BEAUTIFUL, BELOVED AMIT MAN – WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH

When the missiles began to rain down, a 22-year-old paramedic at kibbutz Be’eri chose to save others before herself.

By Forest Rain Marcia

Words are tools that describe and create reality. Powerful yet only representations, a reflection, not the experience itself. There is a gap between the two which usually goes unnoticed. But when the experience is profound the gap becomes sharp and painful. The words fall, broken and twisted into the chasm that they cannot bridge.

What words could encompass the whirlwind of evil that swept through this little building, snatching lives away and laughing the whole time?

The dental clinic in Be’eri was designated as a gathering place in an emergency. It was not equipped for the disaster that hit the community on October 7^th. Who could imagine a full-scale invasion of monsters armed to the teeth and eager to rape and burn families alive?

It was here that the Children of Light fought the Children of Darkness.

**Killed while treating the wounded**. 22-year-old Magen David Adom paramedic Amit Man was killed when Hamas terrorists stormed Be’eri’s clinic. (Courtesy of MDA)

What words have enough truth in them, enough depth, to describe what happened in this little clinic? What words have enough light in them to describe Amit Man, beautiful and beloved, dedicated to life, choosing others above herself when the missiles began? She could have left the kibbutz. She could have stayed in the safe room. Instead, she took her paramedic’s bag and ran to the clinic. What words are enough to describe Dr. Daniel Levi, Amit, and a nurse battling for seven hours to treat the injured and save lives? What words are powerful enough to honor the two members of the kibbutz’s emergency response team who stood guard, fighting off the monsters so that the healers could treat the injured?

Seven hours, an eternity in hell.

Throughout the battle Amit, just 22 years old, kept her composure and constantly updated the Magen David Adom (MDA) headquarters about the condition of the wounded, pleading for evacuation. When the medical supplies ran out, she caressed the heads of the injured, gave them water, and encouraged them. Two of the survivors recounted that the assistance she provided saved their lives.

Around 2:00 PM the brave men battling to protect the clinic ran out of ammunition.

Amit managed to send a message to her family: “I don’t think I will get out of here. Please stay strong if something happens to me.”

“They’re here.”

Three little words. So much, unspeakable horror.

In her last call to her family Amit can be heard screaming “Shachar” the name of one of the men trying to protect her. Did she scream because she had already been shot in the leg or was it because she was watching his life run out of his body and she couldn’t help?

When Amit was found they saw she had been shot in the leg, managed to apply a tourniquet to herself, but was shot again and died.

**Moving Messages**. Messages on the bullet-pocked wall to those murdered at Kibbutz Be’eri’s medical clinic.

There are no words profound enough to convey what it is like to stand in the place where evil swept through, snatching lives away and laughing.

The walls, riddled with bullet holes, are silent yet accusatory. Here the Children of Light shone in all their glory. Here their sacrifice, love, dedication, honor, and dignity were not enough to stop the evil, ravenous and hellbent on stamping out life.

People whose loved ones were ripped from them here wrote on the walls, words doomed to fail in conveying the depths of their emotions.

The flatness of the words knocked the breath from my lungs. I saw words that attempted to infuse dignity and respect in a place where dignity was stolen. I saw words that attempted to express love and honor. And then one little word jumped out at me: “Mom”.

Amit Man’s sister Haviva and mother wrote these words on the wall, in between the bullet holes:

In memory of Amit Man, our little sister,
the beloved of our hearts who was murdered while saving lives,
together with Dr. Daniel Levi,
Shachar Tzemach,
and Eitan Hadad.

We love you forever and ever.

Mom !
Haviva

As time passes and others forget, we are left to pick up the debris left by the storm.

October 7^th isn’t over.

A song for Amit – Nothing will hurt me

About the writer:

Forest Rain is an American-born Israeli who lives in northern Israel. She’s a branding expert and storyteller. Her passion is giving voice to the stories of Israel illuminating its profound events, cherished values, and exemplary role models that transcend borders, casting Israel as an eternal wellspring of inspiration and strength for a global audience.

Forest Rain made Aliyah at the age of thirteen. After her IDF service, she co-developed and co-directed a project to aid victims of terrorism and war. These activities gave her extensive first-hand experience with the emotional and psychological processes of civilians, soldiers, and their families, wounded and/or bereaved and traumatized by terrorism and war (grief, guilt, PTSD, etc). Throughout the years, she has continued to voice the stories, pain, and strength of traumatized Israelis to motivate others to provide support and counter the hate that threatens Jews in Israel, around the world, and Western civilization itself through the understanding that what begins with the Jews never ends with Jews.

Inspiration from Zion: https://inspirationfromzion.com/

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

BARTALI RAISED THE BAR

In a post October 7 world when Jews again are tagged and targeted, the name of cycling legend Bartali personifies true heroism– reflections and recollections during the 2024 Tour de France.

By David E. Kaplan

This year’s 2024 Tour de France – won in spectacular fashion by Slovenian Tadej Pogačar – had plenty of high moments and the breaking of long-held records. For the most part, I watched on TV all 21 stages. What particularly caught my attention was on the Saturday and penultimate stage of the grueling 21-stage race that ended the next day in Nice in a nail-biting ‘time trial’, was the commentator’s line which he repeated again and again:

“If Pogačar wins today’s mountain stage, he will equal the record of 5 mountain stage wins in a Tour with Gino Bartali.”

Bartali? Where had I heard that name before?

