Israel murdered over 1,000 Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai desert and buried them in a mass grave

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.

Events

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

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

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

1. ^ معروف, مصطفى. “من رأس سدر إلى القُدس.. هذه أبشع مجازر إسرائيل بحق الأسرى المصريين”. www.aljazeera.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 2023-03-16.
2. ^ “New Mass Grave of 1967 War POWs discovered in Ras Sedr”. Al Jazirah (in Arabic). June 28, 2000.
3. ^ Agence France-Presse (June 26, 2000). “‘Executed’ Egyptain troops’ grave found”. Independent Online (South Africa).
4. ^ “חיילי צה”ל רצחו עשרות שבויים באחת ממלחמות העבר – הפרשה טויחה והושתקה”. הארץ (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2021-05-26.
5. ^ Nurith Gertz (April 14, 2009). “Memory of The Old Shepherd Became a Bad Ghost”. Haaretz (in Hebrew).
6. ^ Silverstein, Richard (24 October 2016). “Who was responsible for Israel’s 1967 massacre?”. alaraby. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
7. ^ Jump up to:^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.
8. ^ 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.
9. ^ 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.
10. ^ 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.
11. ^ “CNN.com – Israel’s 1967 attack on U.S. ship deliberate, book says – April 23, 2001”. www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
12. ^ Pensack, Miriam (2017-06-06). “Fifty Years Later, NSA Keeps Details of Israel’s USS Liberty Attack Secret”. The Intercept. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
13. ^ “Remember the USS Liberty? The US and Israel wish you didn’t”. Middle East Monitor. 2014-06-04. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
14. ^ Oren, Michael B. (2001-07-23). “Unfriendly Fire”. The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
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.

Dozens of Egyptian soldiers buried in mass grave underneath ‘Mini Israel’ parking lot

For over five decades, Israel kept the secret of this mass grave which held the bodies of many Egyptian soldiers, some of whom were burned alive

(July 8, 2022) The Cradle

On 8 July, Hebrew media revealed the existence of a mass grave under the parking lot of a tourist attraction in Israel, where the bodies of dozens of Egyptian soldiers were buried during the 1967 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the Six-Day War.

Yedioth Ahronoth made the revelation on 8 July after the Israeli army declassified documents detailing the events from 55 years ago.

The mass grave, located at the Mini Israel miniature park near Kibbutz Nahshon, between occupied Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, reportedly holds the bodies of as many as 100 Egyptian soldiers.

Of these, at least 20 were burned alive by the occupation army.

In June of 1967, Egyptian commandos – deployed from Jordan as part of a security pact signed before the war – found themselves in a bloody battle with Israeli troops.

The commandos were equipped with old and outdated information about the terrain.

At a certain point in the fighting, mortar shells fired by the Israeli army set thousands of uncultivated dunums (unit of area) of wild bush on fire, trapping at least 20 soldiers who were burned alive.

One day after the fighting was over, Tel Aviv decided to bury the bodies where they lay, using a bulldozer to dig a pit and push the corpses of the Egyptian commandos into it.

Israeli soldiers reportedly looted the personal belongings of those killed, and left the mass grave unmarked.

A resident of the area who witnessed the events told Yedioth Ahronoth: “Those who were put in the pit, these were the bodies of the Egyptian soldiers who were burned. After all, the Ayalon Valley at this time of year is full of grass at a height of one and a half meters.”

For over five decades, Tel Aviv kept the secret of the mass grave, never attempting to return the bodies to their homeland, and even allowing an amusement park hosting a miniature version of the occupied Palestinian territories to be built a few meters away.

In the mid-90s, a mass grave was discovered in the Sinai Peninsula, with the bodies of hundreds of Egyptian soldiers who were executed by Israel without trial during their occupation of the region.

Another mass grave, in the Red Sea town of Ras Sedr, was discovered in the year 2000. It held the remains of 52 Egyptian prisoners executed by Israeli paratroopers during the Six-Day War.