Lawrence of Cyberia

And What Did You Do In The War, Grandpa?

 

Future Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir (second left, click to enlarge) [Footnote 1], spent World War Two in Palestine as a leader of the Zionist militant group, Lohamei Herut Israel (Lehi). Unlike the Haganah, the Lehi declined to suspend its armed campaign against British rule for the duration of the war against Hitler. In 1940, the Lehi sought an alliance with Mussolini’s Fascist regime in Italy. In January 1941, it offered “to actively take part in the war on Germany’s side”.

Throughout the war, the Lehi carried out terrorist attacks against British property and personnel, against Palestinian Arabs, and against Palestinian Jews who refused their call to boycott their Arab neighbors, or who declined to pay protection money. In November 1944, Shamir was one of the three Lehi leaders who ordered the assassination of Walter Guinness (Lord Moyne), Britain’s Minister of State in the Middle East.

(After the war, in September 1948, Shamir was again one of the three Lehi leaders who ordered the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte, the U.N. mediator in the Middle East conflict. As a Swedish diplomat in WW2, Bernadotte had facilitated the release of at least 20,000 inmates - including thousands of European Jews - from Nazi concentration camps, and their evacuation to Sweden.)

Future Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin (left, click to enlarge), began WW2 as member of the free Polish forces commanded by Gen. Wladyslaw Anders. In May 1942, when the war against Hitler was far from won, Begin deserted from his unit while it was in transit from the Soviet Union to fight the Nazis on the western front, in order to fight against the British in Palestine instead. He joined the Zionist militant group the Irgun (whose leader he soon became), and opened its terrorist campaign against British forces in Palestine in February 1944.

While British forces in Europe were fighting Hitler, British forces in Palestine were subject to terrorist attacks like the ones described below, carried out under the direction of Yitzhak Shamir and Menachem Begin:

 

26 June 1940
Detective Constable Weinfeld was shot dead in Haifa by Jewish terrorists.
WO 169/148 [Footnote 2]

Constable Baruch Weinfeld, buried in Haifa Old Cemetery.

20 January 1942
At 0930 hrs. on 20/1/42 a small explosion occurred in a room on the first floor of Yael Street in Tel Aviv. The police were summoned and proceeded to the house. When they got into the room, a far more powerful explosion took place. D.S.P. Schiff was killed outright, British Inspector Turton and 1st Inspector Goldman have since died of injuries. A wire was found leading from the room where the explosion took place, over the roof to an adjacent flat. A third mine which is said to have consisted of some twenty sticks of gelignite was found unexploded later under the path leading to the house. This cold blooded act of terrorism, very similar to the way in which Inspectors Barker and Cairns met their death, is thought to be almost certainly another perpetration of Stern’s Group.
WO 169/4334

1. Deputy Superintendent Shlomo Shiff, biography (also here) and memorial at Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery;
2. Inspector Evelyn Thomas Turton, casualty record at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission [Footnote 3] and memorial; 
3. First Inspector Nahum Goldman, biography and memorial at Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery; 
4. Inspector Ronald Eric Barker (memorial) and Inspector Ralph Cairns (memorial) were killed in Jerusalem on 26 August 1939 by a landmine planted outside their house by Zionist terrorists. WO 169/148.

28 April 1942
On 22/4 rpt 22/4 attempted assassination Inspector General of Police by means of large bomb connected by 135 meters of wire. Discovered and rendered harmless. Smaller bomb placed under car of another senior Police Official fell off exploded when discovered by Arab servant killing instantly. Thought to be attempted revenge by remaining Stern Group elements.
WO 169/4334

1 May 1942
On the first of May another, happily unsuccessful, attempt at assassination was made by the Stern Group. This time the intended victim was the A.S.P. C.I.D. Jaffa. The car in which he was traveling was damaged but the occupants were unhurt other than suffering from shock.
WO 169/4334

14/15 February 1944
On the night of the 14/15th February in Haifa, British Inspector R.D. Green and British Constable H.E. Ewer, challenged two suspicious characters carrying a parcel, who turned out to be Jews. So far as can be ascertained, while Green was examining the parcel, one of the Jews shot him and the Constable with a pistol. Both were wounded and fell to the ground and the Jews ran away. One of them turned back, however, and fired at Green again as he lay on the ground. Jews then made good their escape. Parcel was found to contain Stern Group pamphlets. Both police officers are dangerously wounded [Both officers died of wounds] and separate casualty telegram is being sent.
FO 371/40125

1. Inspector Robert Duncan Green, casualty record and memorial;
2. Constable Harold Ernest Ewer, casualty record  and memorial.