**Records and Revelations**. Tour de France 2024 race leader Tadej Pogačar climbs to victory on penultimate stage 20 atop Col de la Couillole, equaling the record of the great Gino Bartali who saved Jews during WWII in Italy. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

It rang a clangor and for more than only cycling. I let the thought linger until the end of the stage when Pogačar won in spectacular fashion and the animated commentator was battling to catch his breath as if he had himself just raced the132.8 km and said:

“The only other man to have won five mountain stages in one Tour was Gino Bartali in 1948.”

Again, the name Bartali and coupled with a “76-year-old record had been equaled.”

76 years…Bartali……!

And then I remembered.

Pogačar had equaled a record of not only the leading cyclist of his era, a three-time winner of the Giro d’Italia (1936,1937 and 1946), who won the Tour de France in 1938 and again after the war, a decade later in 1948 but had, in the intervening years, saved the lives of Jews in wartime Italy.

It all came back to me when I recalled back to a Yom HaShoah ceremony many years earlier in my hometown of Kfar Saba in central Israel. That year, the annual memorial ceremony for the six million victims of the Holocaust focused on the connection between sport and the Holocaust and related the story of an Italian, not Jewish and a great cyclist named Gino Bartali, who at great risk to himself and his family, had saved Jews from certain death at the hands of the Nazis. There was good reason why on July 7, 2013, Yad Vashem recognized Gino Bartali as Righteous Among the Nations.

**Writing on the Wall**. Years later, Gino Bartali sticks his head out his car window to view graffiti honouring him and other Tour de France winners – Ottavio Bottecchia (1924), himself (1938), Fausto Coppi (1949) and *Gastone Nencini (1960).*

During his lifetime, Bartali didn’t talk about his wartime activities and was only after his death in 2000 that details began to emerge.

A villager from a poor Tuscan family, Bartali in the second half of the 1930s was reaching the peak of his career having won his first Giro d’Italia in 1936 and then retaining the title in 1937 when war clouds began to ominously loom over Europe. When he then in 1938, won his first Tour de France, it was in the aftermath of this triumph that revealed as much about Bartali’s moral character as his cycling prowess.

**Cycling Courier**. Gino Bartali and his bicycle that helped saved the lives of Jews.

As related by Bartali’s son Andrea, there was one particular fan of his father who was following the cyclist’s progress with more Machiavellian than sporting interest – Benito Mussolini, the country’s fascist leader. Under the evil spell of Hitler, “He believed,” said Andrea, “that if an Italian rider triumphed in the Tour de France it would show that Italians too belonged to the master race.”

**Man of Modesty**. Bartali wanted to be remembered for his sporting career on his bike and when asked about his wartime excursions, used to say: “I did the only thing I was good at, I cycled.” In truth, he did so much more risking his life to save Jews from the clutches of the Nazis in wartime Italy.

Bartali would go on to win won the 1938 Tour de France but for him, unlike for Mussolini it was a ‘race’ only in a cycling not in an ethnicity sense. While the Italian leader felt Bartali had contributed to fascist prestige and wanted to exploit the cyclist’s win, Bartali would have none of that.

“When my father was invited to dedicate his win to Mussolini and the fascist cause, he refused,”revealed Andrea. A risk-taker on the saddle, he was even more so when off. By refusing to dedicate his win to the fascist cause “my dad was insulting il Duce. He was taking a great personal risk.”

However, he would take far more serious risks in the near future.

**Streets of Salvation**. Bartali’s bike on display in the cycling museum in Madonna del Ghisallo Church, Lombardy. Withing the frame and handlebars, were hidden the photographs and counterfeit ID documents for Jews fleeing for their lives from the Nazis.

In the middle of that year’s 1938 Tour de France, on the 14 July, Mussolini published the Manifesto della razza (Manifesto on Race), which led to Italian Jews being stripped of their Italian citizenship and any position in government or the professions. These antisemitic laws demonstrated the increasing influence of Adolf Hitler over Mussolini. Nevertheless, Italy still managed to remain a country in which Jews could at least take refuge, but that all terrifyingly transitioned when Italy surrendered to the allies in 1943 and the German army responded by occupying northern and central parts of the country. They immediately started rounding up Jews and sending them to concentration camps.

**Smiling Monsters**. Bartali defied them both – Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler riding in an open car, circa 1940s.(Fotosearch/Getty Images)

It was at this point that Bartali, a devout Catholic, was asked by the Cardinal of Florence, Archbishop Elia Dalla Costa, to join a secret network offering protection and safe passage to Jews.

His role in the network spearheaded by the Cardinal together with Rabbi Nathan Cassuto (later arrested by the Nazis, deported and sent to his death) was uniquely suited to his temperament and talents. As an internationally renowned cyclist; a national hero with a face recognised by all, he became an unsuspecting courier – on two wheels – relaying forged documents, most of it relating to Jews trying to escape.

ON THE ROAD

So, on the ‘surface’ (literally as well as figuratively), Bartali was undertaking long training rides for which he was renowned, but in reality, he was carrying photographs and counterfeit identity documents to and from a secret printing press produced by the Assisi network, another rescue operation initiated by Church people in that town. All these secret documents were hidden in the frame and handlebars of his bicycle.

Riding through many roadblocks manned by Italian fascists as well as Nazis, when Bartali was stopped and searched, he specifically asked that his bicycle not be touched “since the different parts were very carefully calibrated to achieve maximum speed.”

A perfectly credible explanation.

