Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel (Occupied Palestine), 27.12.2023
The New York Times in a very sympathetic article on the Israeli Kibbutz Be’eri tells the story of October 7th. According to the article based on a 10-week New York Times investigation into what happened at Be’eri, based on interviews with scores of survivors and witnesses as well as on videos, text messages and recordings of phone calls.
What it has to say about the fact that Be’eri Kibbutz fields are cultivated on Palestinian lands stolen by the Zionists during the ethnic cleansing of 750,000-900,000 Palestinians that became refugees in Gaza in 1948 is:
“The kibbutz was founded on the night of Oct. 5, 1946, one of 11 Jewish outposts established at the same time in an area largely populated by Arabs. In 1948, Arabs and Jews fought over the area during a war that forged the boundaries of the new state” [1]
On what happened in 1948 Benny Morris writes:
NYT continues telling the readers how peace lovers were the members who support a Palestinian Bantustan on less than 20% of Palestine. And then he writes on the killing of the settler colonialists.
“They came. Som-e were uniformed militants from Hamas. Others appeared to be civilians from Gaza who had followed in their wake. At least 120 men raided Be’eri that day, according to an Israeli commander who led the fight to retake the village, while village leaders put the number at over 200. By now, a small group of Israeli special forces had arrived by helicopter. They tried to fight their way through the kibbutz, but were heavily outnumbered. One soldier was shot dead, and another was wounded by a gunshot to the chest, according to two members of the unit and a civilian who accompanied them. By late morning, they had retreated to the main gate, where they tried to repel a new wave of attackers. Footage from the gate shows Israeli soldiers shooting at a car of militants, two of whom flee before the car catches fire.
The negotiations are over,” General Hiram recalled telling the tank commander. “Break in, even at the cost of civilian casualties.” The tank fired two light shells at the house.
Shrapnel from the second shell hit Mr. Dagan in the neck, severing an artery and killing him, his wife said. During the melee, the kidnappers were also killed. Only two of the 14 hostages — Ms. Dagan and Ms. Porat — survived” [2]
The article does not tell us how many Israeli members of the Kibbutz the Helicopter killed and how many houses it attacked, setting the houses with the Gazans and Israelis on fire. According to Haaretz: “the army was only able to restore control over Be’eri after admittedly ‘shelling’ the homes of Israelis who had been taken captive”
An Israeli woman named Yasmin Porat who was released in the exchange of prisoners confirmed in an interview with Israel Radio that the military “undoubtedly” killed numerous Israeli noncombatants during gun battles with Hamas militants on October 7. “They eliminated everyone, including the hostages,” stated, referring to Israeli special forces” [3]. “In interview with the CNN she said Hamas are radical not murderer but human” [4]
As David Sheen and Ali Abunimah reported in Electronic Intifada, Porat described “very, very heavy crossfire” and Israeli tank shelling, which led to many casualties among Israelis.While being held by the Hamas gunmen, Porat recalled, “They did not abuse us. We were treated very humanely… No one treated us violently” She added, “The objective was to kidnap us in Gaza, not to murder us.” [5]
That does not mean that Gazans did not attack and kill some of the members of the Kibbutz by Hamas and the Non-Hamas Palestinians of the colonialist settlers that stole their fields. This is common in many uprisings against the colonialists. For example, in Algeria war of independence However, the truth must be told. Not only Israel is responsible for the ethnic cleansing of 1948 and not only Israel put a siege for 16 years and killed thousands of people in Gaza in the previous four wars on Gaza, but Israel has killed many members of the Kibbutz on October 7th as it killed some of the Captured Israelis in the murdering bombing of Gaza that killed already more than 20,000 people 70% children and women. It was wrong to capture a mother with her baby and a small child. Unlike the Israeli colonialists’ men and women who are not innocent, the baby and the young child are not guilty. However, Israel and its supporters cannot be excused for the genocide and the murdering of 6000 children because of the capture of the Israeli baby.
In Black slave rebellions not once the all family of the white slave owners were killed. Three of the best known in the United States during the 19th century are the revolts by Gabriel Prosser in Virginia in 1800, Denmark Vesey in Charleston, South Carolina in 1822, and Nat Turner’s Slave Rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831. Any decent person stands with the black rebels not with the white settler colonialists that killed the rebels. The guilty ones were the white slave owners.
Down with the Zionist apartheid state!
For Palestine red and free from the river to the sea!
Endnotes:
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/22/world/europe/beeri-massacre.html
[2] Ibid
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAUW_XftETg
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAUW_XftETg
[5] https://middleeastobserver.org/2023/10/29/new-evidence-that-idf-shelled-israeli-citizens-on-oct-7-killing-over-a-hundred/