Ci è stato segnalato quest’altro crimine storico di stampo razzista e anti-ebraico compiuto negli anni ’50 dalla destra e dalla sinistra sionista unite ai danni di 100.000 bambini ebrei originari per lo più dello Yemen o del Marocco (vi fu implicato in prima fila il “santone” della sinistra sionista del secolo scorso, Shimon Peres, membro di spicco della Seconda Internazionale di Bettino Craxi). Ne eravamo all’oscuro. E immaginiamo ne sia all’oscuro anche chi ci legge. Riportiamo per intero l’articolo di Aryeh Dayan da Haaretz, che è tuttora accessibile, e il commento introduttivo-sintesi, così come appare su Peacelink, a cura di G. Scala. Inutile dire che le autorità statali israeliane respingono ogni responsabilità per un simile esperimento, e resistono non solo ad ammettere le proprie colpe, ma anche ad assicurare dignitosi risarcimenti a chi è stato colpito da forme gravi di cancro.

Gli ebrei sefarditi (dall’ebraico: ספרד – Sefarad, “Spagna”) sono i lontanissimi discendenti degli ebrei che fino alla fine del 1400 abitavano nella penisola iberica. In seguito ad un decreto emesso il 31 marzo 1492 dai re cattolici di Spagna, Isabella di Castiglia e Ferdinando II di Aragona (il cd. decreto dell’Alhambra), tutti gli ebrei furono espulsi da quei territori. Una minoranza di loro, anziché convertirsi al cattolicesimo, preferì emigrare verso altri paesi europei e (in molti) verso il Maghreb e altre aree del vasto impero ottomano. Nella popolazione di Israele degli anni ’50 gli ebrei sefarditi costituivano la parte più povera della popolazione. In Israele il feroce razzismo di stato riguarda in prima istanza i palestinesi; in seconda gli immigrati (notate che per i 5 lavoratori thailandesi rilasciati oggi da Hamas, lo stato sionista non ha rilasciato in cambio nessun palestinese); in terza – però – gli stessi ebrei di pelle nera (provenienti in molti dal corno d’Africa) e, appunto, i discendenti dei sefarditi. Razzismo e classismo procedono sempre, in democrazia, di pari passo. (Red.)

Proverei a suggerire ai vari giornalisti “esperti in antisemitismo” di procurarsi copia del programma andato in onda in Israele il 14 agosto, alle 21, su Channel Ten, per Dimona Productions, reperibile anche nel sito del più liberal dei giornali israeliani: www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/458044.html .

Si intitola “100.000 Radiations“. Partecipavano testimoni, esperti del Ministero della Sanità, vittime. Ne devo notizia a Olga Daric. Grazie.

”Con il pretesto di combattere la tricofitosi (ringworm) nella testa dei bambini sefarditi immigrati, per lo più dal Marocco, o rapiti dallo Yemen, il Ministero della Sanità israeliano, sotto la supervisione di Simon Peres, acquistò nel 1951 negli Stati Uniti sette macchine di Raggi X e le adoperò per un esperimento nucleare di massa su un’intera generazione di cavie umane sefardite.

A 100.000 bambini sefarditi vennero sparate in testa e sul corpo (non coperto da protezioni) dosi 35.000 volte superiori alla soglia massima di raggi gamma. Tali da friggergli il cervello. Per avergli risparmiato gli esperimenti, a quel punto ufficialmente proibiti, sui propri detenuti, o malati mentali, il governo USA versò a quello israeliano 300 milioni di sterline israeliane all’anno, per una somma che oggi varrebbe miliardi di dollari. 6.000 bambini morirono subito, gli altri svilupparono tumori che hanno continuato a uccidere e uccidono anche oggi. In vita, le vittime hanno sofferto e soffrono di epilessia,amnesia, Alzheimer, psicosi, emicranie croniche. Essendo stato esposto l’intero corpo,i bambini svilupparono difetti genetici. La generazione che sopravvisse diventò in perpetuo la classe più povera, malata ed emarginata del paese.

Uno storico spiega nel documentario che l’operazione era parte di un programma eugenetico mirato a eliminare le componenti deboli o difettose della società. Mengele. Nel programma si indicano i responsabili del progetto: Nahum Goldman, capo del Congresso Ebraico Mondiale, Levi Eshkol, primo ministro, Shimon Peres, allora direttore generale del Ministero della Guerra, Eliezer Kaplan, ministro delle finanze, Jospeh Burg, ministro della Sanità, accusato dai rabbini yemeniti di essere il responsabile del rapimento dei loro bambini. E’ stata questa cabala che nel 1977 avrebbe poi eletto primo ministro Menachem Begin. Alcune centinaia di spettatori hanno visto questa trasmissione in Israele.

