Despite growing concerns and criticism, Tomi Reichental, a self confessed ex-IDF soldier who proudly boasts of fighting in the 1956 land grab and pogrom will apparently speak this Thursday at Gorey Community School. Calls to the Holocaust Educational Trust regarding the suitability of a man who has inflicted suffering, have been met with the incredulous response, ‘he’s not going to talk about his army days’. Well, that’s OK then, why not invite Radovan Karadzic over to speak about crocheting and let’s forget about his genocidal past. Also how a man who joined an offensive force whose leaders saw Arabs as little less than animals can ‘address antisemitism’ is anyone’s guess. Though the woman we spoke to at the Holocaust Educational Trust had some problems understanding how Arabs were Semites too, so that might explain the reticence on their part.
Sadly, the school has chosen to ignore the very obvious political stance allowing this ex-soldier to speak entails, so it now remains the duty of the students to quite rightly demand answers. To help you along, we’ve documented a few of the many atrocities carried out by the IDF in 1956, the pogrom Reichental says he fought in.
• In October–November 1956, the IDF overran the Gaza Strip, where it remained in control until March 1957. During the battle for this heavily populated zone and during the first weeks of occupation, the IDF killed some five hundred civilians, either in actual combat or in a subsequent series of massacres. Elsewhere during the Sinai-Suez War, IDF troops reportedly killed fleeing, and often unarmed, Egyptian troops by the hundreds and there were also reports of the mass execution of Egyptian prisoners of war. For example, at the end of October 1956, the IDF Paratroop Brigade killed some three dozen POWs near the Mitle Pass. Revelation of this affair in 1995 prompted Egyptian protests to Jerusalem and a demand for an investigation (whose results were never made public). It is a war crime to kill POWs, and massacre civilians. This is Reichental’s 1956 campaign.
• 1956: Squads of Israeli soldiers committed a hideous atrocity in the Palestinian village of Kafr Qasim, 47 innocent people were shot down in cold blood. The careful and premeditated mass murders, never received great attention in the West. Although the Israeli courts convicted eight soldiers of murder, they were all released within two years of their trial, and within three years one of them who had been convicted of killing 43 Arabs in an hour, was engaged by the municipality of Ramleh as the “officer responsible for Arab affairs in the city.” In October 1956 Israel, backed by England and France, attacked Egypt to gain control of the Suez Canal. This is Reichental’s 1956 campaign.
• In attacking Egypt, the Israelis levelled schools and factories in broad daylight. There was no excuse for this wanton destruction and it created another 300,000 Arab Christian and Muslim refugees. This is Reichental’s 1956 campaign.
It is morally reprehensible to allow a man who has unapologetically played a role in this ongoing genocide of Arabs to sidestep his past and speak of his alleged suffering. Hold him accountable as they have held aged Nazi criminals accountable. If you don’t then you have condoned the atrocities committed by the Zionist Israelis. In the words of Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Weisenthal Centre, “It’s utterly retarded to feel sorry for these people just because they are old.” We agree 100%, no criminal despite his age should walk scot free, yet we’ve still to see one Zionist Jew held accountable for their war crimes.
We said it would never happen again, which is why we believe a man who helped it happen just a decade later is not the right person to moralize about suffering. Shame on him, shame on all the schools who have invited him and shame on the Holocaust Educational Trust for belittling the suffering of the Palestinians through this man’s actions.
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME
http://mpac.ie/2009/11/17/reichental-to-speak-this-thursday/
Brothers and Sisters, you are not being asked to do much, simply make a call or email your objection to this ex-soldier speaking. Your silence today, strengthens your enemy tomorrow - Speak up and stop their advance.