24 February 1944
Two cars containing police personnel blown up by bombs in Haifa on 24/2/44 one police officer injured.
FO 371/40125

13 March 1944
Shortly after 8 p.m. on 13th March, a Jewish C.I.D. Constable named Zev Flesch was fired at outside a cafe in Petah Tikvah, and hit by five shots in the chest, stomach and leg. He died shortly afterwards. Person named was in plain clothes at the time, and was accompanied by an acquaintance and another man who had joined them a few seconds previously. His companions stated that he was shot by two persons whom they could not identify. Four empty parabellum cartridges, and one expended bullet, were found at the scene. Police suspect that this was the work of the Stern Group.
FO 371/40125

Constable Zev Flesch, memorial at Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery.  

16 March 1944
At 7.30 p.m. on 16th March, Police challenged a Jew in a Tel Aviv street. He drew a pistol and made off. Police fired six shots, whereupon the man threw away his pistol and a package which he was carrying. He was captured, and the package was found to contain three sticks of gelignite, a fuse detonator, and a number of rivets. Pistol was loaded with seven rounds. He was also in possession of magazine of parabellum pistol containing six rounds. He has been identified as David Mairi, a leading member of the Stern Group, who has been wanted by the Police for over three years.
FO 371/40125

23 March 1944
    Tel Aviv. At 6.30 p.m., C. Brown, British Chief Clerk at the District Police Headquarters, was shot as he was leaving the house. He was wounded and died later. Jewish bystander in the hall of the house at the time was wounded, not seriously. At 6.40 p.m., British Constable Langtry (sic) was shot and very seriously wounded in the street. His condition is critical. [He died of wounds four days later]. At 7.30 p.m., British Constable Caley was shot outside the Magistrate’s Court and died later.
    Jaffa. At 11.40 p.m. four rucksacks containing gelignite were discovered in an air raid shelter under Police Headquarters. Building was evacuated and shortly afterwards a number of explosions occurred completely demolishing one end of the building. Police patrol saw three suspicious looking characters who opened fire on being challenged. Police returned fire and it is believed that two suspects were wounded. One Temporary Assistant Constable was wounded in the foot.
    Jerusalem. At 10.30 p.m. number of men wearing articles of Police uniform entered Police Headquarters by means of a ladder. They were disturbed by J. Scott, Assistant Superintendent of Police, who opened fire. Intruders returned fire, killing him. Number of bombs which the party had brought with them and deposited, exploded subsequently, causing very serious damage.
    Haifa. At 11.30 p.m. a number of bombs exploded at the rear of C.I.D. Office and billets, damaging entire wing of the building. Three British Constables, Allison, Mackie and Harding were dead when extricated from the wreckage. A fourth, Ball, was admitted to hospital with serious head injuries and two others suffering from abrasions and shock. Four Arab members of the kitchen staff at billets also received injury.
FO 371/40125 

1. Charles George Brown, memorial;
2. Constable Thomas Lantry, casualty record and memorial;
3. Constable William Douglas Caley, casualty record and memorial;
4. Assistant Superintendent John William Scott, casualty record and memorial;
5. Constable Laurence Gordon Allison, casualty record;
6. Constable James Mackie, casualty record and memorial;
7. Constable Arthur Harding, casualty record and memorial.

5 April 1944
On the afternoon of 5th April a mobile police patrol in Tel Aviv approached a man in order to question him. The man opened fire with a revolver and wounded Constable Dumbleton in the face. The patrol returned fire, wounding the assailant in the legs. He was arrested and found to be in possession of a revolver (from which three rounds had been fired at the patrol), a loaded automatic, a hand grenade and a match box bomb. The assailant, who is believed to be a member of the Stern Group is now under guard in hospital, and his wounds are not serious.
FO 371/40125

9 April 1944
At about 9 p.m. on the evening of 9th April, three unknown persons, passing British Police billet in northern Tel Aviv, fired shots at two British Constables on duty outside the billet. Simultaneously, an explosion occurred near the billet and fragment resembling piece of hand grenade was found. Assailants escaped. Constables Hawkins and Quinn were slightly wounded. A Palestinian Jewish Constable approaching at the time was grazed by a bullet.
FO 371/40125

