Atrocities Jewish Kfar Kassem Massacre Lucas

The Modern History of Israel, by Noah Lucas. 1975

Features the Deir Yassin and Kfar Kassem Massacres

I let the author speak for himself:

—–The following, except for the ALL-CAPS titles, are direct quotes————–

THE MASS MURDER OF ARAB CIVILIANS AT KUFR QASSEM

The events leading to this extraordinary trial took place on 29 October 1956 on the eve of the Sinai war. A battalion of the Israeli Border Police was ordered to enforce an unusually early curfew that had been imposed on the Arab villages of the so-called little triangle near the border with Jordan…In one of the villages, Kufr Qassem, a massacre occurred. Upon their return home, in the hour between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M., forty-nine villagers, including men, women, elderly people, and children, were killed in cold blood. (p. 169).

The military forces first tried to cover up the incident. But when news of the massacre reached Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ben-Gurion, he ordered an internal inquiry. On 12 December 1956, Ben-Gurion addressed the Knesset, condemning the massacre as a “dreadful atrocity,” and the ban on publication was lifted. (p. 180).

His [Judge Col. Benjamin Halevi’s] narrative broke down a massacre that lasted about an hour into small episodes, which were described minutely in chronological order. The plot advanced from random shooting at vehicles to the removal of the victims from the vehicles, the act of lining them up and executing them by firing squad, and finally the individual shooting of the injured to “assure” that they were dead. (p. 188).

…the way in which human beings could be reduced to statistical numbers and murdered in cold blood ([Maj. Shmuel] Melinki reported “4 down”, “15 down,” and “many down”). (p. 189).

The issue of refusal to obey and illegal order in this case never reached the court. (p. 313).

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