07/03 Links Pt2: DNA study solves ancient riddle of origins of the Philistines; George Galloway lecturing about antisemitism; Synagogues are now conducting active shooter drills during services ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Know thine enemy: DNA study solves ancient riddle of origins of the Philistines

A groundbreaking new study of DNA taken from the bones of ancient residents of the coastal city of Ashkelon has put to rest a centuries-old debate surrounding the origins of the Kingdom of Israel’s most reviled foes, the Philistines. According to a paper published Wednesday in Science Advances, the ancestors of Goliath of Gath emigrated from Southern Europe.

In “Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines,” an interdisciplinary team of scholars from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the Leon Levy Expedition Ashkelon proves that coinciding with the arrival of the Philistines in Ashkelon in the 12th century BCE, there was an influx of Southern European genetic material in the local population.

DNA analysis was completed on samples from three periods within the Bronze and Iron ages (~3,600-2,800 years ago) from remains of Canaanites and early and late Philistines, which were taken from three sites: a Philistine cemetery discovered in 2016, graves discovered in the 1990s, and infant burials uncovered under Philistine homes.

Through analysis of ten ancient individuals’ DNA, the study suggests that Philistines reached Ashkelon from Europe by the early Iron Age. After two centuries, however, the European genetic markers were dwarfed by the Levantine gene pool, suggesting intensive intermarriage. The Philistine culture and peoplehood remained distinct from other local communities for six centuries.

“With this study we finally have direct evidence that fits and builds upon the hypothesis of Philistine origins from the western Mediterranean,” Daniel M. Master, director of the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon and head of the archaeological team, told The Times of Israel this week.

George Galloway defends Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, Chris Williamson

Former British MP George Galloway has defended disgraced Labour MP Chris Williamson after he was suspended in February for insinuating that the Labour party has been “too apologetic” over antisemitism.

However, Williamson was reinstated last week with just a warning for his behavior.

Since then, at least 90 Labour MPs and colleagues have called on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to remove Williamson.

In a video published by RT on Tuesday night, Galloway charged that antisemitism is being weaponized to attack people like Corbyn and Williamson.

“The danger is, if you’re calling everyone antisemitic - the whole Labour party, the whole Labour movement, the whole [Jeremy] Corbyn movement - then the real antisemites can go about their evil, fatal business unnoticed,” he claimed.

He said that the analogy of the “boy who cried wolf” is useful, adding that “we are so far down the rabbit hole now of the weaponization of antisemitism as a political issue that it has become not just unjust, not just immoral but positively dangerous and dangerous to Jewish people themselves.”

Galloway called the idea that Corbyn, “who I have known since the 1970s,” is an antisemite “absurd” and “offensive.”

Going on to defend Williamson, the former Labour MP said that there was not a “scintilla of antisemitism or any other form of racism...present in his mind [or] in his soul.”

He said that allegations against Williamson are “dangerous, reckless and irresponsible.”

During his address, Galloway insinuated that people like Corbyn and Williamson are accused of antisemitism for just having books of Noam Chomsky, Prof. Norman Finkelstein, Karl Marx and others, who too have been accused of antisemitism for sharing their views.

.@Georgegalloway lecturing about antisemitism, folks. What next? @LSarsour lecturing about tolerance? @AOC lecturing about sensitivity? @LouisFarrakhan lecturing about a love of the Jewish people? https://t.co/lRBoAQQ7MG
— Ozraeli Dave (((דיויד לנג))) (@Israellycool) July 3, 2019

Labour MP faces no-confidence vote for criticizing party on anti-Semitism

An MP is facing deselection for signing a statement criticizing the UK Labour party’s decision to readmit a lawmaker who was suspended over anti-Semitism allegations, the Guardian reported Wednesday.

Ellie Reeves, who is 22 weeks pregnant, was one of 121 MPs and members of the House of Lords who called on opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to take away the whip from Chris Williamson MP.

The Labour Party last week reportedly reimposed Williamson’s suspension two days after it was lifted, amid an ongoing furor over the party’s handling of complaints of anti-Semitism.

Chris Williamson, a Corbyn ally, was filmed in February telling a meeting that the party was “too apologetic” and had “given too much ground” in its response to anti-Semitism allegations.

The chairman of Reeves’ constituency of Lewisham West and Penge has received notice from a party member who requested a motion of no confidence in the lawmaker, the Guardian reported.