10 April 1944
At approximately 9 a.m. on 10th April, determined, but unsuccessful, attempt was made on the life of Deputy Superintendent J.P. Forde when driving in Tel Aviv in his car on the way to Divisional Police Headquarters. He was first shot at by a man with heavy automatic pistol and, when Forde fired back, a second and possibly a third gunman joined in. Forde escaped injury, but seven bullets struck the car, including the windscreen. Assailants made off before assistance arrived.
FO 371/40125

10 May 1944
At approximately 8 a.m. on 10th May Jewish Police Constable Haim Gutevich, of District C.I.D., was shot dead by unknown assailant when leaving his home in Tel Aviv. Two shots were fired and bomb thrown. In the subsequent confusion, the assailant escaped.
FO 371/40125

Constable Haim Gutevich, biography and memorial at Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery.

14 July 1944
At about 12.45 a.m. on 14th July an attack was made by terrorists on a building in the center of Jerusalem which houses the Jerusalem district police headquarters, and the district of Bethlehem and Jerusalem District Land Registry… Number of attackers is not yet known. They used one or more taxis that had been seized from their drivers at pistol point, and besides employing gelignite bombs and hand grenades appear to have been equipped with tommy guns and automatic pistols. In the light of previous outrages the methods and objective in this latest attack clearly point to the Stern Group and/or Irgun as the culprits. An Arab supernumerary constable and an Arab watchman lost their lives in the attack. A Jewish supernumerary constable is in a dangerous condition suffering from a bullet wound in the chest. Two British constables have been detained in hospital suffering from shock and superficial wounds.
FO 371/40126

8 August 1944.
In the afternoon of the 8th August, the High Commissioner and Lady MacMichael were motoring to a farewell function when the car, under police escort, was ambushed at 4 kilometers from Jerusalem, on the Jerusalem-Jaffa road, and fire was opened with tommy-guns from the side of the road. His Excellency was very slightly wounded in the hand and thigh, Lady MacMichael was unhurt, the A.D.C., Major Nicholls, was shot though the lung and seriously hurt and the police driver was also seriously wounded in the neck.
FO 371/40126

22 August 1944
Jaffa Divisional Police Headquarters, which is close to the Tel Aviv boundary, and two Police Stations on the Jaffa-TelAviv border, were attacked by armed Jews on 22 August at approximately 2300 hours… Casualties were one British Constable wounded in the leg, one Arab Constable and one Jewish temporary additional Constable seriously injured.
FO 371/40127

27 September 1944
On the night of 27 September attacks were made on four Police Stations by members of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, the military organization of the New Zionist Organization. They were planned and executed by a force estimated to have been at least 150 strong and armed with bombs and automatic weapons. There were casualties among Palestinian police and civilians and considerable damage was caused to police buildings.
FO 371/40127

29 September 1944
On the 29th September, Asst. Superintendent Wilkin of the Palestine C.I.D. was shot dead in a public street in Jerusalem by two Jews, who escaped. He was known to be an expert on Jewish Affairs. The murder was subsequently claimed by the “Fighters for the Freedom of Israel” in a clandestine pamphlet issued by that organization.
FO 141/1001

Assistant Superintendent Thomas James Wilkin, casualty record and memorial.

31 October/1 November 1944
On the night of 31st October/1st November, a series of concerted attacks was made by armed Jews on the Palestine railway system, culminating in a full-scale attack on the railway station and goods yards at Lydda… During the attack, the following casualties occurred: Killed - 1 British soldier; 1 Palestinian policeman and 2 Palestinian member of the railway staff. Believed killed - 1 Palestinian policeman. Wounded - 1 British soldier, 1 Palestinian policeman, 6 Palestinian members of the railway staff.
FO 371/45383

Leading Aircraftman John Chalmers Thomson, casualty record. 

6 November 1944
On the 6th November, in Cairo, Lord Moyne and his British military driver were assassinated by two men who subsequently confessed that they were “Fighters for the Freedom of Israel” and had carried out the murder on the instructions of that organization, for the reason that Lord Moyne was the highest political representative of the British Government in the Middle East and was pursuing a policy hostile to the interests of the Jewish nation. The men entered Egypt in British military uniform and it is possible that they may be deserters from the Palestine Regiment.
FO 141/1001

Walter Guinness (Lord Moyne), biography and memorial;
Lance Corporal Arthur Herbert William Fuller, casualty record and funeral.

 

In October 1944, Britain’s Middle East commander in chief said that Jewish terrorists in Palestine were “directly impeding the war effort of Great Britain” and “assisting the enemy”.

