Shimon and Eti Elmakais of Beersheba probably thought that Saturday would end much like all the other Saturdays that summer: a pleasant afternoon nap to pass the hottest hours of the day, tasty food of the kind reserved for the weekend and, this time, perhaps a little excitement over the approaching start of the school year for the family’s two children.
But then came the knock at the door. Eti, still somewhat groggy from her nap, opened it and found a stranger standing before her with a gun in his hand and a clear, unequivocal message: “I escaped from prison. The police are looking for me. I just want to stay at your house. You have nothing to worry about.”
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By the end of the summer of 1988, Herzl Avitan was already one of the most famous people in Israel
(Photo: Michael Kramer)
The stunned Eti called her husband, Shimon, and their daughter Yifat into the living room. Now they were all sitting there, staring at the barrel of Herzl Avitan’s gun as he sat across from them.
By the end of the summer of 1988, Herzl Avitan was already one of the most famous people in Israel, though not for particularly positive reasons. At that point, the man who had been sentenced to several life terms for his involvement in various robberies and murders had established a reputation as a determined and ruthless criminal. His record already included at least two attempts to escape from prison or police custody. His latest escape, during the final week of the 1988 summer vacation, was probably the most extraordinary and fascinating of them all.
For the next hour, the three family members would try to process the frightening situation while the escaped prisoner in front of them remained in control of events. He asked them to close all the shutters and windows, requested something cold to drink and wanted a radio tuned to Army Radio so he could follow the police efforts to capture him.
At one point, Avitan pulled a banknote from his sock and handed it to the family, apparently to earn their trust and reassure them that they would not be harmed. Shimon and Eti Elmakais later repeatedly emphasized that throughout their long and stressful ordeal with Avitan, he made it clear that there was no chance he or his children would be harmed in any way.
Herzl Avitan, left. He ate cholent with the family
(Photo: Michael Kramer)
And speaking of children, about an hour after the uninvited guest arrived, the Elmakais family’s younger son also returned home from a day at the swimming pool and joined the bizarre scene in the living room.
“We listened to the news together about Herzl’s escape from prison,” Eti Elmakais later recalled. “When he heard that the prison guard he had accidentally shot at had not been killed, he was very relieved.”
The family spent the hours until nightfall with Avitan in a way that even the word “surreal” fails to capture. They ate together from the cholent Eti had prepared for Saturday, watched the news together, which extensively covered Avitan’s escape from Nitzan Prison, and even engaged in personal conversations.
Herzl talked about his wife and son, the harsh treatment he had received from prison guards and even showed an interest in Eti and Shimon’s personal lives. The climax probably came when Herzl scolded Eti for leaving the front door unlocked.
“What would you do if some psychopath came in here?” he asked, immediately adding: “I’m not going to hurt you.”
As if that were not enough, when Eti woke up in the middle of the night, she found Avitan washing dishes in the kitchen.
“I told him, ‘Herzl, leave it, I’ll do it,’” she recalled. But he insisted.
“It’s my pleasure,” he told the stunned mother of the household. “I want everything at my place to be spotless. I love the feeling of being at home. I haven’t had that in a long time.”
On Sunday morning, the extraordinary saga continued exactly where it had left off. In fact, Eti Elmakais was already preparing for lunch when Herzl Avitan told the family they were leaving.
More precisely, he would leave the apartment accompanied by Shimon and his young daughter. When Eti began crying at Avitan’s plans, he assured her that he had become very attached to her children during the hours they had spent together and that he would rather shoot himself than hurt them.
Down on the street, the kidnapper and his two hostages managed to walk a few hundred yards before Herzl stopped a taxi and ordered the driver to head toward Tel Aviv. Along the way, the crowded taxi passed through several police checkpoints, but the officers who glanced inside with bored expressions did not stop them for even a moment.
On Avitan’s orders, the taxi continued from Tel Aviv toward the Sharon region. A few kilometers past the Ra’anana Junction, the ride came to an end. Avitan ordered the driver to stop near a large citrus grove, handed him a $100 bill and told him to keep the change, then said goodbye to Shimon Elmakais and his daughter and ran into the trees.
Later, his escape would finally come to an end when a special police unit captured him at his sister’s home in Hod Hasharon.