July 2, 2012, - 6:46 am
Yitzhak Shamir, Z”L*: Israeli PM Was Hero, Said “Anti-Semitism is Poles’ Mother’s Milk” – Family Murdered by Poles
It’s ironic–or perhaps fitting–that on the same day that US-backed Egyptian Muslim madman, Mohammed Morsi, was sworn in as President of Egypt and swore fealty to the Palestinians, former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir passed away. Perhaps G-d wanted to spare him another day on this haywire earth in which a righteous Western democratic ally, Israel, is now the enemy, and the former ally–America–helped usher in extremist enemies on all sides. Or perhaps G-d let him live to see the day when the Camp David Peace Accords were officially over after roughly 33 years. Shamir, perhaps Israel’s toughest and wisest leader, was opposed to any land for peace deals with Muslims, and he refused to give an inch on “settlements.” And he took these smart positions despite extreme pressure from the George H.W. Bush administration, in which Secretary of State James Baker famously said about Israel, “F–k the Jews!” and deliberately used a hunting analogy, since he knows Jews don’t hunt. (He’s now a top Romney adviser.) And this was after–against his own principles–he abided by the Bush request not to respond to Saddam Hussein’s scud missile bombings of Israel during the first Gulf War. Shamir’s refusal to budge to Bush and Baker led to one of Israel’s most peaceful and secure times–during both of his terms of office as Prime Minister in 1983-84 and 1986-92. There were no kidnappings and massive terrorist trades for their release. There were few bombs and attacks on Israelis. He was a strong subscriber to the peace through strength school of thought backed up throughout history. Despite being barely five feet tall, Yitzhak Shamir (his first name is pronounced, “Yitzchak”) had the biggest balls of any Israeli leader. Sadly, they don’t make Israeli leaders like this gutsy, great man anymore. He was courageous, a proud Jew, and stuck to his principles. He never gave in to the enemies of the Jewish people and Israel for political expedience. And he never allowed a “Palestinian State” in the West Bank or Gaza, which was the smartest thing he ever did, especially given the nature of the opposite result–welfare state terrorist bases of attack against Israel on both Eastern and Western fronts–today.
Despite the ill-advised behavior of Israeli leaders before and after him, he never negotiated land for the fantasy of peace with Muslims and Arabs, and he never trusted the Arab Muslim regimes. And, as I noted, his was among the few periods of real peace for Israel. And he wasn’t just a deft and principled leader. He was also a war hero and fighter for the Jewish people and the State of Israel from the very beginning. Born Icchak Jeziernicky, he grew up in Poland and left his law studies at Warsaw University to go to then-Palestine in 1935. After the Arabs rioted against Jews (and killed many of them) in 1936–and the British did nothing to stop it–he joined the Irgun to help protect Jews. He later became a commander of Lechi (also spelled, “Lehi”)–an Irgun offshoot, fighting the British attacks on Jews and British support of Arab terrorists and pogroms against Jews. He helped cause the British to leave and allow Israel to become a State. He also was active in the Mossad for more than a decade and was in charge of the assassination of former Third Reich Nazis who were actively working for Egypt’s missile program, developing poisonous missiles filled with disease, to kill Israeli Jews. He also put spies in enemy nations. This was a real cool guy and a genuine hero. A close friend of Menachem Begin, he began his political career as an elected Member of Knesset (Israel’s parliament) as a member of the Herut (also spelled, “Cherut”) party, of which my own family (my father and my maternal grandfather) were big supporters from over here in America. After serving as Speaker of the Knesset and Israeli Foreign Minister, he ultimately became Prime Minister-as part of the Likud coalition–when Begin retired. He did not vote for the Camp David Peace Accords, and he lived just long enough to see that he was right.
While Shamir was Prime Minister and Bush was President, then-AIPAC chief Thomas Dine sleazily drafted a letter against Shamir that he got U.S. Senator Carl Levin and other left-wing Democrat enemies of Israel to sign and send to President Bush, calling on the President to pressure Shamir to stop the settlements. Shamir ignored them and the letter. But the point here is that AIPAC routinely goes against Israel and shouldn’t be embraced as “the pro-Israel lobby.” It’s simply the lobby of rich left-wing Democrat Jews In Name Only who think they know better what’s best for Israel than Israel does.
Given the month-long cyberpogrom I’ve just had against me by anti-Semitic Poles who claim that Poles didn’t murder Jews during the Holocaust, it’s important to note Shamir’s own family experience as a Jewish Pole who lost his family during the Holocaust. His experience backs up what I wrote and that which is well-documented about Polish complicity in the Holocaust. Shamir was clear that Polish anti-Semites–not just the Nazis–murdered much of his family and stated that anti-Semitism is the mother’s milk of the Poles. While normally quiet about his personal life and family history, in 1989 he made a point to tell the world about Polish anti-Semitism that fueled much of the killing of Jews–including those in his immediate family–during the Holocaust.
While reading out loud the names of his family members killed by the Nazis, Shamir disclosed that his father was killed by Polish childhood friends in his own village, after he succeeded in escaping from a German death train.
“My father, Shlomo Ysernitzky, who escaped before the train left for a death camp and while seeking shelter among friends in the village where he grew up, they, his friends from childhood, killed him,” Shamir said in a trembling voice.
Shamir revealed this on Holocaust Remembrance Day last week, while participating in a daylong public reading of names of Holocaust victims at the Knesset.
More:
Shamir never forgot the tragic circumstances of the death of his father who was murdered during the Holocaust by Polish farmers, friends of his youth, when he came to them seeking sanctuary after he escaped from a death train.
Yitzhak’s sister, her husband and their children were also murdered by a Polish forest guard that previously worked for them, and in whose home they tried to hide. Their tragic fate continued to haunt Shamir throughout his life; he later commented that “Poles imbibe anti-Semitism together with their mother’s milk.”
When I was a kid, my father used to read to me from the wonderful book, “And It Came To Pass: Legends And Stories About King David And King Solomon
If only he were running Israel today, things would be a lot different.
Yitzhak Shamir, *Zichrono LiVrachah [Blessed Be His Memory].
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Read more about Shamir in the Jerusalem Post obituary.
Tags: AIPAC, Haganah, Holocaust, Icchak Jeziernicky, Irgun, Israel, Jews, Lechi, Lehi, Mossad, Poland, Polish anti-Semitism, Polish complicity in the Holocaust, shamir, Shlomo Ysernitzky, Thomas Dine, Tom Dine, Yitzchak Shamir, Yitzhak Shamir
RIP
P. Aaron on July 2, 2012 at 7:13 am