"Neither Jewish ethics nor
Jewish tradition can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat." (Yitzhak
Shamir, Journal of the LEHI, the Stern Gang, Summer, 1943)
Yet, interestingly enough,
Israel and its supporters tend to define terrorism in such a way that acts
described as "terror" are applied mostly to resistance groups and
rarely to states. Palestinian guerrillas engage in "terrorist" acts
while the Israeli soldiers honorably fight with purity of armsı.
Unfortunately, in the US the
word terrorist has become synonymous with Palestinian This identification has
blinded the judgment on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The most recent definition of
the word terrorism is used to describe any act against the (Jewish) state of
Israel. Are the Palestinians just born terrorists running amuck to destroy the
world and themselves?
Terror was adopted in the modern
Middle East by pioneering Zionists. The Zionists generally employed terrorism
to further their goals. Between 1939 and 1945 Zionist leaders in Palestine
unleashed three bands of killers, the Haganah headed by Ben Gurion, the Irgun
Zıvai Leumi headed by Menachem Begin, and the Stern Gang headed by Yitzhak
Shamir, all of which specialized in inventing and committing a wide range of
terrorism. Israeli leaders are the Godfathers of terrorism in Palestine and in
the Middle East.
These are examples of the
pioneering Zionist terrorists:
The first airplane hijacked was
committed by Israel in 1954 when a civilian Syrian airliner was hijacked after
taking off.
The first car bomb was an
invention of the Zionists.
Grenades in cafes, first used
against Palestinians in Jerusalem on 17 March,
1937.
Delayed-action, electrically
timed mines in crowded market-places: first against Palestinians in Haifa, 6
July, 1938.
Blowing up a ship with its
civilian passengers still on board: first in Haifa, 25 November, 1940. The
Zionists did not hesitate to blow their own people to protest the British
policy of strict Jewish immigration to Palestine. The ship Patriaı had 1,700
Jewish immigrants.
Assassination of government
official outside Palestine: first used against the British in Cairo, when on 6
November, 1944 Lord Moyne was assassinated by the Stern Gang. Yitzhak Shamir, a
member of the Irgun and later leader of the Stern Gang was behind the plan.
Taking of hostages to put
pressure on a government: first used against the British in Tel Aviv, 18 June,
1946.
Blowing up government offices
with their civilian employees and visitors: first used against the British in
Jerusalem, 22 July, 1946. The toll was 91 Britons, and 46 injured in King David
Hotel. Begin, who masterminded and carried out the attack, admitted that the
massacre was coordinated with and carried out under the instruction of the
Haganah.
Booby-trapped suitcase: first
used against the British Embassy in Rome, 13 October, 1946.
Booby-trapped car parked
alongside buildings: first used against the British in Sarafand (east of Jaffa)
on 5 December, 1946.
Flogging of hostages: first used
against the British in Tel Aviv, Natanya and Rishon, 29 December, 1946.
Letter-bombs sent to politicians
outside Palestine: first used against Britain when twenty letter-bombs were
sent from Italy to London between 4 and 6 June, 1947.
Murder of hostages as a reprisal
for government actions: first used against the British in Natanya area on 29
July, 1947.
Postal Parcel-bomb sent outside
Palestine: first used against the British in London, 3 September, 1947.
Assassination of UN Mediator
Count Folke Bernadotte and his French aide on September 17, 1948. The Stern
Gang, under Shamir leadership, planned and executed the assassination because
he made suggestions to vary the partition plan of Palestine.
The Zionist record of terror in
the 30s and 40s was long and bloody, yet it has been neglected in discussing
terrorism in the Middle East. Both former prime ministers, Menachem Begin and
Yitzhak Shamir, were terrorist commanders. Many former terrorists are today
honored in Israel. For example, The Israeli Knesset issued a series of
commemorative stamps for Shlomo Ben Yosif, hanged by the British for crimes against
Arabs; for the murderers of Lord Moyne in 1944 in Cairo. His body was given a
military hero burial and lay at Jerusalem Hall of Heroism on Mt. Herzl.
Seventy-Nine Palestinians were
killed in terror attacks in July 1938 by the Irgun. The official history of the
Irgun describes in glorifying terms the murder of 27 Palestinians celebrating
the British decision to limit the Jewish immigration.. 52 Palestinians were
also murdered when a number of Irgun members was arrested by the British.
Between December 13, 1947 and 10
February 1948, 161 Palestinians were killed and 330 injured by Irgun, Stern and
Haganah terrorist attacks on market places and cafes. Bus attacks in the same
period killed 15 Palestinians. On
30 December 1947 the Palmach
(the strike force of the Haganah) attacked and massacred 60 Palestinian
villagers of Balad Al-Sheikh.
On April 9/10, 1948 250
Palestinian villagers were slaughtered.. The Irgun and the Stern Gang captured
the village of Deir Yassin and committed the notorious massacre. Begin
confirmed that the Haganah approved the deed. Begin glorified the massacre and
its benefits for Zionist goals: ³Out of evil, however, good came... The legend
was worth half a dozen battalions to the forces of Israel.² (the Revolt, p.
164)
Other unpublished massacres
similar to the massacre of Deir Yassin, later came to light through an article
written by Ariel Yitzhaqi, historian and researcher, published by Yediot
Aharonot in its issue of April 14, 1972, in which he accuses the Palmach of
similar operations that he states were not restricted to ETZEL, and LEHI.
The village of Saısa, near the
Lebanese border, was attacked, 20 houses were blown over their inhabitants and
some 60 Arabs were killed.
