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.
24 November
ZIONIST MILITIAS KILL 267 JEWISH REFUGEES
On this day in 1940 the Zionist underground Haganah in coordination with the Irgun smuggled a huge bomb aboard an ocean liner in Haifa port, Palestine. The SS Patria was embarking the last of 1,800 Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany destined for Mauritius where facilities existed to provide a safe haven for the refugees. The bomb was detonated at 9am the following morning, killing 267 and injuring a further 172. The attack was aimed at preventing the departure of any Jews from Palestine.
الميليشيات الصهيونية تقتل 267 لاجئًا يهوديًا
24 نوفمبر
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 1940 قامت المجموعتان الصهيونيتان الارهابيتان الهاغاناه بالتنسيق مع الإرغون بتهريب قنبلة ضخمة على متن سفينة في ميناء حيفا. كانت السفينه باتريا س س تنقل آخر 1،800 لاجئ يهودي من ألمانيا النازية متجهين إلى موريشيوس حيث توجد منشآت لتوفير ملاذ آمن للاجئين. تم تفجير القنبلة في الساعة التاسعة من صباح اليوم التالي ، مما أسفر عن مقتل 267 وإصابة 172 آخرين. وكان يهدف الاعتداء إلى منع مغادرة أي يهودي من فلسطين.
The UK Jewish Chronicle, a pro-Israel propaganda sheet, published a memoir by Michael White, The story that followed the Patria sinking. The writer notes that
"The sinking of the Patria by the Haganah is the worst instance of Jews killing other Jews — and is now barely remembered. Who did it? And why?"
"The who is well known: The Haganah. [the main Zionist militia in Palestine]. As to why: there are a number of versions. The principal (and hopefully the truthful) one, that the Haganah wanted to prevent the deportation so they hit on a plan to disable the ship’s engines by planting a small explosive. This would buy time during the repairs to persuade the British to cancel the journey to Mauritius. Unfortunately they grossly miscalculated the amount of explosive used, which resulted in the catastrophe.
"But there is another, horrendous, version — that the Haganah saw this as an opportunity to draw the attention of the world to the plight of the Jewish refugees at the hands of the British, in the seemingly naïve belief that it would make a difference. The collateral damage — loss of Jewish life — was not going to stand in their way.
"Whichever is true, the facts surrounding the Patria incident have largely been kept under wraps. But we should remember, because the Patria affair was the largest catastrophe in which Jews caused the death of other Jews."
The writer leaves open which was the real aim of the bomber(s). He hopes the bombing was bungled but the Haganah brutalised and murdered Jews in Palestine without compunction to further their project of ethnic cleansing to clear the land for an ethno-state. And not only in Palestine, according to a penitent Zionist underground activist.
What is conceded by all, however, including a defender of the Haganah bombing, is that "on 22 November Haganah agents smuggled a 2-kilogram bomb aboard the ship, timed to explode at 9 p.m. that day. It failed, so a second, more powerful bomb was smuggled aboard on 24 November and hidden next to the ship's inner hull. At 9 a.m. on 25 November, it exploded...it blew a large hole measuring 3 by 2 metres in the ship's side, sinking her in only 16 minutes."
Israeli pilot, Yonatan Shapira on discovering he had been on the wrong side: "Israel claims to be a democracy. It is not. It’s, it’s an apartheid. It’s led by a group of fascist Jewish supremacy people, and prime minister, and ministers. But if you’re a Zionist Jew, you can feel great democracy. If you are not a Zionist, and if you’re not a Jew, you’re living in apartheid.!