At remarkable risk, Bartali cycled thousands of kilometres across Italy, peddling between cities as far apart as Florence, Lucca, Genoa, Assisi and the Vatican in Rome.

At one point he was arrested and questioned by the head of the Fascist secret police in Florence where he lived and for a period, went into hiding, living incognito in the town of Citta Di Castello in Umbria.

In addition to these defiant exploits, Bartali hid his Jewish friend Giacomo Goldenberg and his family.

“He hid us in spite of knowing that the Germans were killing everybody who was hiding Jews,” Goldenberg’s son, Giorgio would later reveal.

“He was risking not only his life but also his family. Gino Bartali saved my life and the life of my family. That’s clear because if he hadn’t hidden us, we had nowhere to go.”

The Goldenberg family would emigrate to the emerging Jewish state after the war. Young Giorgio Goldenberg, son of Bartali’s friend, would take with him a signed 1940 photo Bartali had given him of his cycling victories. Giorgio now goes by the name of Shlomo Paz and has three children and five grandchildren and lives outside of Tel Aviv.

BRAVE BARTALI

**Portrait of a Cyclist**. The 1941 photo Gino Bartali gave to young Giorgio Goldenberg who would change his name to Shlomo Paz and live outside Tel Aviv.

Andrea Bartali says that eventually “little by little my father told me about his actions during the war.” However, “he made me promise at that time not to tell anyone.”

An unusual type of hero was Bartali.

When asked why he could not speak about his father’s heroic wartime exploits, he replied that his father had said:

“You must do good, but you must not talk about it. If you talk about it, you’re taking advantage of others misfortunes for your own gain.”

**Father and son**. Gino Bartali with his son Andrea who would years later be in Jerusalem to see his late father honoured at Yad Vashem.

Because Bartali didn’t want to be acknowledged for what he had done, very few of those he helped ever knew his name or what role he had played in their rescue.

Andrea Bartali says his father refused to view his actions as heroic.

“When people were telling him, ‘Gino, you’re a hero’, he would reply: ‘No, no – I want to be remembered for my sporting achievements. Real heroes are others….”

Really? If Bartali been caught by the Nazis – despite being a sporting hero – he most likely would have been shot.

**Living Legacy**. Bartali’s son Andrea Bartali visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem in 2013, where his father was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations for risking his life to save Jews during WWII.

None of this was related by the sports commentator at this year’s 2024 Tour de France while he constantly made the comparisons between Pogačar and Bartali. Probably, like the Jews Bartali saved, the commentator did not even know the story.

However, for those who do know and remember, in a post October 7 world when Jews again are tagged and targeted, the name Bartali personifies true heroism – others before self.

**The Road Ahead**. Members of the ISRAEL-PREMIER-TECH team at the 2024 Tour de France emblazoning to a global audience on their cycling attire the name ISRAEL and the Star of David.

*Feature picture:
Hero on and off the bike. Gino Bartali rides uphill in the 1938 Tour de France.(Photo STF/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

EVIDENCE OF EVIL

I know evil exists; I’ve seen the evidence

By Rolene Marks

Warning: This article contains information that is not for sensitive readers

I have covered a lot during since 7 October. I have been down to the south, walked the killing fields of Kfar Aza, Nahal Oz, the Nova site and more. I have looked into the eyes of the families of hostages as they have pleaded for us to keep telling the stories of their loved ones to remind the world to fight for their release. I have interviewed lawyers and first responders who gathered the evidence to speak for our women and men who have been and continue to be sexually violated by Hamas. I have seen more footage and photography of the atrocities committed by Hamas than the human soul can bear – but this week I saw the evidence of another side of this evil.

**Targeting Civilians**. Orders from Hamas found in Sderot instructing their unleashed killers to raid “restaurants, bakeries, taxi stations.”

As journalists, we are the recorders of history, the witnesses that often speak for those who cannot, the storytellers of events and the pursuers of truth. Since 7 October, it has been at times an excruciating job but one that is almost sacred. In the face of growing denial, we have a duty to remind the world of what happened that Black Sabbath.

I was invited with a very small group of journalists to view evidence that the IDF Intelligence had captured in Israel and Gaza at the Israel Intelligence Commemoration Centre (IICC) on 7 October and throughout Operation Iron Swords. It is a chilling testament to the depths of evil and the meticulous planning that resulted in the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and foreign nationals. There is no end to the depths to the depravity they carried out – and what their intentions were.

The evidence includes examples from the arsenal of weapons used by Hamas terrorists such as Bangalore’s to breach fences and walls, RPG’s, AK-47’s bayonets, thermobaric bombs, grenades, IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices) and much more as well as headbands, identity documents, backpacks and personal effects belonging to various terror factions. Guides and manuals found on terrorists, included ISIS instructions on how to create toxic gas weapons. Two of the motorcycles that were among those used by the terrorists are also on display. Hamas breached Israel at 30 different points and entered in 150 pick-up trucks and 350 motorcycles. Their intention was to get as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

**‘Exports’ from Gaza**. Some of the weapons from Gaza used by terrorists on their murderous spree in southern Israel.

Kidnapping kits taken from the backpacks of terrorists are testimony to how meticulously planned the invasion was. The plan was to kidnap as many civilians and take them to Gaza. The kidnapping kits include tourniquets, syringes and drugs to take hostages and Tasers. Hostages had more value alive than dead but we know now how many corpses were ‘kidnapped’ as well.

