Ras Sedr massacre (in Hebrew: טבח ראס סודר) was a mass murder of dozens of Egyptian prisoners of war that took place immediately after a paratrooper unit of the Israel Defense Forces conquered Ras Sedr (also known as Ras Sudr) on 8 June 1967 during the Six-Day War.[1]
Events[edit]
In June 2000, Egypt's Al-Wafd newspaper reported that a mass grave was discovered in Ras Sedr, containing remains of 52 prisoners killed by Israeli paratroopers during the war, who had killed the surrendered unit. The report said that some skulls had bullet holes in them, indicating execution.[2][3] Initial reports in Israeli newspaper Haaretz[4] were censored.
In April 2009, Haaretz reported that Israeli television director Ram Loevy had heard about the massacre shortly after the war, from fellow paratroopers in his unit. After testifying in Metzah, he was removed from the unit.[5] Another claim detailed two cases of killings at the location, which happened in 1956 and 1967, respectively.[6] A report has detailed confessions of Israeli officers who witnessed the act and this included an admission that the Red Sedr massacre was one of the three collective massacres perpetrated under the direction of Brigadier-General in reserve, Arieh Biroh (also Arye Biro), during the 1956 War and the Six-Day War of 1967.[7] The other two included the killings at the quarry near the Mitla Pass in Sinai and the killing of escaping Egyptian officers by the 890 regiment at Sharm El-Sheikh.[7]
After his retirement, Biroh admitted to killing 49 Egyptian prisoners of war in the Sinai in interviews.[8]
USS Liberty incident[edit]
James Bamford, an author that has extensively chronicled the history and operations of the National Security Agency, posits that the massacre may have served as a casus belli for the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. Bamford theorizes that the Israeli Defense Forces were concerned that the USS Liberty, a signals intelligence collection ship, may have collected evidence of the massacre and was thus attacked in an effort to suppress the evidence.[9][10][11][12][13][14]
Legacy[edit]
It has been suggested that the massacre may have fed into the later killing of dozens of Israeli prisoners by Egyptian forces in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Remains of bodies wearing IDF uniform with POW tags were found in the ruins of the Bar Lev Line.[15]
References[edit]
- ^ معروف, مصطفى. "من رأس سدر إلى القُدس.. هذه أبشع مجازر إسرائيل بحق الأسرى المصريين". www.aljazeera.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 2023-03-16.
- ^ "New Mass Grave of 1967 War POWs discovered in Ras Sedr". Al Jazirah (in Arabic). June 28, 2000.
- ^ Agence France-Presse (June 26, 2000). "'Executed' Egyptain troops' grave found". Independent Online (South Africa).
- ^ "חיילי צה"ל רצחו עשרות שבויים באחת ממלחמות העבר - הפרשה טויחה והושתקה". הארץ (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2021-05-26.
- ^ Nurith Gertz (April 14, 2009). "Memory of The Old Shepherd Became a Bad Ghost". Haaretz (in Hebrew).
- ^ Silverstein, Richard (24 October 2016). "Who was responsible for Israel's 1967 massacre?". alaraby. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
- ^ a b Kassim, Anis F. (2000-03-01). The Palestine Yearbook of International Law, 1998-1999. Cambridge, MA: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 180. ISBN 9041113045.
- ^ Ibrahim, Youssef M. (1995-09-21). "Egypt Says Israelis Killed P.O.W.'s in '67 War". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
- ^ Bamford, James (2007-12-18). Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-42505-8.
- ^ Risen, James (2001-04-23). "Book Says Israel Intended 1967 Attack on U.S. Ship". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- ^ "CNN.com - Israel's 1967 attack on U.S. ship deliberate, book says - April 23, 2001". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- ^ Pensack, Miriam (2017-06-06). "Fifty Years Later, NSA Keeps Details of Israel's USS Liberty Attack Secret". The Intercept. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- ^ "Remember the USS Liberty? The US and Israel wish you didn't". Middle East Monitor. 2014-06-04. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- ^ Oren, Michael B. (2001-07-23). "Unfriendly Fire". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- ^ Egyptian officers admitted that some Israeli soldiers were killed after surrendering, according to them in retaliation for what they claimed was Israel’s killing of Egyptian POWs in previous wars. Source: "At Least 86 Israeli POWs Were Killed in 1973 War, New Documents Reveal". Haaretz. September 24, 2013.
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