In the battle for Kattamon
Quarter of Jerusalem, Arab women working in the St. Simon Monastery as servants
were killed.
On January 5, 1948 the Jewish
Agency leader Ben Gurion and Haganah Sneh and Galililee stepped their barbaric
attack against the Palestinian civilians in Ka ttamon, Jerusalem, They blow up
Semiramis Hotel, killing innocent people and wounding many.
In Lydda town, July 12, 1948 the
Palmach going from house to house and firing on every moving target killed more
than 250 Palestinians.
On October 28 and 29, 1948,
another unpublished massacre occurred in the village of Ed-Dawayma, a Haifa
sub-District. Twenty tanks from Moshe Dayan
89th Battalion surrounded the
village of ED-Dawayma (Haifa subdistrict) and committed mass murder against its
civilian inhabitants. Among the victims 75 elderly who couldnıt flee and took
refuge in a mosque. Members of 35 families discovered in a cave and
machine-gunned.
The massacre of Qibya, northwest
of Jerusalem, was carried out by Unit 101, under the command of Ariel Sharon on
Wednesday, October 14, 1953. The attack was the bloodiest and most brutal
Zionist crimes since the infamous Deir Yassin massacre. 42 houses as well as
the school and the mosque of the village were dynamited over their inhabitants.
75 women, men and children were killed.
On 28 March 1954 the Israeli
army launched a massive attack on the village of Nahalin near Bethlehem,
massacring several dozens of Palestinians and demolishing houses.
One of the most notorious acts
of terror which caused a political crisis in Israel was the Lavon affair. In
July 1954 an Israeli spy ring operating in Cairo planted bombs in British and
American cultural and information centers to discredit the Egyptian regime at
the time.
In February 28, 1955 the Israeli
army attacked Gaza and killed 39 civilians including children.
In October 29, 1956, the Israeli
Frontier Guards slaughtered about 52 innocent villagers in Kafr Qasim, near the
Jewish settlement of Betah Tekfa.
During the short invasion of
Sinai and Gaza October 29, 1956, the Israelis committed atrocities against the
refugees of Khan Yunis camp. They lined hundreds of civilians against the walls
and killed a great number in cold blood.
In 5 June, 1967 Israel unleashed
the Six-day War against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. The American ship USS Liberty
was in the Mediterranean monitoring the course of war. The Israelis were upset
to discover that it was able to decode their messages, Moshe Dayan, personally
ordered it be destroyed. The resulting unprovoked massacre was 34 U. S. Navy
lost their lives, and 171 wounded. Dayan was hailed as a hero to the US media
and the massacre was never mentioned.
In July 1981 an Israeli bomber
hit the Fakhani district of Beirut, a Palestinian refugee camp, and killed 300
people, all civilians.
Sabra and Shatila massacre: All
the above mentioned massacres are particularly pale compared to the carnage at
Sabra and Shatila Palestinian Camps in Beirut, Lebanon in 1982, during the
Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The Lebanese Phalangist Militia in unisom with
their patrons the Israelis , mass murdered 2,750 men, women and children
(according to a body count by the Red Cross on September 23, 1982) The
principal war criminal bearing legal responsibility for the massacre was then
Israeli Defence Minister General Ariel Sharon, perpetrator of the Qibya
massacre, and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, associated with Deir Yassin
massacre and assassination of UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte.
Responsibility was shared by Prime Minister Menachem Begin, guilty of
atrocities in both King David Hotel, and Deir Yassin massacres.
The number of Palestinians and
Lebanese civilians killed when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 was estimated
over
19,000 ( exact number
18,000-30,000).
November 1985, Jonathan Pollard
an Israeli mole in US naval intelligence, was sentenced to life in March 1997,
for spying for the Jewish State.
From December 9, 1987 through
December through the end of 1991 during the Intifadah, the Palestinian Human
Rights Information Center of Jerusalem and Chicago reported: 994 Palestinian
killed by Israeli troops; 119,300 injured;
66 deportations+405 others to
Marj Al Zuhor on the Lebanon border); 16,000 administrative detentions; 94,830
acres of land confiscationıs; 2,074 homes demolitions or sealing; 10,000
round-the-clock curfews of areas over 10,000 population; and 120,000 olive
trees and fruits uprooted.
On October 8, 1990 the Israeli
police gunned down in cold blood 21 Palestinian worshippers and injured 150 on
the grounds of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (the area is known as Haram al
Sharif). Police claimed that the mosque preacher urged the crowds to slaughter
Jews.
On February 25, 1994 during
Ramadan, fasting month for Muslims, about 250 worshippers were gunned down in
Al Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron by An American Jewish settler called Goldstein. To
this day Goldstein grave is a pilgrimage site for Jewish settlers.
On April 18, 1996 Israeli shells
rained down on the U. N. compound in Qana, Lebanon. When the shells had
finished their work, more than 100 civilians were murdered, including 24
children aging 3 months and 9 years old. One survivor lost 25 relatives in the
attack.
On September 25, 1997 two
Israeli Mossad (secret service) tried to assassinate Khalid Mishaal, political
leader of the Muslim Resistance Movement for Palestine, in Amman, Jordan. In
March, 1998 Sharon, the Infrastructure Minister in the Israeli Government,
warned that Israel would eventually assassinate Khalid Mishal. That is an
explicit confirmation that Israel is still using terror to further its goals.
This list by no means covers all
the Israeli terrorism. Yet, itıs a small wonder that all these crimes fail to
earn the terrorism label by Israel supporters.