The most chilling part of the exhibition is the collection of documentation and the evidence of incitement. Operational orders found included the instructions:

“Know that this enemy of yours is an incurable disease, except for head decapitation and uprooting hearts and livers”

A translation document explains how to say Hebrew phrases such as “women here“, “children here“, “take off your pants” and “take off your clothes“.

**Mapped for Massacre**. Detailed map of Kibbutz Be’eri where 102 Israeli civilians were brutally murdered including Vivian Silver, a Canadian-Israeli peace activist and women’s rights activist.

Other documents include detailed layout of a training area, designed to look like a kibbutz and plans for where to kidnap civilians. A map of Kibbutz Be’eri with neighborhoods clearly marked was also found. The map was found on one of the Hamas terrorists and had been torn up as he tried to destroy it before it was discovered. The map shows the areas of entry into the kibbutz, after Hamas gathered intelligence from Gazan workers from the kibbutz who entered Israel with work permits. The area that was purposely targeted were the houses to the south side of the kibbutz where families with young children lived.

Evidence from Gaza including copies of “Mein Kampf” translated into Arabic and documents proving employment at UNRWA as well as photographs and identity documents of Ashraf Mahd el Madhoun, and Islamic Jihad operative, posing with his family. He was an employee of UNRWA. Hamas would regularly have property ownership relationships with UNRWA and there is a collection of signed contracts as well as certificates of course completion.

**Killer’s Literature**. Examples of incite to murder literature including Hitler’s Mein Kampf in Arabic found by the IDF.

We hear a lot about the incitement in the Palestinian Territories, but when you are confronted with the evidence of it, it is a punch to the solar plexus. One of the most popular books found in your average Gazan home, displaying the level of indoctrinated from the cradle to the grave is a book for children about killing Jews with their car. There are also books about the “history of the Jews” where the worst antisemitic tropes are presented as fact. There are numerous books of collections of religious decrees or Fatwas that share religious justification to commit the unspeakable atrocities that were committed on 7 October.

**UN complicity in Mass Murder**. As confirmed by the ID card, this Islamic Jihad terrorist was also an UNRWA worker.

As journalists who have covered the atrocities and seen the footage, photos, and are familiar with the methods used by Hamas and other terror organizations, hearing medical and forensic explanations was as horrific as it was in the days and weeks that followed the invasion. I will spare you the details but I saw the evidence that feminist organisations, college students, social-justice “warriors” and so many deny. I saw the horror that Hamas carried out will glee and have sworn to commit again and again and again.

**Translations to Terrorise**. To assist Hamas abductors of Israeli hostages, they were found to carry Arabic-Hebrew lists of relevant words and phrases to assist in their monstrous activities.

The IICC will open a permanent exhibition of the evidence on 7 October 2024. The exhibition will be open to the public. Speaking to “Major T” who guided us through the evidence, he told us, “People can see that 7 October was very well planned for many years,” he continues. “It is important for people to see what happened because there is so much denial,” he says.

Evil exists. I know, because I saw the evidence with my own eyes.

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 28 July 2024

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

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THE ISRAEL BRIEF- 22-25 July 2024
(Click on the blue title)

STOP PRESS

DEATH and DISBELIEF

Lay of the Land joins all in Israel who are stunned by the 12 children killed and many seriously wounded by Hezbollah rocket that hit soccer field in Druze village in Golan

**Faces without Futures**.12 children and youth killed by a Hezbollah rocket fired from Lebanon
upon Druze village of Majdal Shams on July 27, 2024.

Lay of the Land’s image of the week

“OUR FIRST VICTORY IS WE’RE HERE”

Sailing down the Seine – Israel at opening ceremony of 2024 Paris Olympics

President of Israel’s Olympic Committee, **Yael Arad**:
“*Our athletes… are here to achieve their dreams, but there is another layer.…Our first victory is that we’re here …* *What is leading us is the flag of Israel….In our internal, secret drawer, every one of us is taking all the strength of the Israeli people.* *We’re bringing with us the hostages, the fallen, the families, everything surrounding October 7 will be with us in our hearts*.”

Articles

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

THE PEOPLE AND THE BOOK

An in-depth illuminating account of WWII Nazi fugitives in the UK and their escape from British justice.
By Dr. Efraim Zuroff director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (Israel)

**Escape from Justice**. Why were “*mass murders*” – Nazi collaborators in Eastern Europe – given refuge in Britain after 1945 and why was there only one conviction out of hundreds of cases?

THE PEOPLE AND THE BOOK
(Click on the blue title)

(2)

NINE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE HOUTHI’S ATTACK ON ISRAEL

The fire burning in Yemeni port is Israel’s message delivered loud and clear
By Jonathan Feldstein

**Rapid Reply**. In response to Houthi’s lethal drone attack on Tel Aviv, Israeli fighter jets attack the Yemeni port of Hodeidah leaving it ablaze as oil tanks burn. A warning message delivered but will it deter?

NINE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE HOUTHI’S ATTACK ON ISRAEL
(Click on the blue title)

(3)

GLOBAL CONCERN FOR GAZA WHILE SUDAN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS MOUNTS

While Sudan slips towards a disaster of historic proportions there is minimal media coverage and global concern!
By Allan Wolman

**Failure to Feel**. Sudanese refugees fleeing for their lives in the country’s Darfur region is of little to no interest to the mass of protesting college students for Gaza across Western Europe of North America!