Chissà se Guido Caldiron ne vorrà sentire le impressioni, magari per confermare che “davvero infinite sono le vie dell’antisemitismo”.

COMMENTO:

Quando si ricevono notizie così orripilanti, e non è certo la prima volta, la prima reazione è quella di “sperare che non siano vere”. Ma la fonte è questa volta insospettabile. Questi fatti dimostrano che il sionismo non è un’ideologia che difende gli “Ebrei”, ma semplicemente un odioso sottoprodotto del peggior colonialismo e del più truce razzismo europeo, uno strumento, mirato ed impietoso, di lotta della cosiddetta “civiltà europea” contro il “sottosviluppo” del terzo mondo. Ripetendo i crimini del fascismo, ed anticipando quelli di Bush, i responsabili del programma di esperimenti contro gli Ebrei sefarditi proclamano al mondo la loro verità: la ricetta migliore per combattere la (minaccia della) povertà è quella di eliminare i poveri. (G. Zambon)

Running rings around the victims By Aryeh Dayan 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/458044.html 

Tens of thousands of immigrants underwent radiation against ringworm in the 1940s and `50s. Now, 60 years

later, they are still fighting for compensation from the state for illnesses said to be due to the treatment.  

On the Israeli national agenda, the ringworm affair is

in a class with the affairs of the Yemenite children

(some of whom were allegedly kidnapped and put up for

adoption) and the spraying of new immigrants with DDT.

Like those affairs, it is a symbol of the arrogant and

alienated attitude of the veteran Ashkenazi (Jews of

European origin) establishment in the 1950s toward the

new immigrants from the Arab countries. And like those

affairs, this one refuses to die away.

Ten years after the legislation of the law that was

designed to eliminate the resentment caused by the

ringworm affair, it is apparently about to erupt

again, and the victims are once again embarking on a

battle, claiming that not only does the state pay

absurd compensation, but it prevents even that small

sum from reaching a large percentage of the victims.

Naturally, at the same time there will be a renewal of

the bitter debate about the limits of responsibility

of the Israeli government for what was defined about

50 years ago as a medical-humanitarian campaign meant

to benefit the olim (new immigrants) from the Arab

countries, and turned into a terrible humanitarian

tragedy.

The government radiation campaign began in the late

1940s, when a fear arose in the country of an outbreak

of a plague of ringworm, a skin disease that grows in

the roots of the hair and quickly spreads among

children who live in crowded conditions, with poor

hygiene. The prejudices of the establishment toward

the Mizrahi (Jews of North African and Middle Eastern

origin) immigrants contributed both to intensifying

this fear and to the means used to solve the problem.

The top echelons of the Ministry of Health and the

Medical Corps of the Israel Defense Forces decided to

begin a comprehensive treatment and prevention

campaign, which was to include radioactive treatments

of the heads of all the children up to age 15 who had

immigrated from Arab countries. In all, about 100,000

children underwent these treatments.

At a certain stage of the campaign, which lasted until

1960, it was also decided to transfer radiation

machines to the Jewish Agency transit camps in

Marseilles and other places in Europe and to carry out

the treatments there, while the children were still in

transit from North Africa to Israel. The medical world

at the time, even outside Israel, was as yet unaware

of the future damage involved in these radiation

treatments; the connection between such treatments and

cancer and other illnesses was discovered only years

later.

Many people have testified that the radiation campaign

caused the children serious emotional harm. Without

any explanation, they were brought to clinics where

the hair on their heads was shaven, the hair that

remained was pulled out with hot wax, and the roots

were eliminated with x-rays.

The exact number of Israelis who have suffered from

various types of cancer because of radiation against

ringworm is not known. However, Prof. Baruch Modan,

who researched the subject when he was the head of the

Department of Clinical Epidemiology at the Sheba

Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, discovered over 30

years ago that their number was more than double that

in the general population. The treatments caused many

other illnesses: sterility, the loss of teeth and

hair, and severe and ugly scars on the scalp and on

other parts of the body. According to the most recent

estimates, tens of thousands of people contracted

cancer or other illnesses as a result of the radiation

campaign.

Contradictory findings

For decades, the government refused to accept any

legal or moral responsibility for the radiation

campaign. In 1994, the government changed its position

for the first time, and passed a law initiated by MK

Amir Peretz, to compensate the victims of ringworm

treatments. The law determined moderate financial

compensation for anyone who had received radiation

treatments against ringworm in his childhood, and as

an adult fell ill with severe forms of cancer. By

passing the law, the government in effect acknowledged

the connection between cancer and the radiation

treatments administered by the state.

