March 27, 1948 Mutilation of Jewish Corpses by Arabs

Illustrating a special kind of hatred that is not satisfied with mere killing, mutilation of Jewish corpses was a problem as well:

“I can say that our Palmach officers—men given to understatement rather than hysteria—instructed us, when in action, to always save a bullet or a grenade for ourselves, so as not to fall alive into the hands of Arab irregulars. Capture was not an option.”

“On 27 March, a seven-vehicle convoy, carrying eighty-nine men and women was attacked on the road to the besieged Kibbutz Yehiam (e.g. in the Galilee) by units of the ALA’s Second Yarmuk Battalion and local militiamen. … THE FOLLOWING MORNING, THE BRITISH AND HAGANAH FOUND FORTY-SEVEN BODIES, MANY OF THEM MUTILATED.”

“The occupants of one vehicle committed suicide with dynamite rather than fall into Arab hands. (Jews captured in convoy battles were normally put to death and mutilated.)”

“Arabs began to push down the slope, giving chase. Arieli and a handful of other officers took up positions nearby to cover the retreat. Their bodies were later found there, either felled by Arab bullets or by their own hands, with grenades, to avoid capture.”

Source: Gutmann, David. The Arab Lie Whose Time Has Come – Veteran of the 1948 War Dissects the Myth of Palestinian Innocence. April 21, 2004.; Morris, Benny. 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. New Haven [Conn.]: Yale University Press, 2008. 110-111; Morris, Benny. 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. New Haven [Conn.]: Yale University Press, 2008. 111, 124-125; 361-362; http://www.middleeastpiece.com/palestinianviolence.html