GLOBAL CONCERN FOR GAZA WHILE SUDAN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS MOUNTS
(Click on the blue title)

LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

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THE ISRAEL BRIEF- 22-25 July 2024

The Israel Brief – 22 July 2024 – Israel strikes Port in Yemen in response to drone attack.

The Israel Brief – 23 July 2024 – Fatah and Hamas sign unity agreement and more on The Israel Brief.

The Israel Brief – 24 July 2024 – Trigger warning! First male Victim of sexual assault on 7/10 speaks.

The Israel Brief – 25 July 2024 – Bodies of 5 hostages recovered and more on The Israel Brief.

THE PEOPLE AND THE BOOK

An in-depth illuminating account of WWII Nazi fugitives in the UK and their escape from British justice.

By Dr. Efraim Zuroff director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (Israel)

(*First published in The Jerusalem Report)

The book ‘Safe Haven’ is one that should attract several diverse audiences of readers. Former BBC reporter Jon Silverman, who covered the British Nazi War Crimes Act issue from beginning to end, and his co-author Robert Sherwood, an expert on the post-World War II prosecution of Nazi war criminals, have written an excellent history of the fate of the legislation passed in the British Parliament in Spring 1991 to enable the prosecution of Holocaust perpetrators living in the United Kingdom. Theirs is a cautionary tale regarding an important and highly justified judicial initiative, launched to prosecute Nazi war criminals who had illegally immigrated to Great Britain, which in practical terms, only ONE individual was convicted and punished out of many clearly guilty perpetrators. This was a miserable failure but ultimately had a positive impact on Holocaust consciousness in the United Kingdom.

**Escaping Justice**. ‘*SAFE HAVEN’* by Jon Silverman and Robert Sherwood is the first book to examine the police and legal inquiries in the UK after the passage of the War Crimes Act in 1991. It provides revelatory information about Nazi collaborators in Eastern Europe given refuge in Britain after 1945 and explains why there was only one conviction out of hundreds of cases.

The authors explain the practical “failure” of the bill in great detail, and point out how quite a few more mass murderers could have been convicted, had the British legal bureaucracy been more flexible, and had there been greater political will to convict and punish these Eastern European Nazi collaborators. Thus, this story is not only about the Holocaust, or post-World War II justice, but also about how governments function and how justice is or isn’t achieved in a leading Western democracy. On a personal level, the book also deals with an important chapter of the efforts of the Simon Wiesenthal Center to help facilitate the prosecution of Nazi criminals. In 1986, I was hired by the center to open an office in Jerusalem, which would focus on Eastern European Nazi collaborators who had immigrated to Western democracies. By this point, it was common knowledge that all the major Anglo-Saxon democracies which had fought against the Nazis had admitted at least dozens, if not hundreds, of the worst of Hitler’s henchmen as refugees. (The only exception was South Africa, which was closed hermetically to immigration in those years.) Canada and Australia had already been alerted to the problem and were discussing possible steps to take, but Great Britain and New Zealand ostensibly had no indication that they also had the same problem. On October 22, 1986, however, the Wiesenthal Center submitted a list I compiled of 17 Latvian and Lithuanian Nazi collaborators living in Great Britain to Donald Ballentine, the British consul in Los Angeles, which marked the beginning of the process that led to the War Crimes Act. We subsequently sent 50 more names to the British authorities and did our best, together with the local supporters of the initiative, to convince the government to pass the bill and maximize its impact. The “heart” of the book and its most interesting chapters are about the sole conviction, how it was achieved, and the cases of suspects who were obviously guilty but for technical reasons or simple bad luck (their premature demise or the refusal of eyewitnesses to their crimes to testify against them) could not be convicted. Thus, for example, Anthony Sawoniuk, a cruel Byelorussian policeman who participated in many executions of Jews in his hometown of Domachevo, was successfully convicted because of the testimony of eyewitnesses to the murder of local Jewish women and the fact that he was the only person in town named Andrusha. In three other cases, the British police and prosecutors were not so lucky, and as a result, mass murderers from Lithuania, Latvia, and Belarus escaped punishment.

**Murderer of Thousands**. War crimes suspect Anton Gecas who died in 2001 and never brought to trial, was the head of a special police battalion responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of Jews, partisans and Communist Party members in Lithuania and Belarus in 1941.

The most famous case was that of Antanas Gecevicius, who changed his name in Scotland to Anton Gecas. He was the “star” of my original list, having served as an officer in the notorious Lithuanian 12th Auxiliary Police Battalion, which was sent in October 1941 to Belarus, where they murdered at least 20,000 Jews. According to members of his unit, who were prosecuted in Soviet Lithuania, Gecas not only issued orders to murder Jews but finished off those not killed by the initial round of bullets. Gecas denied the accusations and filed a defamation suit against Scottish TV, and he sued me for libel because I accused him of those crimes in my book Occupation: Nazi-Hunter. Gecas lost his suit against Scottish TV and was called a criminal; but luckily for him, the standard of proof was based on the civil standard, which fell short of the threshold of “beyond a reasonable doubt,” which would have paved the way for his prosecution. In addition, at least a dozen veterans of Gecas’s unit were found living in the UK, to whom the Scottish war crimes team were ready to grant immunity if they testified against Gecas. But the British refused to exempt them from prosecution, and without that promise none of them were willing to testify against him. Some of them were willing to answer a few questions about the unit but not to deliver strong enough evidence against Gecas.

