History is screaming at the Jews. Are we listening?
There are two distinct threads that bind history with our present.
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This essay is a collaboration with A Daily Dose of Jewish History.
You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify.
The Golani Brigade, a critical unit in today’s Israel Defense Forces, was established on February 22nd, 1948, tracing its origins to the founding of the Jewish state later that year.
Under “Plan Dalet,” the formation of Golani involved restructuring the Jewish armed resistance, the Haganah, into six regional brigades. The unit bears a yellow and green flag featuring an olive tree, while their brown berets represent a profound connection to the land of Israel.
Operating under the Northern Command, the brigade consists of four battalions tasked with protecting Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), as well as Israel’s borders. In this current war, the unit has faced some of the harshest battles, with many brave men falling in defense of Israel and the Jewish People.
Golani has been pivotal in significant conflicts, including Israel’s War of Independence in 1948 and 1949, battles in the Sinai, the 1967 Six-Day War, the capture of the Golan Heights, the recapture of Mount Hermon, the Munich Massacre of 1972 and the famous Entebbe hostage rescue in 1976.
Officially code-named Operation Thunderbolt, the Entebbe hostage rescue was launched in response to the hijacking of an international civilian passenger flight operated by Air France, between the cities of Paris and Tel Aviv.
During a stopover in Athens, the aircraft was hijacked by two Palestinian terrorists and two German terrorists, who diverted the flight to Libya and then to Uganda, where they landed at Entebbe International Airport and were joined by other terrorists.
Having hijacked the flight of 248 passengers, the terrorists took hostages with the stated objective of compelling the release of 40 Palestinians and affiliated militants imprisoned in Israel, as well as the release of 13 prisoners in four other countries. More than 100 Ugandan soldiers were deployed to assist the hijackers after the flight landed.
After moving all of the hostages to a defunct airport, the hijackers separated all Israelis and several non-Israeli Jews from the larger group of passengers, subsequently moving them into a separate room. Over the next two days, 148 non-Israeli and non-Jewish hostages were released and flown out to Paris. The 94 remaining passengers, most of whom were Israelis, and the 12-member Air France crew continued to be held as hostages.
Representatives within the Israeli government initially debated over whether to concede or respond by force, since the hijackers had threatened to kill the 106 captives if the specified prisoners were not released. Acting on intelligence provided by the Mossad, the decision was made to have the IDF undertake a rescue operation, including preparations for an armed confrontation with Uganda’s government, which knew about and supported the terrorist attack.
Initiating the operation at nightfall six days after the hijacking, Israeli transport planes flew 100 commandos over 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) to Uganda for the rescue effort. Over the course of 90 minutes, 102 of the hostages were rescued successfully, and three were killed.
The IDF suffered five wounded and one killed. Having led the special forces unit Sayeret Matkal during the rescue effort, 30-year-old Yonatan Netanyahu (the brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s current prime minister) was the IDF’s sole fatality in Operation Entebbe.
May his memory be a blessing.
In 2006, a 23-year-old French-Moroccan Jew by the name of Ilan Halimi was brutally murdered for simply being Jewish.
His killers, a gang that went by the name of Les Barbares (“The Barbarians”), kidnapped Halimi and held him hostage for 24 days, before burning him alive and dumping his body near a train station in the Paris suburb of Saint-Genevieve-de-Bois.
Halimi was found alive by a local, still fighting for his life, with 80 percent of his body deformed and disfigured by acid burns, an ear and toe cut off, and his genitals mutilated. He died on his way to the hospital.
During the investigation, key members of the group confessed that they believed that all Jews are rich, which motivated them to target Halimi, although he came from the same lower-class Parisian suburb as the abductors did. The felons also threatened the Halimi family to send money from the “Jewish community” and “rabbis” if they could not afford the 450,000-euro ransom.
The aftermath of the Ilan Halimi case unfortunately only gained attention in France. Reactions from the global community were scarce, with only the United States Helsinki Commission holding a briefing recognizing the omnipresence of antisemitism in the modern world.
While all those directly implicated in the abduction of Halimi were sentenced to heavy dues for their crimes, a Halimi relative said, “The important thing for me is not handing out heavier jail terms, honestly. The important thing is to open this to the press and public and make it a learning experience.”1
When the world sits silently as Jews are overtly murdered, it seems the world has no intention for a lesson to be learned. The murder cases of Mireille Knoll, Sarah Halimi (no relation), and others that followed Ilan Halimi’s serve to prove that lethal antisemitism is very much alive today.
May his memory be a blessing.
Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg were both born in Israel, married each other in 2002, and then moved to India to open the first Chabad House (a Jewish communal center) in Mumbai.
They installed a kosher kitchen and a mikveh (a Jewish ritual bath for women), taught the Torah, offered drug prevention services, ran a hostel, and led Shabbat meals for about 50 or 60 people every week, including notable figures such as Sir Martin Gilbert and Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, as well as humanitarian workers, business people, and Israeli backpackers visiting India.
In an article published in 2006, Gavriel said he understood the nature of the Israeli travelers’ desires, saying they “need relief” from the army, from work, from real life. He added that “they come here to do everything the army didn’t allow them to do. Their shoes had to be polished and tied — here they wear sandals. They had to cut their hair — here they grow their hair long.”2
In November 2008, the Chabad House was assaulted during a series of terror attacks that took place over four days, when members of a militant Islamist organization from Pakistan carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai.
The Holtzberg’s were taken hostage. Sandra Samuel, a maid at the house and the nanny for their 2-year-old son, Moshe, managed to escape with the boy. As the siege began, Sandra locked the doors and hid in a room. She heard Rivka, who was five-months pregnant, screaming: “Sandra! Sandra! Help! Sandra!”
The terrorists reportedly went door-to-door, searching for targets, so Sandra unlocked her door, but they did not find her. She then ran upstairs to find the Holtzberg’s shot and lying on the ground with their son crying over them, so she picked him up and ran to the exit. The two of them survived.
Two days after the siege of the house began, Indian security forces seized it and found the Holtzberg’s and six others dead. Several of the bodies were covered in tallit (a Jewish prayer shawl) including Rivka’s, leading witnesses to speculate that her husband Gavriel managed to cover the bodies before he was killed.
May their memory be a blessing.
These three heart-wrenching stories about different types of Jews — each in different countries, at different time periods — have two distinct threads that weave them all together.
The first is that our enemies do not target us because they seek “liberation” or “human rights” or “self-determination.” They target us because we are one horrendous word for them: Jews. Anyone who says otherwise has no idea what they are talking about.
What’s more, these disparate stories demonstrate that we Jews have enemies in many places, our enemies do not care how religious or secular each one of us is, or about our individual political persuasions — and therefore we must be united, committed, and vigilant to ensure our collective strength and future.
“The Murder of Ilan Halimi.” Aish.
“Israelis Invade India.” Namaste.
Now more than ever, all need to stand united in support of Israel.
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