Israel Pilots Report Torture by Syrians

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, June 8, 1973-5

4

(Continued from Page 1)
during that interval was re-
peatedly beaten by his cap-
tors on his fractured leg and
on his head. He said that as
-a result of his head injuries
he permanently lost hearing
in one ear.

Capt. Magen gave a similar
account of his treatment. He
said they were not visited by
Red Cross representatives for
some 41/2 months after
their capture, and that period
was the worst. But even later,
when their treatment had im-
proved, it was still far from
what the Geneva Convention
required. Nevertheless, Capt.
Magen said that while a
prisoner he was able to take
a r—respondence course in
me Rai engineering from
the itaifa Technion. He said
textbooks in Hebrew and
English were supplied to him
through the facilities of the
Red Cross.
Dayan, who was on the
Golan Heights to witness the
POW exchange, told report-
ers that it might pave the way
for a similar exchange with
Egypt but that he didn't want
to raise too much hope for
that prospect. There are 10
Israeli POWs in Egypt, most
of them downed pilots, and
56 Egyptian POWs in Israel.
The Syrian POWs returned
by Israel included five senior

army officers captured by
Israeli forces during a raid
into southern Lebanon on
June 21, 1972. They are: Brig.
Gen. Arham Amwani, Col.
Ranabu Alouch and Col.
Nazir Jerah, all of the Oper-
ations Branch of Syrian Gen-
eral Headquarters; and Lt.
Cols. Rafiq Syrbag and Walid
Abbasi, of Air Force Intellig-
ence. The other Syrian
soldiers were captured by
Israel during a raid on June
26, 1970. The 10 Lebanese
soldiers exchanged at the
Ras el Nakura border post
included two officers cap-
tured with the Syrian offi-
cers. The others were cap-
tured on June 21 and Sept.
16, 1972.

Dayan said he assumed
that the capture of the five
Syrian senior officers played
a major role in persuading
Damascus to agree to the
POW exchange. Two of the
Israeli pilots, Capts. Pinhas
and Magen, bailed out on
April 4, 1970. Lt. Eitan bailed
out on June 26 of that year.
All three were on undisclosed
missions over Syria.
Gen. David Elazar, chief of
staff of Israel's armed forces,
flatly denied a charge by the
Syrian defense ministry that
Israel had mistreated Syrian
prisoners of war.
"There is no truth in the

Cathedral in England Refutes
12th Century Murder Libel

To Jews, the cathedrals of
Europe are associated with
much suffering. During the
Middle Ages, when the build-
ing of these churches was
at its height, hatred of the
Jews was evidenced in per-
secution and expulsions. Not
the least of these occurred
in Lincoln, a Village in Lin-
colnshire.
Thus, Detroiter Leonard
Simons on a tour of the Brit-
ish Isles recently, was all the
more surprised to find the
following plaque in the Ca-
thedral of Lincoln, over "the
shrine of Little St. Hugh":
"Trumped-up stories about
ritual murders of Christian
boys of Jewish communities
were common throughout Eu-
rope in the Middle Ages and
even much later. These fic-
tions cost many innocent
Jews their lives. Lincoln had
its own legend, and the alleg-
ed victim was buried in the
cathedral. The shrine was
erected and the boy was re-
ferred to as 'Little St. Hugh.'
A reconstruction of the shrine
stands near. Such stories do
not redound to the credit of
Christendom and so we pray
" 'Remember not Lord our
offenses, nor the offenses
cf forefathers'."
It._ a letter to Simons, who
had requested information on
the plaque, Stuart Gunnill,
secretary of the cathedral
fund drive, added that when
the cathedral had to launch
an appeal in 1963, "the first
to contribute was a Jewish
doctor from Bournemouth, on
our South Coast, who wrote
that whereas his ancestors
were forced to give to main-
tain the cathedral it gave him
pleasure to do so voluntari-
ly. ,,

In Cecil Roth's history of
the Jews of England, refer-
ence is made to Lincoln
Jewry as far back as 1159.
Pogroms took place periodic-
ally, climaxing in a ritual
murder libel in 1255, when

nearly 100 Jews were arrest-
ed and many put to death
following a trial in London.
In 1290, 24 years after
crusaders sacked the syna-
gogue, the Jews of Lincoln
were expelled, along with the
rest of England's Jews. From
that day on, no permanent
Jewish community has been
re-established in the town.
Simons estimates there are
no more than a half-dozen to
a dozen Jews there today.
The oldest inhabited house
in England belonged to
Bellassez the Jewess, of Lin-
coln. It is marked with a
plaque, Jews House, and is
located on Steep Hill. Bella-
ssez herself, a wealthy wom-
an, was among the 293 Eng-
lish Jews sentenced to die
in a trumped-up charge in
1278.

alleged claims," Gen. Elazar
said in an interview publish-
ed in Yediot Ahronot. He
said the Syrians were "throw-
ing sand in the eyes" to di-
vert attention from the
charges by the returned Is-
raeli POWs that they had
been systematically tortured
during their captivity.
The Syrian defense minis-
try made its charge after
Sunday's exchange of POWs.
According to Damascus,
the returned POWs claimed
that they had been subjected
to physical and psychological
torture by the Israelis and
that they were dened medical
treatment. Gen. Elazar said
he was at Amadieh Junc-
tion on the Golan Heights
Sunday morning when the
Israeli-Syrian PW exchange
took place.
He said he personally greet-
ed the Syrians and wished
them well on their return to
their country. He said he
specifically asked them how
they were treated and they
replied: "We were treated
quite well," Gen. Elazar said.
He said the only complaint
he heard from one of the
Syrian POWs was that they
were blindfolded after they
were taken prisoner and until
they reached the POW camp
in I s r a e 1. The Syrian
thought that was "unbecom-
ing for officers."
Gen. Elazar said that, on
the other hand, the three
Israel POWs suffered hor-
ribly at the hands of their
captors.
"The Syrian treatment of
POWs is well known, but I
never thought their cruelty
would reach such extremes.
Our pilots were systematical-
ly beaten," he said.
Druze Spy Released
TEL AVIA (JTA) — In a
surprise move Sunday, Israel
announced the reprieve and
release of Amal Kanj, a
prominent Druze leader on
the Golan Heights who was
sentenced last year to 23

years' imprisonment for spy-
ing on behalf of Syria. Kanj,
who was once a 'member of
the Syrian parliament, re-
turned to his home at Majdal
Shams on the slopes of Mt.
Hermon in Israel-administer-
ed territory. There was no
indication that his release
was connected with the POW
exchange.

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