Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
27 May
ZIONISTS PIONEERED BACTERIOLOGICAL WARFARE IN PALESTINE
On this day in 1948, Ben Gurion’s “Diary” refers obliquely to an incident that is also the subject of this Egyptian army cable of 24 May: “Our Intelligence forces captured two Jews, David Horeen and David Mizrahi...They were interrogated and confessed that they had been sent by Officer Moshe to poison the army [and the peoples’] water supply. They carried...water bottles [with] a liquid contaminated with typhoid and dysentery.“ Horeen and Mizrahi signed confessions in Hebrew and were later hanged.
الصهاينة هم روّاد الحرب البكتيرية في فلسطين
27 مايو
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 1948 ، تشير "مذكرات" بن غوريون بشكل غير مباشر إلى حادثة كانت أيضًا موضوع برقية للجيش المصري في 24 مايو: "اعتقلت قوات استخباراتنا يهوديين ، ديفيد هورين وديفيد مزراحي. .. تم استجوابهم واعترفوا بأنهم أرسلوا من قبل الضابط موشيه لتسميم إمدادات المياه للجيش [والشعب]. كانوا يحملون ... زجاجات مياه [بها] سائل ملوث بالتيفوئيد والدوسنتاريا. "وقع حورين ومزراحي اعترافات باللغة العبرية وشُنقوا فيما بعد.
On the 22nd May 1948, the Egyptians caught two Israeli soldiers, Ezra Afghin (Horeen) and David Mizrahi dressed as Arabs holding a flask of water. Inside the flask were two levels. One contained plain drinking water and the other, a liquid full of Typhus and Dysentery germs. The two were captured near water wells North of Gaza, intending to poison the wells to harm soldiers of the Egyptian army. On 22nd August, both men were executed after being convicted by a court for poisoning wells. The two belonged to the HaShakar unit, a Palmach unit that masqueraded as Arabs. The bacteria were produced by the scientific unit of the Haganah.
In April 1948, the city of Acre's water system was poisoned with Typhus germs. The germs were spread via the Roman aqueduct that passes ten kilometers North of Acre, near Al-Kabri and supplied the city's drinking water. According to documents declassified in recent years, on the 6th May of the same year, many cases of typhoid erupted suddenly in the area. The British Army and Red Cross medics found 70 cases of the disease. It was clear that the disease was coming from the water source and was not being caused by poor sanitation, as the Israelis claimed. A week before the British left Palestine, the British Mandate Authorities instructed the Arab residents of Israel to drink water only from the city's wells. They started to chlorinate the aqueduct. The Zionists' claim that poor sanitation caused the epidemic was dismissed when 55 British soldiers were also infected and rushed to the Royal Hospital in Port Said Egypt. These were soldiers who were not exposed to bad sanitation during combat. According to the British army, it was the first case of typhus in Palestine under their mandate.
The Last Taboo by Avner Cohen
Chemical and Biological Institute in Ness Ziona develops chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction i.e. weapons to eliminate citizens. In March 1948, David Ben Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister, wrote to Ehud Avriel, who he had sent to buy weapons in Europe for the war, and commanded him to find East European Jewish scientists who could "either increase the capacity to kill masses or to cure masses; both are important" (From Avner Cohen "Israel and the Bomb"). This was Ben Gurion's first statement showing his intent to use biological and chemical weapons. Avriel did indeed find such scientists including Dr Marcos, the later founder of the Chemical and Biological Institute and its first Deputy Director. (In 1983, an Israeli court convicted Marcos for spying for the Russians.)
Traces of poison by Salman Abu Sitta
[Israeli cooperation on biological weapons research and development] with the US is quite open. The Congress “Joint Medical, Biological and Nuclear Defence Research Programs” openly lists cooperation with Israel on nerve agents and convulsants under the guise of finding antidotes. It is plainly simple to realise that in order to develop the antidote it is necessary to identify the poison itself. Dr Avigdor Shafferman, IIBR director, is a frequent contributor to this programme. (see www.acq.osd.mil/cp/nbc98/annexd.pdf)- Annex D.
The Preparatory Commission for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague turns a blind eye to the Israeli criminal activities. Ironically, Israeli researchers guide OPCW on methods to detect Chemical Weapons. Israeli researchers R Barak, A Lorber and Z Boger of IIBR, CHEMO Solutions and Rotem Industries respectively propose methods to detect chemical warfare agents. No international body seems to be willing to apply these methods on Israel.
The mechanism to do this monitoring is available. The American Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center has the wherewithal to inspect suspect laboratories. But it is unlikely to see a team of inspectors headed by an American Blix searching the secret chambers of IIBR.
This may, however, not apply to conscientious scientists. Professor Keith Yamamoto, of the University of California and Dr Jonathan King of MIT criticised the American BW research and showed that attempting to modify toxins (as IIBR does) can hardly be considered “defensive” research. But Israel’s turn in such criticism seems far-off at present.
Poisoning wells, counterfeiting currency and stamps, psychological warfare, political murders and drug sales were part of systematic Israeli intelligence methods used against Egypt in the years after the founding of the Israeli State.
44-minute video - flawed but useful BBC documentary on Israel's secret arsenals