At massive UK PalExpo, they’ll play BDS bowling, learn to ‘decolonize Palestine’

A two-day pro-Palestinian event here this weekend – billed by organizers as the biggest in Europe – has come under attack from UK Jewish and Israel advocacy groups.

Held this year on July 6-7, the Palestine Expo conference and exhibition attracted over 15,000 visitors when it was last convened two years ago. It is accused by critics of being “a huge festival of hatred and propaganda against Israel” and promoting the BDS movement.

Unease at the event is such that a group of Israel-supporting British lawyers have now written to three of the German joint owners of the London exhibition center where the event is being staged urging it be canceled.

In their letters, UK Lawyers for Israel warn the Deutsche Finance Group, Versicherungskammer Bayern Group and Bayerische Versorgungskammer that the event at London Olympia contravenes a resolution passed last month by the German parliament which “condemns the arguments and methods of the BDS movement as anti-Semitic.”

“By allowing Olympia London to go ahead with hosting this event, you will be party to the promotion of a huge festival of hatred and propaganda against Israel, and to the promotion of BDS,” the lawyers write.

The group alleges that the Friends of Al Aqsa, the organizers of Palestine Expo, are “major promoters” of the BDS movement and “closely linked to the Hamas terrorist group.”

Israeli CEO of UK Movie Theater Chain Targeted With Antisemitic Abuse Over ‘Robert The Bruce’ Biopic

The Israeli CEO of a movie theater chain in the United Kingdom has been targeted with vulgar antisemitic abuse in a row over the showing of a biopic about one of Scotland’s national icons, Robert the Bruce.

Cineworld CEO Moshe “Mooky” Greidinger — whose family had a controlling stake in Cinema City International, which Cineworld took over in 2014 — was blamed personally for the chain’s decision to turn down the biopic, “Robert the Bruce,” by anti-Israel activists who hijacked a broader protest campaign, The Jewish Chronicle reported on Tuesday.

But apparently bowing to pressure, later in the day, Cineworld announced that the just-released movie, starring Scottish actor Angus Macfadyen, would be shown at its movie theaters in the cities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Falkirk.

A petition calling for Cineworld to show the film had gained around 5,000 signatures.

A Cineworld spokesman said in a statement: “We are pleased to have been able to make room in the schedule for Robert the Bruce and it will be playing at Cineworld in Scotland.”

The company’s about-turn came after a furious campaign waged by Scottish nationalists, which online antisemitic and anti-Zionist activists quickly jumped aboard.

Jewish owned business- Manny's in the Mission- vandalized again.

Open for less than a year, Manny's in the San Francisco's Mission district has already had a major impact on the local community. The "people powered and community focused meeting and learning place" has hosted a multiple of Democratic presidential hopefuls, and made headlines with its live reading of the Mueller report. Two debate watching parties at Manny's were standing room only, and were featured on the first page of the Wall Street Journal.

Its no wonder that the San Francisco Examiner proclaimed "Manny's is the perfect business for the Mission".

Yet since its opening, Manny's has been subject to anti-Semitic and homophobic attacks, meant to intimidate both Manny and the community members who patronize his business. The business has been repeatedly vandalized- most recently this weekend.

The following screed appeared in several extremist websites and facebook pages. The author describes the attacks on the business as a "low-intensity effort to f%$k with Manny’s"

We glued the locks of the gentrifying business Manny’s and tagged a circle-A and “Free Cedar.” Manny’s is run by a Democratic Party operative who worked as an LGBT advisor to the Obama administration and as a top fundraiser for the Hillary Clinton campaign in Silicon Valley. His cafe is a blatant and sinister attempt to co-opt revolutionary sentiments back into the electoral shit show. This wanna-be politician is literally selling books by Frantz Fanon and James Baldwin while hosting live readings of the Mueller Report. He had the audacity, in some fluff piece about the cafe, to compare his tacky self-promotion to the riots at Compton’s Cafeteria and the Stonewall Inn. He fancies his business as a social center for #TheResistance in a neighborhood which has endured brutal waves of evictions and whose long history of actual resistance has been under threat of erasure. Several of the locks we glued were of gates preventing houseless people from sleeping in the alcoves of the business. We hope this small act highlights the hypocrisy of his “civic engagement”.