In Europe, people who deserted allied armies, offered their military services to the Third Reich, and spent WW2 carrying out armed attacks against allied personnel faced trial and possibly execution as collaborators with the Nazis once the war was won. In Israel, people who deserted allied armies, offered their military services to the Third Reich, and spent WW2 carrying out armed attacks against allied personnel became prime minister.

And their successor has the gall to blame the Palestinians for the Holocaust.

 

 

Footnotes

1. The posters of wanted Zionist terrorists in Palestine are from The Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem, vol.1.

2. The War Office and Foreign Office telegrams which are the original source of information on these attacks is taken from The Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem. The alphanumeric reference number at the end of each telegram refers to the file number under which the original source material is archived at the U.K. National Archives (formerly the Public Records Office) in Kew, London:

• WO 169/183 = Records of British Forces, Middle East: War Diaries, Second World War: Lydda Area (Sept 1939 - Dec 1940);
• WO 169/148 = Records of British Forces, Middle East: War Diaries, Second World War: Palestine and Trans-Jordan: G Intelligence (Sept 1939 - Dec 1940);
• WO 169/4334 = Records of British Forces, Middle East: War Diaries, Second World War: Lines of Communication: Palestine Base: General Staff Intelligence (1942);
• FO 371/40125,6,7 = Foreign Office General Correspondence: Political: Situation in Palestine (1944);
• FO 141/1001 = Foreign Office Correspondence with Embassies: Egypt: Lord Moyne: trial of his assassins (1944);
• FO 371/45383 = Foreign Office General Correspondence: Political: Terrorist activities in Palestine (1945).

3. British casualties were identified in the archives of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission via the British Palestine Police Roll of Honour.

Quote of the Week: Eric Hobsbawm

"What exactly could 'being Jewish' mean in the 1920's to an intelligent Anglo-Viennese boy who suffered no anti-Semitism and was so remote from the practices and beliefs of traditional Judaism that, until after puberty, he was unaware even of being circumcised? Perhaps only this: that sometime around the age of ten I acquired a simple principle from my mother on a now forgotten occasion when I must have reported, or perhaps even repeated, some negative observations of an uncle's behaviour as 'typically Jewish'. She told me very firmly: 'You must never do anything, or seem to do anything that might suggest that you are ashamed of being a Jew.'

I have tried to observe it ever since, although the strain of doing so is sometimes intolerable, in the light of the behaviour of the government of Israel. My mother's principle was sufficient for me to abstain, with regret, from declaring myself konfessionslos (without religion) as one was entitled to do in Austria at the age of thirteen. It has landed me with the lifetime burden of an unpronounceable surname which seems spontaneously to call for the convenient slide into Hobson or Osborn. It has been enough to define my Judaism ever since, and left me free to live as what my friend Isaac Deutscher called a 'non-Jewish Jew', but not what the miscellaneous regiment of religious or nationalist publicists call a 'self-hating Jew'. I have no emotional obligation to the practices of an ancestral religion and even less to the small, militarist, culturally disappointing and politically aggressive nation-state which asks for my solidarity on racial grounds. I do not even have to fit in with the most fashionable posture of the turn of the new century, that of 'the victim', the Jew who, on the strength of the Shoah (and in the era of unique and unprecedented Jewish world achievement, success and public acceptance), asserts unique claims on the world's conscience as a victim of persecution.

Right and wrong, justice and injustice, do not wear ethnic badges or wave national flags. And as a historian I observe that, if there is any justification for the claim that the 0.25 per cent of the global population in the year 2000 which constitute the tribe into which I was born are a 'chosen' or special people, it rests not on what it has done within the ghettos or special territories, self-chosen or imposed by others, past, present or future. It rests on its quite disproportionate and remarkable contribution to humanity in the wider world, mainly in the two centuries or so since the Jews were allowed to leave the ghettos, and chose to do so. We are, to quote the title of the book by my friend Richard Marienstras, Polish Jew, French Resistance fighter, defender of Yiddish culture and his country's chief expert on Shakespeare, 'un peuple en diaspora'. We shall, in all probability, remain so. And if we make the thought experiment of supposing that Herzl's dream came true and all Jews ended up in a small independent territorial state which excluded from full citizenship all who were not the sons of Jewish mothers, it would be a bad day for the rest of humanity - and for the Jews themselves."

-- Eric Hobsbawm: Interesting Times: A Twentieth Century Life (Pantheon, 2002, p.24).