**Jew-Killer Convicted**. In Britain’s war crimes trial at the Old Bailey in 1999, Anthony Sawoniuk was given two life sentences in 1999 for the murder of 18 Jews in his hometown of Domachevo, which was then in Nazi-occupied Byelorussia (now Belarus) in 1942. (Photo: Reuters)

A second case of a murder squad officer who immigrated to Britain and escaped prosecution, was that of Latvian Harijs Skiveris, who had been a senior officer in the Latvian Auxiliary Security Police, commonly referred to as the Arajs Kommando (named for its commander Viktor Arajs, who was convicted in Germany of the murder of 13,000 Jews and was sentenced to life imprisonment). Thirty additional members of the unit were executed for war crimes in the Soviet Union. Skiveris, who signed documents as “Head of Security, Kommando”, and “Battalion Commander”, was obviously one of the most important officers in the unit, which played a key role in the majority of the murders of approximately 30,000 Jews in and around Riga (initially in Bikerenieki Forest, and later at Rumbula), as well as in the provincial Latvian towns. In 1942, moreover, the unit was sent to combat pro-Soviet partisans in Belarus, where they killed partisans and burned down entire villages. Skiveris, of course, denied that he committed any crimes or even was present when Germans shot Jews. The problem was, however, that he could not be prosecuted because there was no direct evidence that Skiveris served as Arajs’s adjutant or as a battalion commander, and the prosecution did not have any live, legally admissible eyewitness evidence of his participation in the murder of innocents.

**Killers in the UK**. Latvian Harijs Skiveris, who immigrated to Britain and escaped prosecution had been a senior officer in the infamous Latvian Auxiliary Security Police commonly referred to as the Arãjs Kommando, seen here in this 1942 group photo. (Photo: State Archive of Latvia.)

The third case of a guilty criminal who escaped punishment despite his crimes was that of Szymon Serafinowicz, who was the first person prosecuted under the 1991 War Crimes Act. Various testimonies accused Serafinowicz of active participation in the mass murder of the Jews of Mir, especially the testimony of Dov Resnik, who saw Serafinowicz murder his 16-year-old son and a friend Aron Rudicki, along with his wife and two children. On July 12, 1995, Serafinowicz was arrested and charged with four counts of murder. At that point, he was 84 years old but was considered physically and mentally capable to stand trial. According to the authors, if Serafinowicz would have been put on trial in 1995 or early 1996, a historic conviction could have been obtained. Unfortunately, the trial was delayed by a committal procedure, which was a test run of the prosecution’s case before a magistrate without a jury, a step which the lawyers who supported the War Crimes Act recommended to omit. And indeed, the delay caused by the committal process spared Serafinowicz from a conviction and a punishment, since he had begun to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and could not be prosecuted. Sawoniuk was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in jail in 2005. The Serafinowicz investigation was the last of its kind, which meant that only one Holocaust perpetrator who had entered Britain illegally was convicted and punished, clearly a terribly dismal result, which the authors very cogently explain could have been far better. They do, however, leave us with a silver lining, as they assert that the tremendous efforts invested in passing the War Crimes Act and trying to implement it helped:

**Saved by Alzheimer’s**. Due to a delay in court proceedings and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, Szymon Serafinowicz (center) – who is seen here escorted by policemen from the Epsom magistrates court after he was charged with the murder of four Jews in the years 1941 and 1942 in Nazi occupied Byelorussia – escaped conviction and punishment. (Photo: JOHNNY EGGITT/AFP via Getty Image)

“change the status of the Holocaust in British culture and society…and helped to mark the dawn of the institutionalization of the Holocaust; a process aligned to the formation of cultural memory, and one which climax a decade later by Holocaust Memorial Day and other events.”

SAFE HAVEN: The United Kingdom’s Investigations into Nazi Collaborators and the Failure of Justice
Jon Silverman and Robert Sherwood
Oxford University Press, 2023
336 pages; £43.8

About the writer:

Dr. Efraim Zuroff. Director, Simon Wiesenthal Center – Israel office and Eastern European Affairs. Coordinator, SWC Nazi war crimes research worldwide
1 Mendele Street
Jerusalem, Israel 92147
Tel: 972.2.563.1273/4/5
Fax: 972.2.563.1276
www.swcjerusalem.org <http://www.swcjerusalem.org>

NINE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE HOUTHI’S ATTACK ON ISRAEL

The fire burning in Yemeni port is Israel’s message delivered loud and clear.

By Jonathan Feldstein

In the pre-dawn hours Friday, Israel time, central Tel Aviv was attacked by an explosive drone fired by the Houthis, an Iranian proxy terrorist group in Yemen. Due to what the IDF says was human error, the drone was identified but not shot down by air defenses, nor were air raid sirens activated. This is what you need to know.

THE DISTANCE

The drone has been identified as an Iranian-made Samad-3, modified to have an extended range as Tel Aviv is some 1800 kilometers, more than 1100 miles, from Yemen. It reportedly flew at a low altitude for several hours via the Red Sea and over Egyptian territory, before striking Israel from the west over the Mediterranean Sea.

**Hitting Houthis**. Israel strikes Houthis 1,800km or 1,118 miles away in Yemen after drone hits Tel Aviv.

THE VICTIMS

A 50-year-old man was found dead in his apartment, apparently killed by shrapnel. Several were injured.

