THE HAGUE, August 16, 2014 – (WAFA)
– A Dutch nonagenarian honored by Israel
for saving a Jew from the Nazis during WWII has returned his medal because six
of his relatives were killed in Israeli aerial bombardment on Gaza.
Henk Zanoli returned his Righteous Among
the Nations medal to the Israeli ambassador in the Hague Haim
Davon this week after an Israeli F-16
fighter jet pounded his great niece’s home in Gaza, killing all inside.
In a letter sent to the Israeli on
August 11 and published on the
New York Times , Zanoli wrote: “It is with great sorrow that
I am herewith returning the medal I received as an honour and a token of
appreciation from the State of Israel for the efforts and risks taken by my
mother and her family in saving the life of a Jewish boy during the German occupation
of The Netherlands.”
Zanoli mentioned in his letter that the bomb dropped by the
Israeli warplane on July 20 during the Israeli military aggression on Gaza “turned
the four storey building to rubble, leaving every single family member inside
it dead.”
He added in his letter that was also published in the Israeli newspaper
Haaretz and widely circulated in the Dutch media that“The great- great
grandchildren of my mother have lost their grandmother, three uncles, an aunt
and a cousin at the hands of the Israeli army.”
He added: “It is
particularly shocking and tragic that today, four generations on, our family is
faced with the murder of our kin in Gaza. Murder carried out by the State of Israel.”
The AFP reported that the Israeli
embassy in the Hague confirmed Friday that “it was familiar with the issue” but
declined to make any further comment.
Given his old age and frailty,
Zanoli was not able to deliver the letter in person but instead sent it
together with the medal to the Israeli embassy in the Hague – the same place
from which he received the medal three years ago.
“ . . . for me to hold on to the honour granted by the
State of Israel, under these circumstances, will be both an insult to the
memory of my courageous mother who risked her life and that of her children
fighting against suppression and for the preservation of human life as well as
an insult to those in my family, four generations on, who lost no less than six
of their relatives in Gaza at the hands of the State of Israel,” Zanoli added.
“The actions of your state in Gaza
these days have already resulted in serious accusations of war crimes and
crimes against humanity,' wrote Zanoli.
'As a retired
lawyer, it would be no surprise to me that these accusations could lead to
possible convictions if true and unpoliticized justice is able to have its
course.
'What happened
to our kin in Gaza will no doubt be brought to the table at such a time as
well.'
According to Haaretz, Zanoli’s great-niece, Angelique Eijpe, is a Dutch
diplomat who currently serves as deputy head of her country’s diplomatic
mission in Oman. Her husband, economist Isma’il Ziadah, was born in the
al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. The couple has three children. Ziadah’s
parents were born in Fallujah, on whose lands the town of Kiryat Gat now sits.
His father died in 1987.
K.F./ T.R.