The two government institutions responsible for

implementing the law – the Health Ministry and the

National Insurance Institute – have submitted

contradictory findings regarding the number of victims

who have been recognized as eligible for compensation.

The Health Ministry, which is responsible both for

determining eligibility and for deciding on the

percentage of disability that determines the amount of

compensation, says that “about 13,500” people are

eligible, and about 13,000 have filed claims. The NII,

which is actively responsible for making the payments,

says that the number of those eligible is “about

11,000.” The Health Ministry also says that about

10,000 requests have been denied and that the

discussion of 7,500 additional requests has not yet

been concluded. The NII spokesman’s office says that

as of October 2003, “the NII paid the ringworm victims

grants and allowances to the tune of NIS 640 million.”

Those who are granted between 5 percent and 39 percent

disability are eligible for a one-time grant of NIS

1,218 for each percentage of disability. Those who

have over 40 percent disability will receive a monthly

allowance in addition to the one-time grant. The grant

will be NIS 50,000 if the committee has determined

between 40 percent and 74 percent disability, and NIS

100,000 for higher disability. The monthly allowance

for those who have been granted 100 percent disability

will be 25 percent of the average national salary,

i.e. about NIS 1,800; the sum of the allowance will

decline with a decline in the percentage of

disability.

“That’s really minimal compensation, I would even say

that it’s adding insult to injury,” says attorney

Yadin Yaron, who represents many ringworm victims.

“Anyone with less than 40 percent disability, which

includes the vast majority of those receiving

compensation, received an almost absurd one-time

payment. Only someone who suffers from a brain tumor

or from multiple tumors receives over 40 percent.” The

NII statistics indicate that only 27 percent of those

eligible – 3,000 out of 11,000 – have received a

regular allowance.

And why were such absurd sums determined? Apparently

the state knew how to exploit the fact that the

victims of the radiation treatments didn’t have much

of a chance of winning lawsuits. “Fifteen years ago,

before the law was passed, a large group of radiation

victims turned to me and asked me to investigate the

possibility of filing a suit against the state for

medical negligence,” says Yaron. “After I checked into

the matter, I reached the conclusion that the

radiation treatments were carried out according to

what was common in the medical world at the time, and

that there was no chance of winning a lawsuit based on

the claim of negligence. Since I believed that the

state nevertheless has a very large moral obligation

towards these people, I suggested that they file the

lawsuit, and litigate against the state on a moral

basis.” The legislative process began immediately

after the filing of this lawsuit. Its conclusion, in

which the low compensation sums were set, put an end

to discussion of the lawsuit.

The purpose of the law was to put an end to the

resentment caused by the ringworm affair. But judging

by a long series of indicators, which have been

multiplying in recent months, that didn’t happen. An

association of the radiation victims is about to

embark on a public battle, claiming that the Finance

Ministry has for several years been making every

effort to reduce the allowances, which are low in any

case, and to empty the law of content. Lawyers who are

handling the lawsuits of the victims claim that the

Health Ministry has given in to the treasury, is

causing a significant slowdown in the work of the

medical committees discussing the compensation claims,

and is placing endless legal and bureaucratic

obstacles in the path of the plaintiffs. In labor

courts all over the country, which are authorized by

law to discuss appeals of the decisions of the medical

committees, there has been an increase in the number

of those appealing the denial of their claims or the

tiny sum allocated to them for compensation.

“During the first years, the law was implemented in a

more or less acceptable manner, but since 2000 or

2001, everything has changed for the worse,” says

Malka Cohen-Gilboa, the lawyer for the Association of

Ringworm Radiation Victims. According to the law,

those who request compensation must first appear

before an “experts’ committee” that determines whether

there is a direct connection between the person’s

disease and the radiation treatments he received. “In

recent years,” says Cohen-Gilboa, “the experts’

committees have greatly increased their demands for

proof of this connection. In the past they believed

those who turned to them. Now they ask them to bring

documents and witnesses to prove that they received

radiation treatments. The problem is that none of them

has documents, and the only witnesses were their

parents, who in most cases are no longer alive.”

Someone whose eligibility for compensation is

acknowledged by the experts’ committee is sent to

another committee, a “medical committee,” whose job it

is to decide on the percentage of disability, which

determines the amount of compensation. “Up until three

years ago, the percentages of disability were granted

very generously, and with greater consideration,” says

Yaron. “The treasury seems to be applying great

pressure on this issue.” If in the past about three or

four months on the average passed between the time the

lawsuit was filed and the time it came up for

discussion, complains Yaron, today the process takes

about a year and a half.

