Steven Rogers writes:
>..It is worth noting that organized terrorism by Palestinians did not begin until the 1970's...<
In the interest of furthering Mr. Rogers' education, He might take note of an occurrence in 1929 in the city of Hebron. There are many similar accounts; I chose one of the less graphic descriptions in the event children read the thread.
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The riots started on Friday afternoon, August 23. Inflammatory sermons were preached at the local mosques and hordes of marauders began to advance towards the houses of the Jews, attacking every Jew they encountered with stones and clubs, including the aged Rabbi Slonim, who was on his way to the British Governor to summon assistance. The British Police reacted in an hostile manner and the Jews were offered virtually no protection. The British police commander instructed the Jewish delegation to have people barricade themselves inside their homes, sealing the fate of many Jews whose houses became death traps as, throngs of Arab murderers attacked them and brutally tortured them to death.
The first fatality was Shmuel Rosenholz, a yeshiva student, who was killed that afternoon. Jews who sought protection were told by the British to lock themselves up inside their homes. Terror-stricken they obeyed the order and awaited developments that Friday evening.
The next day, Saturday, August 24, 1929, the great slaughter occurred. Thousands of Arabs gathered, armed with knives, axes, pitchforks and anything else they could find, launching a systematic assault on Jewish homes. The Jews, locked inside their houses, were easy prey for the wild, blood thirsty mob.
The marauders did not spare anyone, murdering every Jew they could lay their hands on. They broke into the home of the aged Rabbi Yosef Castel, slaughtered him cruelly and set his house on fire. Rabbi Hanoch Hasson, the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Hebron, was killed together with his entire family. Ben-Zion Gershon, the pharmacist at the Beit Hadassah clinic, who had extended so much assistance to the infirm, Jews and Arabs alike, was tortured and killed along with his daughters. His wife's hands were Cut Off and she died in anguish. Hundreds of rioters stormed the home of Eliezer Dan Slonim, Manager of the Anglo-Palestine Bank branch and a member of the Hebron Municipal Council. Many Jews fled to this house, expecting to find refuge there, but their hopes were in vain. The marauders broke into the house, chopping, shishing, stabbing. torturing and butchering every Jew they found. Slonini's family was wiped out, including his wife, a son, a daughter and his father-in-law Rabbi Orlansky, Chief Rabbi of Zichron Yaakov. Only Shlonio, their one-year-old son, miraculously remained alive, wounded and drenched with blood, hidden beneath the corpses of his martyred family.
The slaughter continued, from house to house. Jews cried out for mercy from their Arab acquaintances, who generally responded with a cry of "Kill the Jews!" and a brandished knife. While the murderers numbered in the thousands, there were also a handful of Arabs who protected their Jewish neighbors and saved their lives. The remainder, including Arabs who were treated like family members by the Jewish population, went on a rampage of torture, rape and murder, mercilessly assaulting the elderly, infants, women and children.
The blood-soaked rioting went on for several hours and British policemen just stood by as the Jews were butchered before, their eyes. One British mounted policeman, who watched dispassionately as two Jewish brothers, Eliyahu Dov and Israel Arye Chaichel were murdered, feared that the killers were about to attack him as well. When he fired in the air summon his comrades, the crowds began to retreat and the riots died down.
The remaining Jews began to come out of hiding. Shattered by the horrible sights they witnessed, they were ordered by the British to assemble at police headquarters. The wounded, slashed and tortured victims were brought there as well, but could not be provided with medical care as the Beit Hadassah clinic was totally destroyed. That day, 59 Jews were killed; another eight died of their Wounds some time later. The British allowed the Jews to conduct a quick funeral for the victims, with only a bare minyan permitted to attend and recite Kaddish. Another grave was dug for the cutoff body parts, soil, clothing, and other items drenched with blood that were removed from Jewish homes. Three days later, the British decided to evacuate the Jewish community of Hebron. The Jews were loaded onto trucks that brought them to Jerusalem. All their belongings and their homes were left as booty for the rioters.
A brutal riot, with the tacit cooperation of the British Government - that completed the job of deportation - thus annihilated the oldest Jewish community in the land.... |
