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INCREDIBLE ISRAEL DOG UNIT PESACH OPERATIONS DIARY
Find here an inspirational diary of exciting Israel Dog Unit searches and activities that have taken place over the week of Pesach 5778 culminating in a Pesach miracle - the search and rescue of an 83 year old man, Avraham Mabrat, on the seventh day of Passover, after he had been missing for close to 4 days, in the hot Beersheva sun:
ISRAEL DOG UNIT'S PASSOVER MIRACLE - SEARCH AND RESCUE OF 83 YEAR OLD ETHIOPIAN JEW
Before we get to the miraculous search and rescue of Avraham Mabrat on the last day of Passover 5778 (Friday April 6, 2018). I would like to walk you through a fascinating week of searches and activities with the Israel Dog Unit. This incredible diary of a week with the I.D.U. - Israel Dog Unit can give you a real taste of the despair and hope shared by missing people and their families in Israel, as well as the trials and tribulations of people, farms and "settlements" regularly attacked by Arabs and who also seek the help of the Israel Dog Unit - help with defense dogs..
Video of Avraham Mabrat's son-in-law Dror sharing the miraculous story of the I.D.U. search and rescue of his wife Edna's father Avraham (full story can be found by scrolling down to the end),
video:
Rescue of Avraham Mabrat
link to arutz sheva article on the search:
arutz sheva article
OUR INCREDIBLE VOLUNTEERS WHO SAVE LIVES AND FIGHT TERROR WITH DEFENSE DOGS AND WHO SEARCH FOR MISSING PEOPLE WITH SEARCH AND RESCUE DOGS
The lost Jews of Israel - 4000 of whom are reported missing each and every year in Israel.
This is no minor issue. Every year an additional 50 missing people are added to the list of missing people in Israel who are never found or recovered . When you are done reading this article, you will also feel the frustration and the joy of volunteers in the Israel Dog Unit who dedicate their days and nights in the rain or in hot weather, on holidays or work/school days to defend fellow Jews in Israel or to search for missing people in the Holy Land.
The pictures and stories here will take you through a journey worth traveling and will surely open your eyes to a special and unique program in Israel that is reminiscent of the Israel of yesteryear and that will bring you back in time 50 years, to the type of atmosphere hovering in the air that was prevalent in the days prior to the Six Day War- when dedication, courage and a special feeling of unity was commonplace; a time when people asked not what the country will do for them but what they could do for their fellow Jew. Picture this scene of volunteers who camp out literally in the field, for as long as it takes to complete their mission, with a passion to save the lives of their fellow sisters and brothers with security dogs or with Search and Rescue Dogs- An elite civilian unit that succeeds where the army and police often fail - a group of young people with heart and spirit that is hard to come by these days. Some of our volunteers are IDF soldiers who leave the comfort of their vacation furloughs to aid the civilian Israel Dog Unit, while their friends are partying or enjoying the warmth of their cozy homes.
The week preceding the Avraham Mabrat Passover search:
March 27, (Three days before Pesach) search for Norit Teva - Kibutz Kfar Glickson near Pardes Chana
March 27, Meeting with school in Itamar - allocating security dog
March 28 G.A. Beersheba missing person search
March 29-30, Norit Teva - Erev Pesach Search - Never found.
March 30, search for 9 year old autistic child in Beth Shemesh - Erev Pesach, found under bridge alive.
April 1, Search for A.B. Haifa 64 year old woman found dead.
April 2, search for H.K. Beer Sheba
April 3, Dog show Tapuach
April 3, Calls for security help - South Hebron "settlement"
April 3, Security Dog training Tapuach
April 4, (LMinyanam) 5.30 AM - Yeshiva student A.B. missing near Tzvat, returned on his own.
