Eighteen families of soldiers killed in the Jenin battles published a pained call this morning entitled, \"Letter from a Broken Heart.\" The article expresses their anguish at recent accusations that their fallen sons had perpetrated a massacre or war crimes, and at parallels drawn between the battle in Jenin and the Holocaust. The writers say that they are \"angered and pained by expressions that support the phenomenon of those who refuse to serve in Yesha military activities. These are shocking, unsettling, and tarnish the memory of our sons.\"
Mrs. Pninah Yaskov, wife of Maj. Avner Yaskov who was killed in the Jenin battles, said today:
\"I want to express my anger at the words of [veteran Israeli singer] Yaffa Yarkoni [who said that photographs of Arabs surrendering in Jenin remind her of pictures of the Holocaust]. My poor husband was not a Nazi, did not drag innocent Palestinians to death pits or to the gas chambers, and did not smash babies\' heads against the wall. All he did was to go and protect [his country]...\"
PA sources, which accused Israel of \"massacring\" up to 500 Arabs in Jenin, now admit that the number is actually 56. Israel has said all along that the number is approximately 50, and that only seven of these were civilians. Israel lost 23 soldiers in the battle.
Shneior Alfasi, a reserve soldier who fought in Jenin, was asked today, \"What do you think when you hear the phrase \'massacre in Jenin?\' His response:
\"I have absolutely no idea what this means. It is a phrase without meaning for me. We did nothing of the sort. The only thing it can mean for me is that when we first arrived in Jenin with our emergency orders, we were all united in knowing that because of the massacres that the terrorists were perpetrating against us every day, we had to fight and put an end to it once and for all… It happened during the fighting that we called on the civilians to come out, which they did... and then from behind the women and children burst forth armed terrorists who started shooting at us, leaving us with the dilemma of having to decide whether to shoot back and risk hurting the women and children. This was just one example of their evil. For us, ethics was the first consideration, while for them it was the last...\"
Mrs. Pninah Yaskov, wife of Maj. Avner Yaskov who was killed in the Jenin battles, said today:
\"I want to express my anger at the words of [veteran Israeli singer] Yaffa Yarkoni [who said that photographs of Arabs surrendering in Jenin remind her of pictures of the Holocaust]. My poor husband was not a Nazi, did not drag innocent Palestinians to death pits or to the gas chambers, and did not smash babies\' heads against the wall. All he did was to go and protect [his country]...\"
PA sources, which accused Israel of \"massacring\" up to 500 Arabs in Jenin, now admit that the number is actually 56. Israel has said all along that the number is approximately 50, and that only seven of these were civilians. Israel lost 23 soldiers in the battle.
Shneior Alfasi, a reserve soldier who fought in Jenin, was asked today, \"What do you think when you hear the phrase \'massacre in Jenin?\' His response:
\"I have absolutely no idea what this means. It is a phrase without meaning for me. We did nothing of the sort. The only thing it can mean for me is that when we first arrived in Jenin with our emergency orders, we were all united in knowing that because of the massacres that the terrorists were perpetrating against us every day, we had to fight and put an end to it once and for all… It happened during the fighting that we called on the civilians to come out, which they did... and then from behind the women and children burst forth armed terrorists who started shooting at us, leaving us with the dilemma of having to decide whether to shoot back and risk hurting the women and children. This was just one example of their evil. For us, ethics was the first consideration, while for them it was the last...\"