At Start of Travel Season, AP Runs Hatchet Job Against Pro-Settlements Duty Free Chain

Uri Blau, an Israeli reporter whose claim to fame is assisting an Israeli female soldier leak highly classified IDF documents, and Josef Federman, AP bureau chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories and chairman of the Foreign Press Association, on Monday morning combined forces to expose what has been known for a decade: the Falic family of Florida, owners of the Duty Free Americas chain, “has donated at least $5.6 million to settler organizations in the West Bank and east Jerusalem over the past decade, funding synagogues, schools and social services.”

According to the same report, the Falic family also gives to “far-right causes considered extreme even in Israel.”

Here’s the list of sins committed by Simon and Leon Falic, who co-own the Falic Group:

The Falics support the Jewish community in Hebron.

They have supported groups promoting the establishment of a Third Temple.

They gave more money than any other donor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Finally, “the Falics donated roughly $600,000 to Hachnasat Orchim Hebron (Hospitality Hebron), a group that hosts visitors to the Jewish community.”

Off with their heads, the red Queen of Hearts would say at this point. Giving money to Jews so they can host visitors in Hebron? Supporting groups who recreate the priestly garments and vessels used at the Temple? Supporting a Likud prime minister? Jews have been thrown to the gulags for less.

Sky, AFP, Reuters (in Arabic) declare Jordan guardian of Jerusalem’s Christian holy sites

The belief that Jordan has an official role safeguarding Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem is nearly universal among Arabic-speaking media outlets in the West – a view reinforced by Western Arabic media outlets’ reports, which typically include a comment by a spokesperson in Amman.

Jordan was indeed the previous de facto ruler of east Jerusalem between 1948-1967, and annexed it (along with the West Bank) in 1951 in a move only recognized by the UK and Pakistan. They maintained territorial claims to the holy city as late as 1988. However, the decision to view Jordan as a potential party to all affairs related to both Christian and Muslim sites is justified in Arabic media outlets differently.

For example (all translations, emphases and remarks are by CAMERA Arabic):
1. An AFP report published earlier this month (“Clashes in Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa plaza”, June 2nd), which covered a confrontation between the Israeli police and Muslim demonstrators over Jews’ visits to the Temple Mount, referred to Jordan as the “guardian” of holy sites in Jerusalem, without specifying in what way the country is recognized as such:

“Jordan, the guardian of the Muslim and Christian religious sites in Jerusalem, has condemned the ‘ongoing Israeli violations’ in al-Aqsa Mosque”.

2. A Reuters report, covering the same incident (“Extremist Jews’ visit provokes anger among Palestinians on the grounds of al-Aqsa Mosque”, June 2nd), invoked a bilateral agreement between Amman and Ramallah as the legal basis of its “guardianship” over holy sites:

“Abd an-Naser Abu al-Basal, Jordan’s Minister of Awqaf and Islamic affairs has said: ‘the occupation [i.e. Israel] must not get involved in the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque, which is the property of the Muslims alone, nobody shares it with them and it is neither shareable nor divisible.’ Jordan is the guardian of the Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, according to an agreement with the Palestinian Authority.”

BBC’s Mishal Husain promotes dubious peace plan framing – part one

Husain’s presentation obviously suggests to listeners that the first time the idea of a two-state solution came up was in the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. That of course is not the case – the concept had been around since the Peel Commission report of 1937 and has since been part of numerous initiatives, including at the Madrid Conference in 1991. What Husain did not tell Radio 4 listeners is that the Palestinians have a long record of rejection of any solution involving two states for two peoples and that the Arab Peace Initiative is not accepted by Hamas or Hizballah.

Neither did Husain bother to clarify that that initiative includes more that just “an Israeli and a Palestinian state standing side by side”. It demands Israeli withdrawal from areas which are not included in any plan for a Palestinian state (including the Golan Heights) and it is, from the Israeli point of view, extremely problematic on the issue of Palestinian refugees due to its not only demanding ‘right of return’ to Israel but also rejecting the resettlement (“patriation“) of Palestinian refugees in Arab countries.

It is therefore plausible that when Mr Kushner told the Al Jazeera interviewer that any future agreement “will be somewhere between the Arab peace initiative and between the Israeli position” he had those points in mind. Mishal Husain however unquestioningly embraced the viewpoint of the Times reporter and promoted the notion to listeners that the United States had “killed hopes of a Palestinian state”.

That selective and politicised framing is important because, as we shall see in part two of this post, Husain continued to promote it throughout the later item concerning the Bahrain conference.