**From Yemen with Hate**. Yevgeny Ferder was killed in an explosive Houthi drone attack from Yemen on Tel Aviv in the early hours of July 19, 2024. (Courtesy)

THE WEAPON

In order to reach Tel Aviv through this indirect route over Egypt, it is believed that the Houthis modified the Iranian-made Samad-3 drone, decreasing the size of the explosive from 18 kilos to 10 kilos, and adding extra fuel. As much as the Houthis are an Iranian backed proxy terrorist organization, their use of Iranian weapons and its implications are under close scrutiny by Israel, by the west, and by the Iranian regime. How Israel is able to detect and respond to such attacks is something that all learn from.

**Houthi’s Supplier**. An Iranian Shahed-129 drone is displayed at a rally in Tehran, Iran. (Photo: AP/Ebrahim Noroozi)

THE TARGET

The drone approached Israel from the west. Albeit flying low, it may have been meant to appear harmless, along the flight pattern of many approaching commercial aircraft. It struck central Tel Aviv near to where the US Embassy Branch Office is located, but it is unclear whether that was the target. The day before, the US reportedly destroyed other drones, however the IDF reported that these are separate incidents. The Houthis have declared that this is a “new phase” in their attacks against Israel.

**Targeting Tel Aviv**. People in Tel Aviv look at building hit by a Houthi drone in a deadly June 18 attack from Yemen on July 19, 2024. (Photo: Jamal Awad/Flash90)

WHO ARE THE HOUTHIS

The Iran-backed Houthis took over southern Yemen and its capital, Sanaa, from its Sunni government in 2014. They control large parts of the country and remain in conflict with the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. Along with Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Iranian-backed terror groups, they are part of the “axis of resistance” against Israel. Since November 2023, they have fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel, and attacked ships along the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, and Red Sea, disrupting global shipping even through Egypt’s Suez Canal.

**Heated Houthis**. Fired-up Houthi supporters screaming venom against Israel in Sanaa, Yemen July 5, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH)

ISRAEL’S RESPONSE

Due to the attack, the Israeli cabinet ministers gathered in an emergency session on Saturday, Shabbat (the Sabbath). Typically, public business and government activities do not take place on the Sabbath, indicating that this was a seen as a serious military situation that required an immediate response, and that further Israeli restraint was not an option.

IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari noted this was a particularly complicated mission, using F-15’s, F-35’s, and other aircraft including refueling planes to carry out ten airstrikes against Houthi military targets around Yemen’s Hodeidah port, used to transport Iranian weapons.

Other than the immediacy of the response, Israel’s targeting of military facilities 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) away, is a signal to Iran. Tehran is also about 1800 kilometers from Israel. Some might consider this a test run for an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear and other military facilities. In addition to the distance, Israel’s response indicated that it has significant intelligence capabilities, also a warning to Iran, Hezbollah and others.

**Rapid Reply**. In response to Houthi’s drone attack on Tel Aviv, Israeli fighter jets attack the Yemeni port of Hodeidah leaving it ablaze as oil tanks burn. (Photo AP)

After the Israeli response, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said:

“The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah, is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear. The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required.”

WHAT’S NEXT

Despite Israel’s attack, the IDF issued no new civilian security instructions indicating a higher state of alert. Prime Minister Netanyahu is still planning to embark on his trip to the United States to meet President Biden, and address a joint session of Congress.

After the attack near the US Embassy office, Netanyahu is expected to double down on highlighting the Islamic regime’s increasing efforts to destroy Israel, their terrorist tentacles throughout the Middle East, and apparently accelerating their nuclear weapons drive. Secretary of State Blinken said Iran could be just “one to two weeks away” from having enough nuclear material for a bomb.

Three months after Iran’s own unprecedented missile and drone attack, Netanyahu’s message is all the more relevant. Saturday night he said:

“Anyone who wishes to see a stable and safe Middle East needs to stand against Iran’s axis of evil, and support Israel’s fight against Iran and its proxies – in Yemen, in Gaza, in Lebanon, everywhere.”

Israel informed the US and other regional governments in advance of its strike against the Houthi targets. While it does not seem that any immediate threats of escalation from the Houthis or others are on the horizon, there is the potential that the direct retaliation against the Houthis could trigger still further response from Yemen or other Iranian proxies, especially if Netanyahu is out of the country on an important visit to Washington.

ARAB ALLIES

In addition to notifying Washington in advance, there are indications that Arab countries were also informed. The Saudis, who are also in conflict with and have been attacked by the Houthis, could possibly have assisted by allowing the use of their airspace. While the Saudis and the Egyptians – whose airspace was both breached – could not directly or indirectly to be seen supporting Israel’s attack, it is not unreasonable to speculate they at least they were silently celebrating.

CURRENT EVENTS OR PROPHESY?

“So said the Lord:

For three sins of Edom, yea for four, I will not return them: For pursuing their brother with a sword, and they destroyed their mercy and grasped forever their anger and kept their fury forever. And I will send fire into Teman (Yemen), and it shall consume the palaces of Bozrah.”

(Amos 1:11-12)

Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen

About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein - President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.

GLOBAL CONCERN FOR GAZA WHILE SUDAN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS MOUNTS

While Sudan slips towards a disaster of historic proportions there is minimal media coverage and global concern!

By Allan Wolman

First published in the Daily Friend, an online newspaper of South Africa’s Institute of Race Relations

The BBC recently featured on both their radio and TV platforms – “Sudan the Forgotten War” – highlighting a conflict that has been raging for over a year.

In April this year, Paris hosted the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and neighbouring countries, drawing attention to the ongoing crisis. The conflict in Sudan, rooted in tensions between Arab herders and non-Arab farmers over land, resources, and political power, has led to over 2 million refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries.