April 4, Avraham Mabrat, Beersheba search, read article below
April 4, Dog Show in Efrat
April 4, Dog training security dogs Efrat
April 4 Search for Yakov Diskin, Jerusalem (11.09.17 had gone missing)
April 5, Search continues for Avraham Mabrat
April 5 - calls for security help Yishuv Pezael - Jordan Valley
April 6, Friday, seventh day of Passover, Search Continues for Avraham - found alive at 1.30 PM
Without going in to each case history and story, suffice to say that we had a hectic week, before and throughout the Passover holiday. While most Jews in Israel celebrated the holiday in the warmth and comfort of their homes, Israel Dog Unit volunteers were fighting against the clock to rescue others so that they could bring them to the their families alive and well. Sleeping in fields and in gas stations briefly between search tasks, the volunteers worked tirelessly. However, there is no limit to the joy after the find of a missing person who otherwise would have been left to die. Here is the story of Avraham Mabrat:
From Ethiopia to Sudan - to Beer Sheba. Gone missing Tuesday.
38 years ago Avraham Mabrat set out by foot from Ethiopia to Sudan where he would be air-lifted together with thousands of fellow Ethiopian Jews to the Promised Land - the land he dreamed of seeing for 45 years. He walked and he walked as he sung the songs of Zion - a journey of hope and freedom that he would soon realize. Last week, at the age of 83, Avraham, now almost fully blind and deaf, visited the local Beersheba market, as he does 6 days a week, excluding shabbat. On April 3rd 8 AM he set out for his daily routine, walking 2 kilometers to the market. Tuesday at 11.00 AM he was seen on a vendor's shop video-camera leaving the market to Rambam street apparently on his way home. However, the hours passed and Avraham never returned home. By 4 PM his daughter Edna realized that something was wrong. She called the police and with them commenced searching.
Avraham missed the turn towards his house on Tzvi street, and continued walking North on Tuvyahu street, losing his baring, and not being able to see, he continued walking and walking, ending up near Shomron Street, where he was seen by his nephew Aviv, who later would notify the family that he had seen uncle Avraham. At the time, unfortunately, Aviv had no idea that Avraham was missing.
The family frantically posted Avraham's picture on facebook and in other Beersheba forums. Flyers were posted throughout the city. All to no avail.
Wednesday The Israel Dog Unit Called in to help
The following day, Wednesday April 4th the Israel Dog Unit was contacted by the police who requested our intervention. It was a rough day for us. We had another search planned for Jerusalem, looking for someone who had gone missing months ago. Yakov Diskin, the son of a long chain of prominent rabbis, had gone missing 6 months earlier. We had set the date to attempt to recover his body, and to search areas that we had never gotten to in the earlier searches for him. We also had security dog training and a dog show that we were supposed to perform in Efrat. Not to mention the limited man-power due to the 7 day holiday.
We left Moshe Binyamini to continue implementing the search that he was organizing in Jerusalem for Diskin, and we set off for Efrat where we would meet with all available volunteers to figure out how to juggle everything else, so that we can proceed towards Beersheba for what appeared to be an emergency search.
WHY THE I.D.U. ISRAEL DOG UNIT IS SO NEEDED
One might ask why we are so needed if the family and police were searching. While the police are required by law to search, and while they do open missing person files and go through the motions, they often lack the know-how and the heart to get the job done. We usually end up opening the command center and running the searches. We bring equipment, folding cots, food, dogs, drones and volunteers who know how to get the job done professionally.
We knew we were desperately needed. How long can a sick 83 year old man who could barely walk with a heart condition, who could barely hear and see, survive? If nobody is reporting having seen him and if he has not been admitted to any hospital, he must have fallen somewhere off the beaten track. We need to get our dogs and drones there ASAP.
Wednesday afternoon signing family on to our search application
We arrived at approximately 2:00 PM and set up a make-shift command center outside of Avraham's home. Meeting the extended Ethiopian Jewish traditional-religious family we realized that we would have plenty of friends and family on the search as is usually the case with Ethiopian Jews. It turns out that Avraham had not only a loving and caring family but also many of them are professionals who served in combat units and who could prove to me more than useful in the depth of the desert and the areas that we might need to search. One after another, we signed them on to our search application that enables us to archive everyone's movement on the search and to interact with the searchers to direct them from the command center, as well as to fill in the gaps that need to be searched again or more thoroughly.
