Posted on July 11, 2007
On January 14, 1951, at about seven in the evening, a bomb - or perhaps it was a
hand grenade - was tossed into the open courtyard of the Masuda Shemtov
synagogue in Baghdad. The courtyard served as a gathering place for Jews, prior
to their departure for the airport, on their way to Israel. At the time of the
terror attack, the place was filled with several hundred people. Four of them,
including a 12-year-old boy, were killed; about 10 were wounded. The Iraqi
authorities blamed two activists from the Zionist underground, and had them
executed.
The British embassy in Baghdad relayed to London its own assessment of the
motives behind the attack: Activists of the Zionist movement wanted to highlight
the danger for the Jews of Iraq, in order to spur the State of Israel to
accelerate the pace of their immigration. At the time, there was serious debate
in Israel on this issue and some wished to slow down the rate of emigration from
Iraq. The British embassy's appraisal is quoted in a book by Esther Meir of
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The embassy also offered a second possible
explanation: The bombs were meant to influence well-off Jews in Iraq who wished
to stay there, to get them to change their minds and come to Israel, too.
Compared to the terror currently raging in Baghdad, the 1951 bombing barely
rates a footnote, but in the history of immigration to Israel, it still has
significance, some of it political - because the bombing at the synagogue fueled
a whole host of rumors and accusations. Some claimed that it was carried out by
Mossad agents, with the objective of frightening the Jews and encouraging them
to move to Israel. This claim is also accepted by several Mizrahi scholars and
activists, and is sometimes cited as one of the arguments against Zionism.
The rumor particularly haunted former minister Mordechai Ben-Porat, the Mossad's
man in Baghdad: Ben-Porat even sued for slander, and won an apology. In the
Haganah archives, correspondence between Mossad agents in Baghdad and their
handlers in Tel Aviv is preserved, and includes their reports on the synagogue
bombing. The impression that arises from the exchange of telegrams is that the
Mossad agents in Baghdad and their superiors in Tel Aviv did not know who was
responsible for the attack.
Nonetheless, the issue has remained a mystery - for one thing because the state
continues to conceal information related to the episode. I am referring to
information David Ben-Gurion wrote in his journal on October 10, 1960. On that
day, nearly 10 years after the incident, the prime minister received a detailed
report about it from Isser Harel, then head of the Shin Bet. A few lines of what
Ben-Gurion wrote are classified. Some time after Harel reported on the incident
to Ben-Gurion, the Mossad established a commission of inquiry that "did not
find any factual proof that the bombs were hurled by any Jewish organization or
individual." The commission's conclusions were made public in a book
written by Ben-Porat.
Now, a recent publication is shedding new light on the mystery. The revelations
come from Yehuda Tager, an Israeli agent who operated in Baghdad, was exposed
and spent about 10 years in prison there. According to Tager, the bombing of the
Masuda Shemtov synagogue was not carried out by Israelis, but by members of the
Muslim Brotherhood. However, at least one activist from the Zionist underground,
Yosef Beit-Halahmi, did apparently carry out several terror attacks after the
arrest of his comrades, in the hope of proving to the Iraqi authorities that the
detainees were not involved in these actions. This is the first time someone
involved in the episode is confirming that members of the Zionist underground
did commit bombings in Baghdad.
The interview with Tager, now 83, appears in a new book by the British
journalist Arthur Neslen, titled "Occupied Minds." Tager quoted a
conversation he had with Beit-Halahmi's widow: "She said she had asked him
(if he had thrown the bombs) and he had replied that if a bomb was thrown while
we were in prison, it would have proved that it was not us who bombed the Masuda
Shemtov. She implied that he, on his own initiative, without orders from Israel,
did it in order to save us."
Ehud Ein-Gil, deputy editor of Haaretz Magazine, who came across this
information, called up Tager and the latter confirmed the version of events
depicted in Neslen's book. But when he appeared before the Mossad's commission
of inquiry in 1960, Tager did not tell this part of the story. Ein-Gil asked him
why.
Tager: "There is a time and a place for everything. At that time, saying
something like that would have been greatly frowned upon by the community. The
conditions have changed since then, and here in Israel the true story is already
known, at least among former Iraqis."
