of Mukhmas, north of Jerusalem, and lost contact with authorities.
According to Israeli police, officers from the Shai District were conducting routine activity on Route 60 near the Shaar Binyamin area when they spotted a vehicle committing a serious traffic violation, crossing a continuous separation line. When police attempted to stop the car, the driver fled, eventually entering Mukhmas, a Palestinian village near Ramallah classified as Area B. At around 4 a.m., the military received a report from Israeli civilians who said they were in Mukhmas and felt threatened, and the military says it then lost contact with the Israelis.
Police tracked the vehicle to an alley inside the village, and given the sensitivity of the location, officers pulled back and alerted the IDF, which mobilized large forces for a search operation. The army declared a suspected security incident after finding an abandoned and damaged vehicle with Israeli license plates just outside the village, which also contained personal belongings apparently belonging to the Israelis. A large-scale search was launched, backed by an Air Force helicopter, and roads in the area were sealed off amid fears the passengers had been kidnapped.
The scare was resolved within hours. One of the civilians contacted security forces to say that everyone who had been in the vehicle had safely left the village after abandoning the car, and by Thursday afternoon the IDF ruled out any possibility of a security-related incident following extensive searches.
The Israelis, reportedly a group of around ten Hasidic Jews, had been fleeing police after allegedly committing traffic violations, and officers stopped chasing them as they entered Mukhmas, where their vehicle also flipped and crashed. One of the passengers had called police claiming they were under attack, a report that helped drive the initial fear of a kidnapping.
Police have opened an investigation into the incident, and several Israeli suspects have been detained for questioning.
The episode is the latest in a string of uncoordinated visits by Breslov Hasidim to sites in Palestinian-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria, a practice that has repeatedly drawn IDF and police resources and has, in past incidents, ended in violence or injury.