We signed police and family members onto our ap and started searching with the dogs, drones as well as assigning areas for others to search, explaining necessary details about carrying out an effective search.
It was not long before the family received notification from Aviv, the nephew, about the location where he had seen his uncle Avraham a day earlier. Then came another call from someone who saw him further East at Taftefet Square several hours later, that same day that he went missing. There are huge areas of land in every direction from the Taftefet Square, but at least we had a last known spot where our missing person was seen.
Wednesday evening - wild goose chase:
Then came a new report that set us completely off track. Several people had reported seeing someone that looked like Avraham near Rami Levy not far from the market on a bridge over a river in the Mall 7 Area. While the river is dry with nothing but flowing sewage, it does extend for many miles. It is not easy to get a straight story from the police who interviewed the witnesses. Which side of the bridge? The cops told us three different stories, and then came the pizza delivery motor-biker who told us that he saw the "Old Ethiopian "walk towards the valley and the Beer Sheba River below. The three Yavin brothers: Shimon, Arye and Nachshon - their brother who is currently in the Givati Brigade in the IDF who was on leave, all searched with Teddy a great SAR dog. All three are seasoned searchers and dog handlers and you could be certain that our missing person was no where near the bridge or within a kilometer of the radius of the river that the Yavins searched.
The puzzle full of contradictory pieces
So we had all kinds of contradictory sightings and it was now Wednesday evening. We had 12 Dog Unit volunteers and eight dogs, two of the dogs wounded and most of the guys and dogs tired but still searching through the evening on the river banks and in the not so distant market. I tried to set up camp at one of the nearby gas stations so that we could use their electric as i did not bring our generator, and our battery converters were not functioning. The gas stations were not sympathetic to our needs, despite the heavy police presence with us. Luckily Shlomi, a good-hearted neighbor, told us to set up shot outside of his home and pulled extension cords to provide lighting and electricity to charge the phones and to run our computers.
Shlomi also joined the search and brought two of his friends with atvs to help in the search. To my amazement one of the cops actually got out of his jeep and actually searched with Shimon, heading one of our teams. I think that would be the third time in 7 years that i actually saw a cop join us in the thick of the wilderness, on foot.
Wednesday night and early Thursday morning
Meanwhile Binyamini, Tohar and Aharon combed through any open areas or places between the market and the river where Avraham could have fallen without being noticed. We connected the dots between the place where the cameras picked him up by the market and where the new testimonies claimed he was seen at Mall 7, and went plenty beyond that point in all other directions to no avail. In the meantime, some of us slept for a few hours at the command center that we had set up outside Shlomie's home.
The puzzle and contradictory reports
So we had all kinds of contradictory sightings and it was now Wednesday evening. We had 12 Dog Unit volunteers and eight dogs, two of the dogs wounded and most of the guys and dogs tired but searching through the evening on the river banks and in the not so distant market, as well as near the intersection close to where the nephew had spotted Avrham. A MADA Ambulance driver also said that he had seen him not far from where the nephew claimed to have spotted him.
We had the woman who saw Avraham at Taftefet Square Tuesday at 2.30 PM not that far from where the nephew had seen Avraham Tuesday. We had the market, where a video clearly shows him Tuesday at 11 AM. We had nearby Mall 7 and the adjacent river bank near Rami Levy, where Avraham was supposedly seen Tuesday and Wednesday. I felt that the Mall 7 witnesses gave very weak testimonies. Had it not been so close to the market, I would have disqualified them entirely. But the police insisted on searching the area and they did need our help. Thus, we wasted Wednesday evening on that wild goose-chase. But one never knows. And in the end it really is all in G-d's hands.
Thursday morning:
I decided that I wanted to set up a new command center at a gas station near the "Country Club" not far from Shomron Street and the "country"where his nephew had said that he had seen him Tuesday at 9-10 AM. It is true that the timing did not make sense, however, a relative's testimony is always considered very strong and credible testimony. And maybe he was mistaken regarding the time of the sighting.