The institute was not established

In the past, says Yaron, percentages of disability

were also granted for scars caused by the radiation

treatments, and for spots and other damage to the

scalp. Today these things are not taken into

consideration. Article 7 of the law determines that

the Health Ministry, “will establish a national

institute for the study of the subject of ringworm and

how to treat it,” whose tasks will include “locating,

registering and documenting those who suffered from

ringworm and received radiation treatments,” and “the

establishment of a system for early diagnosis of

illnesses to which radiation patients are exposed.”

The research by the institute, it was explained when

the law was passed, would also deal with discovering

the connection between the radiation treatments and

other illnesses (aside from cancer), in order to make

it possible to add these illnesses to the list of

illnesses which entitle people to compensation.

Ten years after the legislation of the law, the

institute has yet to be established, and the list of

illnesses has never bee expanded. “Several years ago,

Nissim Dahan, who was the health minister at the time,

signed an order that added benign growths in the

thyroid gland to the list of illnesses,” says Yaron.

“The treasury didn’t approve the order.”

Cohen-Gilboa: “In 1974, Professor Modan proved the

connection between the radiation treatments and breast

cancer, but breast cancer has still not been placed on

the list. In the past, percentages of disability were

also granted for emotional distress; now that is no

longer the case. For years we have been demanding a

payment for wigs, which many of us have been forced to

use for 50 years. Nothing has been done.”

Attorney Zvi Regev, whose Hadera law firm represents

dozens of the radiation victims, claims that the

plaintiffs are required to appear before the experts’

committee without being represented by a lawyer, and

are asked tricky questions, for example, whether the

radiation treatments hurt. “If the plaintiff gives a

positive answer, his request is denied. This question

is tricky because the treatments really didn’t hurt,

but pulling out hair with wax hurt a great deal.” He

says, “It’s not clear how they expect a 60-year-old

man who underwent radiation treatments 50 years ago,

when he was a child, to make this precise

differentiation.”

The Health Ministry refused to submit a formal reply

regarding the claims, saying that the subject has now

been sent to the Supreme Court. A senior official in

the ministry, who requested anonymity, said that the

ministry and its committees are operating in

accordance with the law.

No right to know?

“Had the Health Ministry informed me 15 or 20 years

ago that I underwent radiation treatments against

ringworm,” says Batsheva Gadassi, “maybe I could have

saved my life.” Gadassi, 54, who recently fell ill

with a severe form of cancer, blamed the Health

Ministry for not informing her in time of the fact

that her name is included in what is called the “Modan

file” – a list that was prepared 35 years ago, and

includes the names of 12,000 of the approximately

100,000 children who received radiation treatments.

Since the list was compiled, the ministry has refused

to warn those whose names are included on it. Gadassi

appealed to the Supreme Court with a request to

require the ministry to do so. “It won’t help me any

more,” she says, “but I want to save the lives of

others.”

Gadassi was born in 1950 in Moshav Shtulim, to parents

who had come to Israel a year earlier from Yemen. She

says that in the summer of 1957 all the children of

the moshav were taken to Haifa, on the pretext that

they were going to a summer camp. “A large truck

picked us up. On the way to Haifa we sang and played

happily, but the moment we arrived at the Sha’ar

Ha’aliyah camp, near Haifa, the abuse began. They took

us into the clinic, smeared some substance on our

heads, pulled out all our hair and gave us radiation

treatments. We returned home bald and bruised, both

physically and emotionally.”

This incident was so traumatic for her, that for

decades she erased it from her memory entirely. She

remembered it down to the last detail a few months

ago, when she went to receive radiation treatments

against the cancer that has developed in her throat

and that threatens her life. When she filed a lawsuit

in the Health Ministry, she discovered for the first

time that her name is included in the Modan list.

All the health ministers and all the directors general

of the ministry who have served since the list was

compiled have opposed the demand to send warnings.

Among the opponents was Prof. Baruch Modan himself,

who prepared the list and afterwards served as

director general in the 1980s. The Health Ministry

explains that the Modan file is “a research file

only,” and there is no certainty that everyone

included in it did in fact receive radiation

treatments. Sending warnings to all of them is liable

“to sow unnecessary panic” without being medically

efficacious, because it is doubtful whether anyone

will succeed in stopping the development of the

cancer. But the ministry insists that the list is not

classified: Anyone who asks to know whether his name

is included on it, will receive an immediate reply.

(A.D.)