BBC’s Mishal Husain promotes dubious peace plan framing – part two

Once again Husain promoted a strawman:

Husain: “Are you saying they should accept there will be one state in the future – the Jewish state?”

Danon: “I say they should enter the room. It’s legitimate that they will come with their own aspirations, their own demands, requests, requirements. And we will come with ours. You know, the international community can help and I think the financial help is well appreciated but at the end it will be us and the Palestinians living there. That’s why eventually we will have to engage in a direct dialogue.”

Apparently reluctant to close the item on that note, Husain let the partisan UN rapporteur have the last word.

Husain: “Michael Lynk: just a final thought from you. Do you think that the Palestinians should be engaging in this dialogue, however much they object to the terms in which it’s framed?”

Lynk: “Well that’s entirely up to them. You know, to be clear, as a UN special rapporteur I don’t speak for the Palestinians and I don’t speak for the UN. Really the question which I can answer is is this particular path or vision likely to lead to a just and durable peace and as I’ve said. I cannot see it.”

Husain rounded off the item with yet another misrepresentation of Lynk’s title:

Husain: “Michael Lynk, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Ambassador Danny Danon of Israel, thank you very much.”

So what could Radio 4 audiences learn from this item? They heard a partisan and incomplete portrayal of the Arab Peace Initiative with no explanation of why it has gone nowhere in the seventeen years since it was produced. They were led to believe that that inadequately presented initiative is the only game in town and that by not embracing it in its entirety, the US has “killed” the chances for a Palestinian state. They got a one-sided explanation of the two-state solution which complies with the PLO’s interpretation of that concept. They heard Mishal Husain purport to tell them what is in a plan that has not yet been published. They did not however receive any information concerning the Palestinians’ repeated rejection of peace plans based on the two-state solution and the sole reference to Palestinian terrorism came from the Israeli interviewee.

In other words, as the BBC’s tight framing of the topic of the Bahrain economic workshop continued, audiences were once again denied the full range of information which would enhance better and comprehensive understanding of the topic.

HonesReporting on national radio with Dr. Drew

HR's Exec Director Daniel Pomerantz talks on national radio about the possibility of an Israeli-Palestinian peace via the Bahrain conference: with Dr. Drew and Leeanne Tweeden.

Evidence needed, @Newsweek. Until then, this is a claim. A very strong claim, perhaps, but the sentence requires a word like "allegedly" or "reportedly". pic.twitter.com/oRJjLGQj3G
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 3, 2019

Synagogues are now conducting active shooter drills during services

When the ushers locked the door to the sanctuary, and the congregants prepared to flee the synagogue in preparation for a mass shooting, Rabbi Neil Cooper made sure it all happened before they had to take the Torahs out of the ark.

Ten minutes later the worshippers were back in the pews, doors unlocked, and getting ready to hear the weekly Torah portion. The first active shooter drill at this suburban Philadelphia synagogue was over.

“It was not a high-energy, kind of catching people off-guard kind of thing,” Cooper said five days after the June 22 drill at his Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El in Wynnewood. “We also wanted to let people know, more than anything else, that we’re on top of this. We have a procedure. We have people looking out.”

After a span of eight months that included shootings at two synagogues, in Pittsburgh and Poway, California, congregations across the country are actively drilling their members on how to act if the terror arrives at their doorstep. Some, like Beth Hillel-Beth El, have run active shooter scenarios during services. Others have detailed plans in place should a shooting occur. Others have trained a group of congregants in how to fight gunmen when they come through the door.

The active shooter drills complement a range of other security measures that congregations have adopted since the Pittsburgh massacre, in which a gunman killed 11 worshippers in October. They have ranged from locking doors and reinforcing windows to hiring armed security. Some congregations have encouraged members to carry handguns at services, while others have installed new restrictions on carrying guns in shul.

Romania finds 'many' more remains near Jewish mass grave

Archaeologists have unearthed "many human remains" in northeast Romania near an area where, in 2010, they discovered a mass grave for more than 100 Jews killed by Romanian troops during World War II, military prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The archaeologists, who are supported by the Elie Wiesel Institute and have been scouring the area since 2010 for other possible mass graves, also discovered a grenade and an 82 mm gun-mortar at the site.

"Notified by the Elie Wiesel Institute … we launched a criminal probe regarding the June 29 unearthing of many human remains during archaeological research work in the proximity of an area where a mass grave was found in 2010," the prosecutors said in a statement.

The site has been cordoned off but no further details were immediately available.