Some time ago, Be'er Sheva Mayor Yaakov Terner received a call from the head of
the delegation of the European Commission to the State of Israel, Ramiro
Cibrian-Uzal. "The representative invited himself to come see me,"
Terner said this week. "I had no idea what he wanted from me, but he also
asked that I arrange a tour for him of the Israel Air Force Museum, and of
course I was glad to do so. I would have gone with him myself, but I had an
important firefighting convention to attend at the same time."
A few days later, Terner learned that the European diplomat had come to town to
open a photograph exhibition organized by the women of Machsom Watch; the
European Union supports them and the exhibition, too, which was going to be
presented at the local teachers' center. The center's director had given her
approval, and the Machsom Watch women had sent out invitations and organized a
panel discussion to accompany the opening.
Terner received a number of protests, including some from bereaved parents, and
then barred the opening of the exhibition. "I'm not against the
presentation of the exhibition," Terner said this week. "But not in a
municipal educational institution."
The photographs reflect five years of daily, routine harassment and humiliation.
I remarked to Terner that actually nothing would be more suitable than to have
these photos presented to youths who are soon to enlist in the Israel Defense
Forces - in other words, to hang them in an educational institution - as they
ought to learn as soon as possible how to abuse Palestinians.
Terner answered that when he was the police commander, he inculcated proper
rules of conduct toward the Palestinians. He also said he had joined Kadima
because he was in favor of Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, and now he was in
favor of Ehud Olmert. But if he allowed the Machsom Watch exhibition to proceed,
the next thing you know, the Amona people would show up and want to present
photos showing how the police beat them up, and what would he tell them? They
wouldn't have let the Machsom Watch people exhibit their photographs in the
Knesset either, said Terner, and suggested that the exhibition be mounted at Kay
College or Ben-Gurion University.
The women of Machsom Watch petitioned the administrative court in the city.
Attorney Gabi Lasky argued on their behalf that the mayor's decision infringed
on their freedom of expression and also caused them financial losses. In court,
the women were astounded to see the mayor himself, and to hear the explanation
of why they must not be allowed to display their photographs: This is political
propaganda whose aim is "to undermine the moral right of the State of
Israel to exist as a Jewish state in the land of Israel," argued the city's
attorney, Elisha Peleg. Terner did not try to stop him.
The volunteers of Machsom Watch sometimes manage to dispel the tension at the
checkpoints and to solve humanitarian problems on the spot; their organization
is highly regarded abroad and does much to preserve what little is left of
Israel's good name. But endangering the state's existence - well, naturally,
this is something that must be absolutely prohibited. It certainly cannot be
allowed in an educational institution, at least not in Be'er Sheva, and Judge
Neil Hendel understood this and immediately justified the ban on the exhibit.
"We also considered the issue of the public institution's freedom of
expression," he wrote.
The expectation in Jerusalem is that if Avigdor Lieberman is brought into the
coalition, the Austrian government will recall its ambassador from Israel, just
as Israel recalled its ambassador from Vienna in the wake of Joerg Haider's rise
to power. Hey, just kidding. How can one even compare the two?
Click
here to see the this article at Ha'aretz's website
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My Humble Idea:
I feel that both the Palestinians & the Israelis see themselves as such 'totems' of suffering that rules of human decency are suspended. The Arab world regards the Palestinians as 'pushy, smart, Canaanites that you got to keep in their place' Israel makes life, socially & economically, hell for Palestinians.
The Muslim world, which ignores the suffering of Jews in the 20 century, proposes an impossible solution - dissolve Israel Both peoples need defensible borders, & secure access to the water of Mount Hermon. I suggest:
Israel gives up the southern two thirds of Golan, & a connecting land to the West Bank, south of Yam Kinneret; Israel gives up the triangle from Metom to the Sdom plain. Israel retains the Northern Golan as far as Mount Hermon. & annexes a defense buffer strip from the Gibo'a Mountains to Latrun. Israel leaves the Gaza strip.
Until both States move away from the ghosts of history, they cannot mingle.