CONNECTING THE DOTS
Teams were sent out to cover a radius of a kilometer or so from the point where the nephew had said Avraham was last seen. We had more to complete, but then we got a call that there is a strong testimony from someone who claims to have picked Avraham up on Tuesday at approximately 3 PM from Taftefet Square, bringing him down the road to the cemetery entrance where he thought he wanted to go, giving him food, water and ten shekels for a bus. The family members were convinced that the man given a lift, was indeed Avraham. The dots now connected almost. Avraham left the market at 11.00 AM as indicated on the video that showed him leaving the market. On TuvyahU street he got confused and kept walking until Shomron Street, where he was seen by his nephew. He then turned toward Taftefet Sqaure, where he was seen at 2.30 PM. He was picked up at Taftefet Square at 3 and brought to the cemetery. It all made sense. Well, almost all made sense. The nephew thought he saw him at 9 or 10. However, the video camera at the market picked him leaving only at 11.00 AM. I realized that the relative was probably mistaken about the time and that it could all be reconciled. After soeaking again to Aviv, it was clear that he was not aware of the time and that he might very well have seen his uncle only at noon or even later.
THURSDAY MORNING AT THE CEMETERY - EREV CHAG SHVIYEE
We rushed to the cemetery Thursday morning, it now being two full days from the time that Avraham was last seen by the man who drove him to the cemetery. However, if it is true that the kind driver gave him food and water, then we have bought time, and Avraham could still be alive if he had some water with him...Not to mention, there are sinks at the cemetery if he could see well enough to find them.
Did he board a bus or roam around the cemetery area?
We found some shady areas to park the trucks and tried to get straight answers from the police and the family as to where exactly the man who gave Avraham a lift had dropped him off. He was supposedly dropped off at the second entrance to the cemetery, not that far from a bus stop. Naturally, the family and police tried to quickly get answers if the camera at the bus stop showed Avraham and if he could be seen boarding one of the four bus lines that leave from the cemetery.
If we could find out which bus/bus line, we could then interview drivers, and learn where Avraham might have gotten off a bus. The last stops and all stops could be searched should any of them have open areas nearby where he could have fallen without being noticed. Posters could go up on the bus stops, etc..
In the meantime, all that the Dan Bus security chiefs could tell us and show the family was an unclear picture who resembled Avraham sitting at the bust stop at the cemetery. Within a few hours they would check more cameras with more details about which bus he might have boarded would emerge.
In meantime we searched the cemetery area
We decided to commence searching the cemetery and the immediate areas around the cemetery as well as the continuation of the road outside of the cemetery..At this point we lost most of our Dog Unit volunteers who wanted to go home for the Chag which would be starting in 6 hours. I checked one end of the cemetery going out towards Hazerim on the road and Binyamini searched the other end and walked through the main cemetery.
Our dogs were exhausted within the 90 minutes that we searched, and we needed to give them a break having worked under the hot sun. I also wanted to buy provisions for those of us who would be staying through the holiday. We returned to Rami Levy to get food and to wait for the camera-fishing results, deciding to rest-up to see which bus lines we would need to track. Binyamini left for the holiday, but he first checked last stops of all 4 lines and made another quick search in the cemetery before leaving for home in Jerusalem.
MAKING THE DIFFICULT DECISION TO REMAIN IN THE FIELD FOR THE HOLIDAY
Shimon and Arye Yavin agreed to stay with me throughout the holiday Thursday to Friday afternoon. Rabbi Lior advised us to leave, regardless, by Friday afternoon, in time to get home for shabbat. Adam, a doctor active with the unit agreed that Avraham could likely still be alive even without water. We all understood that the clock was ticking not in Avraham's favor.
We left the cemetery waiting for camera news and to rest the dogs and get provisions for the upcoming holiday.