The mass grave discovered in 2010 was located in a forested area called Vulturi, some 400 km (250 miles) north of Bucharest, through which Romanian and German troops advanced at the start of their invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

An international commission headed by Nobel laureate Wiesel had concluded in 2004 that between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews were killed in Romania and areas it controlled during World War II as an ally of Nazi Germany.

Walmart, Amazon Among Retailers Selling ‘Mein Kampf’ With Neo-Nazi Blurb

Walmart, Amazon and Barnes & Noble are among retailers selling an edition of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf featuring a neo-Nazi blurb and a price tag with numbers that reference white power.

“This book has set a path toward a much higher understanding of the self and of our magnificent destiny as living beings part of this Race on our planet,” stated the blurb on the Barnes & Noble website, which has apparently removed the listing. “It shows us that we must not look at nature in terms of good or bad, but in an unfiltered manner. It describes what we must do if we want to survive as a people and as a Race.”

This English translation by James Murphy is priced at $14.88.

The number “1488” is a cypher for neo-Nazis and white supremacists, with “14” standing for the “14 words” saying, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children,” while “88” refers to “Heil Hitler,” as “H” is the eighth letter of the alphabet.

Like Barnes & Noble, Walmart and Amazon also removed the edition from their collections.

Canadian Political Candidate Ejected for Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany

A candidate for the Canadian Parliament has been ejected from her party for previous anti-Israel comments, including comparing the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.

Rana Zaman, a social activist and Muslim who won in May the New Democratic Party (NDP) nomination in Dartmouth-Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, was ousted last week after several Twitter posts from last year denouncing Israel’s response to violent protests along its border with Hamas-controlled Gaza came to light.

“Unfortunately, due to language in social posts that was unacceptable, the candidate for Dartmouth-Cole Harbour has been removed as the NDP candidate,” said NDP national director Melissa Bruno in a statement. “We expect our candidates to engage on important issues respectfully.”

Shimon Koffler Fogel, president and CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, applauded the move.

“There can be absolutely no tolerance for antisemitism in our political system, regardless of party. The NDP has shown its commitment to fighting antisemitism by swiftly removing Zaman as a candidate as soon as the hateful tweets came to their attention. We commend them for taking swift action on the matter,” Fogel told JNS.

A Jewish Comedian's Response to Nazi Death Threats

When I snapped at an anti-Semitic heckle, I was not at my best. But what followed was pure madness. I ended up with death threats and the FBI got involved. Here’s the story.

Archive Smuggled From Nazi-Era Germany Acquired by Science History Institute

The Science History Institute has acquired an amazing collection of correspondence, books, photographs and scientific notes belonging to Jewish German chemist Georg Bredig, announced the Philadelphia museum on Tuesday.

The collection spans decades, from the late 19th century, just as the field of physical chemistry was emerging, to the 1930s and the horrors faced by the Jewish community as the Nazis rose to power. The archive has never been made public. This acquisition was made possible by the generous support of the Walder Foundation.

“Bringing this collection to the Science History Institute fulfills Georg Bredig’s wish that these documents be preserved so that future generations can study them,” said Science History Institute President and CEO Robert Anderson. “They are significant not only to scholars of the history of science, but to Holocaust scholars as well.”

“As longtime funders of Holocaust education, Dr. Walder and I are proud to support the acquisition of the Bredig archive,” said Walder Foundation President and Executive Director Elizabeth Walder. “We know that this collection will provide history and science scholars alike a unique vantage point for uncovering some of the untold stories of this tumultuous period in world history.”

After restoration, Church of the Nativity no longer considered endangered site

Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, was removed from UNESCO’s list of endangered world heritage sites Tuesday following restorations there.

The church was named a UNESCO world heritage site in 2012 and placed on its endangered list the same year due to its poor condition.

Church and Palestinian officials have since overseen high-quality work restoring “roof, exterior facades, mosaics and doors,” UNESCO said in a statement.

A previous plan of concern to UNESCO to dig a tunnel underneath Manger Square, in front of the church, was also abandoned, it said.

The committee reached the decision to remove it from the endangered list during a meeting in Baku, which began on June 30 and continues until July 10, it said.

The Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches share custody of the site located in the city which is today in the West Bank under Palestinian Authority control.

The Dutch firefighting couple wielding a water hose along the Gaza border

Raymond and Mirjam Reijnen fight fires lit by Gaza balloons so often, that a rolled up volunteer firefighters’ uniform, a mask, and a pair of boots are permanently stashed outside their front door in Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

“Firefighters here have their suits outside,” Raymond said.

