Israel Ganz, who leads the Yesha Council umbrella group of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria, saved the life of a Palestinian who was in a car crash near his office over the weekend.
Ganz was leaving his office at the Binyamin Regional Council offices in Sha’ar Binyamin, north of Jerusalem, when two vehicles collided on the Route 60 highway, video footage shared by the Arutz 7 news outlet showed.
Ganz exited his vehicle and pulled the Palestinian driver out of the damaged car, moments before it caught fire. The local leader then returned to search the burning car for possible additional victims.
Following the accident, the road was briefly closed in both directions as police, firefighters and council security officials were called to the scene.
Ganz—who has also headed the Binyamin Regional Council, which administers large parts of southern Samaria, since 2018—was elected in May to lead the Yesha Council, which represents the interests of the some 500,000 Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria.
“I was just worried about saving lives,” Ganz told Arutz 7 on Sunday.
ראש מועצת בנימין ישראל גנץ נקלע בסוף השבוע האחרון לזירת תאונת דרכים במעורבות רכב פלסטיני ורכב ישראלי בצומת שער בנימין. רגע לפני שהרכב הפלסטיני התלקח, שלף גנץ את הנוסע הפלסטיני מהרכב, הציל את חייו ואף המשיך לסכן את עצמו כאשר חזר לסרוק את הרכב הבוער על מנת לוודא שאין לכודים נוספים pic.twitter.com/iF2auOGqhz
— חזקי ברוך (@HezkeiB) November 10, 2024
A total of 358 people were killed in 336 fatal road accidents in Israel in 2023, the National Road Safety Administration revealed earlier this year. The 2023 figure was about 2% higher than the previous year’s and 5% higher than the average for the years 2020-22, it noted.