Another wild-goose-chase
We then got another wild-goose-chase lead from the police, that a woman had seen Avraham Wednesday, near a grocery in another area. The grocery was along one of the bus lines that leaves the cemetery. Yulia had thought she had seen him on Wednesday, so it was worth a shot to check out the cameras of the grocery. That turned out to be someone other than our missing person
Setting up camp before the holiday in a gas station
We later set up camp at the gas station between the "country", the Taftefet and the cemetery. preparing to usher in the holiday at 6.45 PM, to cook up some meat on the barbecue coals and to resume the search after we prayed and ate at around 8.30 PM..
POLICE DISQUALIFY CEMETERY LEAD
Meanwhile the police checked out the cameras at the cemetery and rejected the testimony that Avraham had been taken to the cemetery, since the person earlier believed to have been Avraham on the camera footage proved to be someone else.
I thought that the conclusion made no sense. If the person on camera was someone else, then maybe Avraham never took a bus,but rather continued through the cemetery and might be in that area. I decided to keep the search more or less within the triangle: the place seen by the nephew, the Taftefet Square and the cemetery, all close enough to the gas station near the "country". We also included a fair radius around each leg of the triangle.
Shimon and Arye searched some additional areas in close proximity to the gas station and the "country" and going north from the intersection where last seen by the nephew.
Friday Morning final search areas and preparing our exit after two days of searching
On Friday morning I set out at 7.00 AM on a 10 KM hike, passing the "country" and heading towards his home and market on Tuvyahu and then circling around on Joe Alon Street, back to Taftefet and to the gas station filling in areas that still had not been searched. It is strange to be wearing a kipah and tzitzit, holding a phone and wearing binoculars, passing by religious Jews on their way to synagogue on a holiday. I set up with police and family to hold a briefing at 11.00 AM back in the gas station to discuss areas that should still be searched; The forest near where he had last been seen, the valleys leading in direction of the cemetery, the cemetery, and orchards not that far from the cemetery. We were planning to leave at 12.00 noon so I wanted to make sure that the family and police knew where we still needed to search.
POLICE DEBACLE
Yosef, the Assistant Commander of the Beer Sheba precinct was not particularly excited to join me and the family at our planned meeting. The family was more than happy to receive further direction. At 11.00 Yosef the police officer asked to meet without the family, who he said were complicating the search and he explained to me why he wished to focus on the market and cameras there etc. I explained to him why I reached the opposite conclusion and why i planned to focus on the cemetery and to maximize the help offered by the family.
THE FIND
At approximately 1 PM while Shimon and Arye were searching the nearby forest, i sent Dror and other family members to the cemetery. We used the application to see the areas that still needed to be searched in and around the cemetery. Within minutes, thanks to our pin-point precise directions Dror and his family-crew found Avraham sitting under the shade of one of the walls of the cemetery, alive. He was brought to the hospital and is now back home. We returned to our home base in Tapuach, in the full spirit of the holiday of freedom and salvation of Passover, to usher in the shabbat in Tapuach. based on the halachic advise we had received earlier from Rav Lior.
Avraham walked and walked and was not forsaken
We promised Dror to return after shabbat to celebrate with him the gift of life that G-d granted to Avraham. G-d had remembered Avraham's journey to the Promised Land when he dreamed to see and breathe the air of the Holy Land, walking and walking from Ethiopia to Sudan. Now, at 83 years old, Avraham would find himself walking and walking, again. This time, no longer able to see much of the land that he so cherished. Finding himself hours away from death in a cemetery, on the last day of Passover. G-d remembered Avraham's journey to the Promised Land, and he was not forsaken or passed over. His own Passover miracle was observed. He is now home with his loving family! G-d bless the good Jew who gave him water and who had the sense to report the old man that needed help. Thank G-d we did not follow the conclusions reached by the police and that we had the tenacity and persistence to revisit the cemetery. I do not know how many years Avraham has left, may he live til 120. However, G-d did not want him to lay dead, eaten by wild beasts. Thank G-d that we were granted the right to play a vital role in the saving of this special Ethiopian Jew.
Various links to articles and photos on the search for Avrham Mabrat:
article 1
article 2
article 3
article 4
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