 

Link: Obituary: Eric Hobsbawm, BBC News, 1 Oct 2012

Photo: Street sign on the lower east side, NYC, Sept 30 2006.

Is it Just Me?

So, I read this morning that the CEO of an Italian nuclear engineering company was ambushed and kneecapped yesterday by two men on a motor cycle. The working assumption so far seems to be that this might be the work of a reincarnation of the Red Brigades, protesting the austerity measures being borne by the Italian people as a result of Italy's financial crisis:

Unidentified gunmen on a motorbike shot the chief executive of an Italian nuclear engineering company in the leg on Monday, police said, in an incident reminiscent of politically motivated violence that raged in the country in the 1970s and 1980s.

Roberto Adinolfi, chief executive of Ansaldo Nucleare - majority owned by Italian defense conglomerate Finmeccanica - was shot outside his house in Genoa in northern Italy, police and judicial sources told Reuters.

Two men on a black Yamaha motorbike wearing helmets fired three shots, fracturing Adinolfi's right knee. He was not in a serious condition, the sources said.

Shooting people in the legs was a trademark practice of the Red Brigades, a left-wing guerrilla group that carried out a campaign of murder and kidnapping aimed at destabilizing Italy in the 1970s and 1980s and known as "the years of lead".

-- Gunmen shoot CEO of Italian nuclear firm on Genoa street (Reuters)

If you google the main players in the story, the Red Brigades hypothesis seems very popular with most news outlets.  And maybe this shooting really was carried out by someone identifying with them. But if it was, they picked a bit of odd target to protest austerity, didn't they? If you were the Red Brigades, and you wanted to shoot someone to protest Italy's financial crisis, wouldn't you choose ... well, a financier? The head of a nuclear engineering firm seems an oddly specific target.

Reuters attempts to make the link between Roberto Adinolfi and the current financial crisis, but it's a bit of a stretch to see how this makes him a likely target for an anti-capitalist hit:

Finmeccanica controls Ansaldo Energia, the parent company of Ansaldo Nucleare, whose other major shareholder is U.S. private equity fund First Reserve Corporation.

Roberto Adinolfi isn't a banker or a politician. He's the CEO of a nuclear engineering business that designs and builds nuclear power stations for international clients. It lists China, Romania, Argentina, Ukraine, Armenia and Slovakia as some of its current customers, and boasts that it "can additionally rely on the support of [sister company] Ansaldo Energia local offices in about  20 countries worldwide".

One of those 20 countries is Iran, where Ansaldo Energia has - since 1999 - been supplying gas turbines to Iranian power stations, and where it maintains six regional offices.

For this reason, Ansaldo Energia is on the sh*t list of the advocacy group "United Against Nuclear Iran".  Take a minute to go meet the Board of Directors of "United Against Nuclear Iran".

Meanwhile, local online news source SavonaNews.it warned against the unseemly haste in blaming leftist terrorists for the shooting in Genoa, reminding readers that Genoa - like Bologna - is a city that has been used in the past for "false flag" attacks with hidden meanings. It also pointed out that Ansaldo and its parent company Finmeccanica are allegedly involved in other activities that conceivably could have given rise to this outcome. For example, it mentions recent reports that Finmeccanica has connections with organized crime (specifically that it is involved in a money-laundering scheme for the Calabrian mafia), and notes that:

Ansaldo e Finmeccanica sono poi uno dei tasselli storici di traffici tra il lecito e l'illecito, su scala internazionale, nel settore militare e nucleare. Società che hanno "capitale" a Genova (così come il vecchio gruppo della Italimpianti), città dove sono emerse - come noi indicammo - società iraniane (di cui una di copertura di servizi segreti iraniani), interessate ai traffici illeciti (ed in violazione dell'embargo internazionale) tra le imprese italiane ed il regime iraniano.

Ansaldo and Finmeccanica are also historically one of the players in the semi-legal international trade in the military and nuclear sectors. They have their base in Genoa (like the old Italimpianti group), a city where -- as we have reported --  a number of Iranian companies have cropped up, one of which is a cover for the Iranian secret service, and all of which are interested in illegal trade (in violation of the international embargo) between Italian companies and the Iranian regime. (Translation mine)

Now, all of this proves absolutely nothing. But it does set off your conspiracy theory radar a bit, if you've been following the news about nuclear personnel elsewhere in the world being ambushed and shot by attackers on motor bikes, doesn't it?  An Italian CEO heads a nuclear engineering company that designs and builds nuclear power stations for overseas customers. In the past, the company has allegedly been involved in the twilight world of international arms and nuclear trafficking. A number of Iranian companies have reportedly cropped up recently in the city where that nuclear engineering firm is based, apparently to facilitate trade between Italian companies and Iran, in violation of the embargo. The CEO of the nuclear engineering company is ambushed by two assailants on a motor cycle and kneecapped, clearly as a message to somebody. And the  obvious assailants are the resurrected Red Brigades, and their message is "Down With Capitalism"? Really? Aren't we jumping the gun a little bit here?