How Sudan has become the world’s ‘forgotten war’ | BBC News

The conference condemned the violence, including ethnic attacks, indiscriminate bombings, and gender-based violence, particularly against women and children, describing the situation as the worst child displacement crisis globally, highlighting that the war in Sudan has triggered the world’s most severe humanitarian crisis this year. The head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the region reported shocking accounts of widespread rape and sexual violence.

**Competing with Gaza**. Sir William Patey, former British Ambassador to Sudan told Sky News there appears to be no end in sight to the conflict. What’s more, he warned that efforts of coming to some kind of resolution with international partners are difficult as attention is focused on Ukraine and Gaza.

UN Women – charged with advocating for the rights of women and girls, and focusing on a number of issues, including violence against women and violence against LGBT people – responded to the Sudanese conflict in stark contrast to their silence on the gender-based and sexual violations faced by Israeli women victims on 7 October. The organisation issued a statement titled “A Year of Suffering for Sudanese Women and Girls,” calling on the international community to ensure that the conflict in Sudan does not become a neglected crisis.

**Humanitarian Catastrophes falling under the radar. Sudanese refugees fleeing the conflict in the country’s Darfur region cross the border into Chad in August. (Photo: Reuters)**

Sudanese women and girls face heightened risks of gender-based violence, with widespread and increasing reports of sexual exploitation, abuse, and trafficking.

Again, UN Women “stands with the people of Sudan during this difficult time” yet remains mum on the plight of Israeli hostages, some of whom may be about to give birth after being raped and sexually assaulted almost nine months ago.

Millions in Sudan face disaster as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), are accused of using food access as a weapon in the ongoing war. It’s worth noting that within days of accusing Israel of genocide in the International Court of Justice, President Ramaphosa proudly hosted the mass murderer, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (aka Hemedti leader of RSF), at his Pretoria residence.

Sudan: The ‘forgotten war’ where mediation efforts have failed’

FICKLE FAMINE FOCUS

Sudan is facing a potential famine worse than any the world witnessed in Ethiopia 40 years ago, according to the UN. Aid deliveries continue to be blocked by the warring armies, though arms supply to both sides flow in.

With much of the world’s attention focused on Gaza, Sudan, already the worst humanitarian crisis globally, is slipping towards a disaster of historic proportions, with minimal media coverage and global concern. A UN humanitarian appeal for the country has received only 16% of the funds it needs.

**Save Sudan**. Despite a UN humanitarian appeal for the country, it has received only 16% of the funds it needs.

The UNHCR, together with the Egyptian government, estimates that more than 500,000 people have fled from Sudan to Egypt since hostilities began, and are in need of international support.

In response, the UNHCR and other NGOs, in collaboration with the Egyptian government, are working to support those fleeing Sudan. The UNHCR is coordinating a response to address the needs of those crossing into Egypt. Egypt, being a signatory to International Refugee Conventions and Protocols, is fulfilling these obligations and providing life-saving assistance for those fleeing the war on its southern border, as it did by hosting its brother Arab refugees fleeing the carnage of the Syrian civil war.

**Concern diverted elsewhere**. “All the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing”, but too few care!

The question therefore must be asked why Egypt refuses to extend the same humanitarian relief to its north-eastern neighbours – the Gazans – who share a common language, religion, and culture.

Historically, this territory was part of a larger cultural and political entity under Egyptian influence, yet today, the border is strictly reinforced and sealed, preventing any refugees from crossing into Egypt. Again, this crisis is being ignored by the media.

Egypt’s decision to seal its border with Gaza is largely driven by concerns over Hamas’s strong ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. President Sisi and the military view the Muslim Brotherhood as an Islamist organization with a fundamentally different ideology from their secular nationalist stance.

**Gazans Unwelcome**. While Egypt welcomes those fleeing Sudan on its southern border, no such hospitality for Gazans on its north-western border and to ensure “no entry”, builds a new miles-wide buffer zone and border wall along its border with Gaza. (satellite image from Maxar Technologies)

They fear that the Brotherhood could gain power and potentially alter the secular nature of the Egyptian state. This fear has led to strict measures, including the closure of the Gaza border, to prevent any potential influence or power consolidation by the Brotherhood.

About the writer:

Allan Wolman in 1967 joined 1200 young South Africans to volunteer to work on agricultural settlements in Israel during the Six Day War. After spending a year in Israel, he returned to South Africa where he met and married Jocelyn Lipschitz and would run one of the oldest travel agencies in Johannesburg – Rosebank Travel. He would also literally ‘run’ three times in the “Comrades”, one of the most grueling marathons in the world as well as participate in the “Argus” (Cape Town’s famed international annual cycling race) an impressive eight times. Allan and Jocelyn immigrated to Israel in 2019.

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 21 July 2024

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

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THE ISRAEL BRIEF- 15-18 July 2024
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Lay of the Land’s image of the week

Flames over Yemen
Israel strikes back sending powerful message – “We Can Reach You!”

**Painful Payload**. Yemen’s Hodeidah Port engulfed in flames after Israeli F-15 jets flew over 1,800km (1,118 miles), following Iran’s backed Houthi regime’s drone attack on Tel Aviv on Friday, killing a 50-year-old Israeli.

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What the ICC Gets Wrong about Israel

With modern war increasingly urban, the ICC ruling against Israel has in fact criminalized the very act of war itself in its current manifestation.
By Major (Ret) John Spencer