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FLASHBACK TO 1948
By
Maurice Ostroff
No
sooner had Israel declared independence on May 15, 1948, than five Arab
armies invaded the nascent state. Arab League Secretary, General Azzam
Pasha declared, "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous
massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the
Crusades".
Youngsters pasting up posters prior to
the very first Israeli elections in February 1948
(Photographed by Maurice Ostroff)
The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al Husseini, who had met with
Hitler in 1941 and had been involved in recruiting support for Germany
among Muslims during WW2 proclaimed, "I declare a holy war, my Moslem
brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!"
Around 3,500 overseas volunteers came from 43 different countries to
assist in Israel's struggle for survival. They were referred to
collectively as "Machal", an acronym of the Hebrew equivalent of
"volunteers from abroad", (Mitnadvay Chutz La'aretz)"
And now 60 years later I recall the "encouraging" welcome I received on
landing in Haifa as a Machal volunteer, with several other ostensibly
naïve tourists on June 6, 1948. Some British soldiers and officials were
still in Haifa, and we went through British as well as newly appointed
Israeli immigration officials. (The British didn't leave completely
until mid-June). I fell into conversation with a British major who said,
"You're bloody crazy coming here at this time. Don't you know what's
going on?" Calmly as possible, I replied that we were on a world tour
that included passing through the new Israel. I will never forget how,
pointing towards Haifa port, he gloated, "That's where the Arabs are
slaughtering the f…. Jews. We're pulling out, but it won't take two
weeks before the Jews will beg us to rescue them."
Several Machal groups came to Israel on overcrowded refugee ships. One
group sailed in the Dolores, a boat designed to accommodate fifty
people, that then carried 149. South African Machal volunteers the late
Dr. Alan Price, assisted by Evelyn Bernstein delivered a baby in the
captain's cabin and a very touching story developed during Israel's 50th
birthday celebrations. With the assistance of Joe Woolf, Dr. Price
succeeded in tracing and meeting this "baby", who was then living in
Kiryat Bialik
Another interesting sidelight: There were a noticeable number of
non-Jewish volunteers in Machal. Among them was a very special
character, South African, "Butch" Boettger. When Ben Gurion called on
all officers to Hebraise their names, Boettger took the name, Ben Yok
and became widely and affectionately known as Butch Ben Yok.
In her book, "The Hand of Mordechai", about Kibbutz Yad Mordechai's
resistance to the Egyptian army in May 1948, Margaret Larkin expressed
the true character of the conflict. She wrote " In an initial meeting,
some of the kibbutz veterans took exception to my reference to their
heroism. They warned me against glorifying their deeds; they made me
understand that they do not think of the battle as an example of man's
courage in the face of great odds - they think of it as a tragedy. They
pointed out they became front line soldiers by an accident of geography.
They did their duty and killed when they had to, but they are men of
peace.., they demanded: tell how we fought but let every page call out
for peace". ---
Maurice Ostroff
Email: maurice@trendline.co.il
Website: http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com
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