Paul Weaving

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Kafr Qasim Massacre by Israel. It was Monday, 29 October 1956. The Israeli government and military decided to impose a curfew on Arab villages near the border with Jordan. At 4:30 p.m., a border police sergeant informed the mayor of Kafr Qasim that the curfew would begin at 5 p.m. that evening. Hundreds of villagers who had left home that morning to go to work had no way of knowing the curfew had been moved up. The soldiers tasked with enforcing the curfew were ordered to “shoot to kill any person seen outside their home after 17:00, making no distinction between men, women, children, or those returning from outside the village.” When villagers began returning home after 5 p.m., border police stopped them on the western side of the village. Soldiers forced people out of trucks, cars, and off bicycles, then began shooting at close range. Shmuel Malinki, who commanded the Border Guard unit in Kafr Qasim, asked what to do about villagers who had been working in the fields and had not yet heard about the new curfew. The response from Shadmi, commander of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Central District, was: “Allah yerahamu.” (Arabic: الله يرحمهم) (God have mercy on them.) In just one hour, 48 people were murdered. 23 of them children. News of the massacre was initially blocked by the Israeli military censor. However, communist Knesset members Tawfik Toubi and Meir Vilner managed to enter the village two weeks later to investigate the rumors, and after two months of lobbying by them and the press, the government lifted the media blackout imposed by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Consequences? Shadmi, the colonel who gave the order to shoot men, women, and children, was found guilty only of exceeding his authority and fined 1 pruta (about US $0.03 in 2023). By 1960, all the perpetrators had either been released or pardoned. Two of those convicted were later promoted: Shmuel Malinki was put in charge of the Negev Nuclear Research Center. Gabriel Dahan, the Israeli Border Police First Lieutenant who executed the killings, was assigned to oversee “Arab Affairs” in the city of Ramla. Dahan later changed his name to Dagan and worked as an Israel Bonds representative in Paris. One soldier, Shalom Ofer, later admitted: “We acted like Germans, automatically," but never expressed remorse or regret for his actions The Trial? Shadmi, the highest-ranking official prosecuted for the massacre, stated shortly before his death that he believed his trial had been staged to protect members of the Israeli political and military elite, including Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, from responsibility. The aim was to portray the perpetrators as rogue soldiers rather than individuals acting under higher orders.