Breaking the Silence // The Poem That Exposed Israeli War Crimes in 1948 by Yair Auron

One of the most powerful condemnations of the events at Lod and Dawamiya came from the agriculture minister, Aharon Zisling. The language used on November 17 by the kibbutz member and representative of the left-wing Mapam party, is among the most damning ever heard in an Israeli cabinet meeting. Zisling told those present that after he received information about the events, he had not been able to sleep all night.

“I felt that the things that were going on were wounding my soul, the soul of my family and all of us here, he said. I could not imagine where we came from and where we were going. Noting that he had sometimes disagreed when British occupiers in Palestine were called Nazis – even though, he averred, the British did commit Nazi crimes – Zisling added: But now Jews too have behaved like Nazis and my entire being has been shaken. We have to conceal these actions from the public, and I agree that we should not even reveal that we are investigating them, but they must be investigated.”