15 Jewish soldiers among the 45,000 British fighters
RePost | 31.03.2003 04:25
"There are some 15 Jewish soldiers among the 45,000 British fighters
currently in action in the U.S.-led campaign"
currently in action in the U.S.-led campaign"
U.K. lets Jewish soldiers in Gulf erase religion from
dog-tags
By , Haaretz Correspondent
LONDON - The British Army has allowed its Jewish soldiers involved in the war in Iraq
to erase mention of their religion on their dog-tags, fearing they would be executed if they
were captured. There are some 15 Jewish soldiers among the 45,000 British fighters
currently in action in the U.S.-led campaign.
The British Ministry of Defense made the decision following concerns expressed by
Jewish community leaders in Britain. The ministry added that kosher rations had been
provided to those Jewish soldiers who requested them.
During the 1991 Gulf War, the Iraqis would beat and parade prisoners in front of the
television cameras, and the British military fears that Jewish prisoners would come in for
a worse fate.
The British dog-tags list the soldier's name, rank, identity number and religion, with the
latter intended to facilitate proper burial in the event that the body of the soldier cannot be
brought home.
On Friday, Britain's chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, published a special prayer for the safety
of the soldiers in Iraq. The prayer was to be recited in all synagogues over the Sabbath.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=275621
dog-tags
By , Haaretz Correspondent
LONDON - The British Army has allowed its Jewish soldiers involved in the war in Iraq
to erase mention of their religion on their dog-tags, fearing they would be executed if they
were captured. There are some 15 Jewish soldiers among the 45,000 British fighters
currently in action in the U.S.-led campaign.
The British Ministry of Defense made the decision following concerns expressed by
Jewish community leaders in Britain. The ministry added that kosher rations had been
provided to those Jewish soldiers who requested them.
During the 1991 Gulf War, the Iraqis would beat and parade prisoners in front of the
television cameras, and the British military fears that Jewish prisoners would come in for
a worse fate.
The British dog-tags list the soldier's name, rank, identity number and religion, with the
latter intended to facilitate proper burial in the event that the body of the soldier cannot be
brought home.
On Friday, Britain's chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, published a special prayer for the safety
of the soldiers in Iraq. The prayer was to be recited in all synagogues over the Sabbath.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=275621
RePost
Comments
Hide the following 16 comments
Interesting
31.03.2003 08:27
So, proportionately, there should be more than 100 British servicemen having to alter their dogtags, not 15.
In reality, I think Jews are under-represented in Her Majesty's Forces, though certainly not in the US and British governments.
Steve
Discrepancy
31.03.2003 09:41
Many have seen service in the occupied territories and quite a few have participated in the usual seriously nasty activities against the Palestinians.
When questioned, most are more interested in the serving the nazi-clone state than Britain.
It is time that the British government redress this problem of its citizens more keen at service another country than the one they are normally resident at.
Shaul Morefartz
addon to steve's comment
31.03.2003 09:44
All soldiers are there to kill.
The british soldiers are there to kill for a sick regime that has historically conducted atrocities towards most of the planet.
Lately the british armed pigs are being cheap mercenaries for the US oil industry. Apart from all the killings of innocent civilians and other atrocities being conducted by the british pigs they are responsible fro all what the US pigs are doing too.
In this context I apreciate the non participation of my jewish brothers and sisters in not being pigs themselves (with the exception of the 15 or so pigs of course)
I ask you also to appreciate that most of the UK armed pigs are misled jobseekers, some being kids who never grew up and the rest being plain thugs.
The jewish community in the UK staying clear of the above categories of soceity as much as the asian community for another example is to be admired.
ram
Ethnic minorities
31.03.2003 10:05
The fact is that the British Army finds it hard to recruit members of ethnic minorities because most soldiers are stupid, racist, queer-bashing thugs who regularly pick fights with "civvies" when they are not fighting foreigners and commies. No member of the ethnic minorities - or women and gay men, for that matter - is safe in the army, where they are subject to ritual abuse which are hidden by official cover-ups. I doubt Jews would be immune from endemic racism in the armed forces. So, the reason for this disproportionately low number of Jews in the army is fairly obvious.
Dan
Where is this going to?
31.03.2003 10:20
You are a bunch of anti-Jewish bigots!
SOLIDARITY WITH ISRAEL!
julie
Lordy
31.03.2003 10:58
daniel gurney
divide-and-rule
31.03.2003 11:10
Because of the open-source nature of IMC we can't really kick either group off. But we can learn to recognise them and tell them both to get stuffed!
kurious oranj
Anti-semitic tactics
31.03.2003 11:35
Dan
Where are the other 210?
31.03.2003 13:42
05% of 45,000 is 225
Verne
Fight war
31.03.2003 13:58
Dan
it's a class thing....
31.03.2003 14:43
Also soldiers tend to come from Northern England, Scotland and Wales - so ethnic minorities will also be under represented compared to the national average.
By the way both of the squadies taken prisoner last week were Afro-Caribean - work that one out!
thearmchairgeneral
Few black squaddies
31.03.2003 15:20
Dan
Sorry Dan look what has happened
31.03.2003 19:37
David Shira Mukaria and Jakubu Maina Kamau said they had been kept blindfolded, with their hands and feet bound, and without food and water.
The two men were abducted by Iraqi militiamen after becoming separated from a food convoy heading for the southern seaport of Umm Qasr.
Military officials said they believed the men were aid convoy drivers, but the pair said they had been delivering food supplies to the U.S. military.
"We got a signal that two guys were being held in a building and had been kidnapped," said Sergeant Bob Barnet of the British Black Watch. "We went to the place where they were being held and searched the building."
UK
jobseekers outside Basra
01.04.2003 12:58
No it is a racist war.
Just look at the fact. Never believe the Pig Media (Reuters inclusive).
Remember the wholesake surrender of Basra?
Pigs being in the center of town on the second day?
The uprising on the fifth day?
Two desperate Kenyans who were doing dirty jobs wer captured and shown on Iraqi television.
Now do you really want to believe that the Iraqi resistance in Basra could not take them to the center of the city of Basra to die with them?
This clearly seems to be an effort in the Iraqi's part of releasing these two idiots without endangering the positive global image Iraqis suddenly find themselves in.
A good bet would be they exchanged the drivers by leaving them in the school and leting the pigs know that they were there.
Obvisously they would have kept them blind folded with their hands and feet bound. Without food and water too because the pigs have bombed the food reserves and water purification plants for Basra. There is a cruel shortage for these essential human needs in Basra right now.
How the Pigmedia and military propaganda tries to work together with obvious holes is amusing. They are not just jobseekers but the dumbest among them too.
ram
Jews accussed of duel loyalties?
30.11.2003 00:47
Matt
e-mail:
sdfsd@hotmail.com
Feels like a campaign...
30.11.2003 18:27
It's no good accusing "You folks at Indymedia" of being anti-semites. We have an open pubilshing policy, and there is both pro-Israel and anti-Israel propaganda to be found on here if you dig around. If you want something better to appear on here, then write a better article.
Indymedia is you, not some "them" media group that you need to fight.
imc bloke