Quote Of The Day For 29 October: Safsaf And Kafr Qasim

"The early history of the State of Israel is not unique. Other countries have chapters in their history of which they should be deeply ashamed. And it must also be stated that [Benny] Morris's shocking revelations of death and destruction deliberately inflicted on the Arabs of Palestine do not justify Palestinian terrorism against Israel's civilian population.

But Morris's account points to the sorry fact that there is not much that distinguishes how Jews behaved in 1948 in their struggle to achieve statehood from Palestinian behavior today. At the very least, this sobering truth should lead to a shedding of the moral smugness of too many Israelis and to a reexamination of their demonization of the Palestinian national cause."

-- Israel: The Threat from Within; by Henry Siegman, senior fellow on the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations.

 

Photo, top: Mementoes from the home of the Zaghmout family, in the depopulated Palestinian village of Safsaf, northern Israel.

At least 56, and as many as 70, Palestinian civilians were shot dead, and their bodies dumped into a pit, by Israeli soldiers who captured the village of Safsaf on 29 October 1948.

Umm Shahadah al-Salih, a Palestinian eyewitness to the massacre, recalled: "As we lined up, a few Jewish soldiers ordered four girls to accompany them to carry water for the soldiers. Instead, they took them to our empty houses and raped them. About 70 of our men were blindfolded and shot to death, one after the other, in front of us. The soldiers took their bodies and threw them on the cement covering of the village's spring and dumped sand on them...." [link]

In his diary, Yosef Nahmani (a senior officer in the Haganah and director of the Jewish National Fund in Eastern Galilee) noted that: "In Safsaf, after ... the inhabitants had raised a white flag, they [soldiers] collected and separated the men and women, tied the hands of fifty-sixty fellahin [peasants] and shot and killed them and buried them in a pit. Also, they raped several women..." and wondered: "Is there no more humane way of expelling the inhabitants than by such methods?"[link]

The victims of the massacre at Safsaf included eleven men of the Zaghmout family.

Photo, bottom: The memorial to the victims of the Kafr Qasim Massacre. On 29 October 1956, as Israel launched its attack on the Suez Canal Zone in concert with France and the U.K., Israeli Border police sealed off six Palestinian villages abutting Israel's border with the Jordanian-occupied West Bank. One of the villages was Kafr Qasim, where Border Police declared the village under curfew. About 400 residents were working the fields outside the village, and were unaware of the sudden curfew. As the first of them began to return from the fields that evening, they were stopped at the police checkpoints established at three of the entrances to the village, and executed at the side of the road.

The commander of the Israeli Border Police unit that carried out the killings was subsequently put on trial, found guilty of an "administrative error", and fined one penny. His subordinates were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, but swiftly pardoned and released.

In 2007, Israeli President Shimon Peres expressed regret for an unspecified "very serious event" that had happened at Kfar Qasim, but failed to acknowledge that the "event" in question was actually the execution of 48 Palestinian civilians, including 23 children, by Israel's Border Police.

Both photos are courtesy of Palestine Remembered, and should not be reproduced without creditting that site.

Remembering Gerard Kelly

If you grew up watching British TV anytime from the early 1970's onward, or if you were a fan of Scottish theatre in that period, then you knew Gerard Kelly.

He was an acclaimed TV comedy actor, and an exuberant panto performer, who left behind many fans when he collapsed and died suddenly last year as the result of a brain aneurysm.

In his other, off-screen persona, Gerard Kelly was a prolific and respected blogger (albeit pseudonymous, so I don't think I can link here), who spoke out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, against torture, for peace and - often and passionately - for Palestine.

He was a smart and factual writer, who wasn't interested in snark or internet wars. And he was modest and generous in dealing with fellow bloggers, including me.

I can't count how many times I have carelessly clicked through to his site over the past year, only to be saddened and disappointed once again at the fact that he is no longer there.

Today I am remembering Gerard Kelly, who died one year ago today, at the age of 51.