“There is no time to search for your things,” said Mirjam, adding that in their case they have only one, because “we wear the same size.”

In the parking lot by their house is a white Chevrolet with a small attached wagon that carries a 1,000-liter drum of water with a hose.

The couple worked as professional firefighters in the Netherlands before immigrating to a southern border Kibbutz with their three small children on March 25, 2018.

It was just five days before the weekly violence began along the Gaza border at the start of the March of Return.

What an incredible night here in Tel Aviv.. It’s been a long time coming and we can’t thank our #DisturbedOnes here in Israel enough for all your passion, constant support & dedication. #Disturbed #EvolutionTour 📷:@rafacore pic.twitter.com/Pjfw2Gf8vC
— Disturbed (@Disturbed) July 3, 2019

Thank you again @Disturbed for the performance of a lifetime https://t.co/FKcX5BgVlK #Disturbed #Israel
— Ozraeli Dave (((דיויד לנג))) (@Israellycool) July 3, 2019

Israel-made expandable nanosatellite to launch on Russian rocket Friday

NSLComm, an Israel-based aerospace tech startup that developed a nanosatellite that expands in space to boost connectivity capacity, will be launching its first satellite, the NSLSat-1, on Friday, as part of the payload of a Soyuz rocket that will take it into space.

The satellite has already been installed onto the launch vehicle, which is expected to blast off at 1:42 a.m. ET on July 5 at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Far Eastern Russia, the startup said in a statement Wednesday.

The firm, based in Airport City, is part of a fast-growing sector of the aerospace technologies, the so-called “NewSpace” industry, that is pioneering privately backed spaceflight.

NSLComm designed fabric-like, flexible dish antennas that expand in space once the nanosatellites are in position. This allows greater bandwidth and high communication capacity, making them up to 100 times faster than the current best-performing nanosatellites, the company said in a statement. They cost 10 times less than larger satellites, the firm said.

During launch, the antennas are folded into the satellite, allowing it to be compact in volume and mass. Once deployed into orbit, these antennas open up and the main reflector expands to the desired diameter. Ground operators are able to control the antennas from afar, enabling them to focus supply directly on specific areas where there is demand for increased satellite bandwidth.

Israeli ambassador pays tribute at memorial service to Norfolk soldier

The Israeli ambassador and Lord Dannatt, former head of the British Army, were among those who paid tribute at a memorial service to a Norfolk soldier who fought for Israel after witnessing the horrors of the Holocaust.

Tom Derek Bowden, from South Lopham, near Diss, who died aged 97, was captured by the Nazis as a young British soldier in 1944 after parachuting into Arnhem. After letters from his Jewish girlfriend were discovered he was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Though he was not Jewish himself, his experiences of handling corpses led to him to enlist under the name David Appel as one of 5,000 foreigners who volunteered to fight with the Machal for the nascent State of Israel in the 1948 War of Independence.

He fought with Israeli Army's 7th Brigade and then in 1949, after the armistice, was asked by the founder of the Israel Defence Forces to start a parachute school.

A memorial service in his honour at St Andrew's Church in South Lopham on Monday, July 1 was attended by Israeli ambassador to the UK Mark Regev who marked his contribution to the country's history by laying a wreath.

He said: "He bravely fought to defeat the Nazis and ensure the rebirth of the Jewish state. Israel will always cherish his memory."

Lord Richard Dannatt was among British military veterans, standard bearers and representatives from the Parachute Regiment also attended the service and his burial at Diss Cemetery.

Mr Bowden's connection to Israel began during the Second World War when he fought in ferocious battles in British Mandate Palestine. In 1941 he was wounded in a cavalry charge in Syria alongside Moshe Dayan, later Israel's Defence Minister, who lost his eye in the battle.

He met his wife Eva in Israel but came back to England in 1955 becoming first a farmer and smallholder at South Lopham before later working in insurance.

Mr Bowden married five times to four wives and was father to children David, Robert, Judith, Kenneth and Anthony, as well as having five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Today I attended the funeral of Tom Bowden in Norfolk. He bravely fought to defeat the Nazis and ensure the rebirth of the Jewish state. Israel will always cherish his memory.

יהי זכרו ברוך pic.twitter.com/UxQtzXlj6F
— Mark Regev (@MarkRegev) July 1, 2019

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