On the (Hebrew calendar’s) second anniversary of the callous sacrifice of existential security interests for political expediency, Uri Yarom’s Kenaf Renanim is must reading. It puts into context the viciousness of disengagement, the ongoing demonization of its victims and the indifference to their anguish.
Yarom – the decorated commander of Israel’s first helicopter squadron – is the salt of this country’s earth, especially as he suitably hails from the left side of its great and definitive political divide. That lends him ultra-respectability and credibility.
In 2001 he included in his autobiographical book (p. 71) an eyewitness account of what he saw on June 22, 1948, as the IZL arms ship Altalena blazed off Tel Aviv. The men on board – mostly idealistic Holocaust survivors intent on joining their reborn nation’s struggle for independence – dove into the sea under a hail of gunfire. Some were hurt, but the bullets still kept coming, even though the boys flailed desperately among the waves. CONTINUE
So truthfully spelled out! It is so tragic that the young Begin would later give in to leftist ideology. Ben Gurion was undeserved of the airport in his name!
I personally love Sarah Honig.I think she is the best Staff writer not only in JP but all of Israel.
With regard to Altalena: The old saying what goes around comes around. Wasn`t it Ironic or prophetic that the first Jewish murderer of Jews in Israel, Rabin; was killed also by a Jew similar to those he killed on the Altalena? Some might say it was divine intervention.